“I gave it to a tennis pro friend years ago. That was a mistake, as he’s left-handed!” Alex Lifeson might have given his Sportscaster to a sportsman, but not before he wrote it into rock history – here’s how a Strat became his go-to for his Rush sound

Rush's Alex Lifeson playing his red Sportscaster, flanked by Geddy Lee on a Rickenbacker bass.

The Hentor Sportscaster made an unlikely comeback when Alex Lifeson announced that his own gear brand, Lerxst, had reanimated it as the Limelight and was making them in partnership with Godin. But what became of the original Sportscasters, like that fire engine red model that Lifeson was cradling on the cover of Guitar World’s November 1981 issue?

Truth be told, it’s a little bit of a sorry tale. But as Lifeson tells us, in this interview to commemorate 70 years of the Strat, the Hentor Sportscaster did more than enough to etch its way into the annals of rock history. With a different electric guitar, the solo to Limelight would just not have been the same…