“I’d never played a Strat before. But when Audioslave was forming, I was looking for a new guitar. I went into a Guitar Center and found this Strat on the wall. It spoke to me deeply”: Tom Morello on the origins and mods of his Soul Power Strat

Tom Morello with his Soul Power Fender Stratocaster.

There have been all kinds of Fender Stratocasters through the 70 years since its release, some traditional, some modern, while others, such as Tom Morello’s Soul Power Strat, embrace the modular aspect of Leo Fender’s design and are modded into something new.

Yes, it’s still a Strat – a Designer Series Strat, to be precise – but as the Rage Against the Machine guitarist tells us, it is a Strat with a whole raft of changes to facilitate his unorthodox style, and usher in a new era for him artistically as he hooked up with the late Chris Cornell and co for Audioslave.