Fender Stratocaster Hardtail

About the Fender Stratocaster Hardtail

This name gathers Strats with a fixed bridge: the strings anchor through the body and there is no tremolo. Most guitars here are US-made 1970s hardtails from Fullerton, California, and the notes below cover them. US hardtails carried on into 1980 and 1981 with the large headstock. A few original 1960s hardtails and later reissues also appear.

The 1970s hardtail has the large headstock, the bullet truss rod nut and the three-bolt Micro-Tilt neck, with a 25.5 inch scale, a 7.25 inch radius, 21 frets and an ash or alder body. The three-way switch gave way to a five-way around 1977. Pickups have gray bottoms through 1979, with staggered pole pieces up to 1974 and flat ones from 1975. Up to 1976 the serial is a six-digit number; later serials are on the headstock and start with S, and S9 covers 1979 to 1981, so read the pot codes (1377901 is the first week of 1979) and pickup dates. Weighed 1972 to 1974 hardtails come in at 6.8 to 7.6 lb (3.1 to 3.4 kg), 1976 to 1981 ones at 7.5 to 9.7 lb (3.4 to 4.4 kg).

Check for refrets (maple boards are often refinished after one), replacement tuners with extra or filled holes, new pickups, routing under the pickguard for a humbucker or battery, brass bridge parts or nuts, and refinishes.

In one paragraph

The page's figures as one paragraph, assembled for quoting; not written by hand.

Listings of the Fender Stratocaster Hardtail we watched from listing to sale typically went in 52 days (9 watched), a slow; it sells for a median of €1,600 over the last 90 days across 14 recorded sales, with most examples landing between €1,050 and €2,000. The sale median is down 23% on the €2,065 of the 90 days before. There are 139 listings live right now across eBay United States, Reverb, eBay Germany, from €715 asking, a median ask 89% over the sale median. Figures computed 18 October 2026 by Doirado from cross-platform listing data.