The Making Of Fender Guitars Part 2

If you missed the first installment on Fender Guitars, check out  The Making of Fender Guitars Part 1.

In January 1965, owing to poor health, Leo Fender sold the Fender Guitar Company to Columbia Broadcasting System or CBS for 13 million dollars.

The sale caused grave concern among players and collectors as many thought that with the change in management, quality would be the first casualty.

This perception caused pre-CBS guitars, or in other words, guitars manufactured before 1965 to be much sought after. Some of these guitars have reportedly sold for more than $30,000.

Fender Guitars Hit The Bigtime

The Fender Stratocaster gained in stature as famous guitarists like George Harrison, John Lennon and Eric Clapton supported its cause by switching over to a Strat. But it was the God of the electric guitar Jimi Hendrix that created widespread interest in the Stratocaster, leading to skyrocketing sales.

The Strat was a beauty by itself but Hendrix made it look sexy too. Hendrix demonstrated superbly, all the amazing sounds that could be created using a Stratocaster. A Fender guitar salesman once said that Hendrix brought about more Stratocaster sales than all the Fender salesmen put together. Hank Marvin of The Shadows, Buddy Holly and Dick Dale are the other prominent guitarists who wouldn’t step out without their Strats.

Variations

Over the years, many variations were introduced in the basic Strat design of Leo Fender. Artists like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Mark Knopfler discovered that they could produce an even wider range of tones by jamming the pickup switch between the available three settings by using either a toothpick or a matchstick. This carried on for several years before Fender introduced the five way switch in 1977, to make switching between pickups easier and the tone more stable as a result.

In the 1970s and 1980s, when hard rock and heavy metal music became the order of the day, guitarists felt a need for modifying their guitars to meet the requirements of the heavier sound. They did this by adding a humbucker pickup at the bridge position which produced a thicker tone. Fender responded by issuing a new series of guitars called Fat Strat which had a humbucker pickup at the bridge. There’s even a series with dual humbuckers called Double Fat Strat.

The Takeover

In 1985, a group of investors and employees led by William Schultz, then President of Fender Musical Instruments, bought the company from CBS. There were no buildings and factories included in the deal. All that they got were the brand name, the patents and leftover stock of parts. They established a new plant at Corona, California and went about restoring Fender to its former glory.

They re-instituted all the best features of the guitars from Leo’s time and introduced the American Standard Stratocaster in 1986 and the American Standard Telecaster in 1988. The move proved successful and the Stratocaster became as popular as it was in the initial years.

A Fender Guitar In The Making At The Fender Factory In California…

Fender Re-Issue Guitars

Fender Guitars have also introduced the American Vintage Reissues, which are a range of vintage style guitars which are replicas of the original Leo designs. The guitars that were reissued as vintage style were the 1952 Telecaster, the 1962 rosewood fret board Strat and the 1957 maple neck Strat. Some of the earliest vintage reissues, which were released in 1982-1984, have become high-priced collector’s items and much sought after.

Another popular innovation from the Fender stable is the Fender Custom Shop where guitar aficionados can have their guitars custom-built according to the specifications they want. The Fender Custom Shop has been established at the factory in Corona and has been a huge hit with guitar players at all levels, whether amateur or professional.

The Artist Series

The Artist Series models are production models of guitars incorporating specifications and features similar to guitars used by the great guitarists of yore. Then there are the Custom Artist guitars which boast of a higher quality and better construction and are much more expensive than the regular Artist Series.

It is even possible to get an exact replica of the instruments used by guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, etc. custom-made. These guitars are also called the Tribute Series guitars.

Fender  – The Best For The Best!

Notable guitarists famous for preferring a Fender Guitar as their axe of choice are Hank Marvin, Buddy Holly, Buddy Guy, John Frusciante, Pete Townshend, George Harrison, The Edge, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bonnie Raitt, Robbie Robertson, Eric Clapton, James Young, John Mayer, John Lennon, Mark Knopfler, Eric Johnson, Ritchie Blackmore, Ritchie Sambora, David Gilmour and many more. The list is endless and includes the who’s who of some of the great guitarists that ever walked the earth.

Fender Trivia

• The first artist to have an Artist Series Fender signature Stratocaster was Eric Clapton in 1988.

• David Gilmour, guitarist for Pink Floyd, owns the Stratocaster with the serial number 0001.

• Leo Fender who developed the electric guitar couldn’t play guitar.

• The highest price ever paid for any guitar is a record $959,500, for Eric Clapton’s “Blackie”, his favorite stage guitar that was was bought by an anonymous buyer at a charity auction in 2004.

• The most famous quote on the Stratocaster comes from none other than Eric Clapton – “I would challenge anyone to come up with a better design for a guitar, the Fender Stratocaster is as good as it gets.”

Hoping you enjoyed this post on Fender Guitars, our next article is about one of the great guitarists of all time.

Scotty Smith
Guitarist Rock ©2008-2009