The thin line between love and hate has never been better illustrated than by Mike McCready’s 1960 Fender Stratocaster.
When he bought it in the early 90s with the first royalty cheque from Pearl Jam’s multiplatinum debut, Ten, observers feared the sunburst double-cut would go the way of the “maybe 50” instruments smashed to matchwood over the course of the Seattle guitarist’s career.
Certainly, there’s been serial abuse, with the stillactive Strat bearing the scars from McCready’s paintflaying picking style (not to mention his tendency to take a slugger’s swing at a speaker cab). But as the 57-year-old grunge icon tells us, there was always something about this particular vintage that stayed his hand, and in recent times the ’60 has not just survived but proliferated, with Fender’s 2021 Custom Shop recreation (yours for $15,000) now followed by a thriftier production model, listing at £1,649.