If we think of Yngwie Malmsteen as this sort of Arthurian knight figure of guitar, a neoclassical bolt from the heavens made flesh and bone, then he of course would need an Excalibur to execute his daily business – and for the Swedish virtuoso, that has always been and forever will be the Fender Stratocaster.
All kinds of players have picked up a Strat. It is so versatile. Its ergonomics are so amendable to human physiology. It is a miracle of design. None have taken the Strat to the places Malmsteen has taken it, right out there past the great beyond, rendering arpeggios through the ether of time and space, Niccolò Paganini’s influence echoing an eternity through a massed wall of Marshall amps.
