Soul of Tone Stratocaster Chronicles

If you’re a fan of The Blues, there are two books that must be found on your bookshelf.  The first is Tom Wheeler’s excellent book — “The Soul of Tone” — that celebrates 60 years of Fender Amps.

You might not think a hardcover book on Fender Amps would be able to sustain a reading, let alone a held note in your head, but the book is mesmerizing. 

Not only do you get the history behind Fender Amps, you get a CD bundled with the book that gives you ear samples of how each of those amps sounded and sound. 

The reading experience becomes an earful and you delight in the sound words of Tom Wheeler and his magnificent telling.

The other book you need in your collection is another Tom Wheeler book:  “The Stratocaster Chronicles.” 

This fine book relates the long history of Fender guitars and, yes, you also get a CD bundled with this full-color, glossy, hardcover book!  You get propelled into antiquity as you hear “that Fender Sound” come to life in a massive variety of playing styles.

Tom Wheeler is a great writer, and both of these books — “The Soul of Tone” and “The Stratocaster Chronicles” — are can’t miss read-and-listens and anyone with even a passing interest in music will find great pleasure in the discovery of these two hefty tomes.