LEO FENDER
Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender (August 10, 1909 – March 21, 1991) was an American inventor and pioneer of the electric guitar and amplifier that bear his name. He founded the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company ("Fender") in 1946 and in January 1965, he sold his company to CBS. This is what is meant when people refer to a Fender guitar being pre-CBS (prior to 1965) which are the most collectible of all Fender electric guitars.
The guitars, bass guitars, and amplifiers he designed from the 1940s on are still the standard with musicians today in terms of functionality and elegant design. The Fender Telecaster (1950) was the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar; the Fender Stratocaster (1954) is among the world's most iconic electric guitars; the Fender Precision Bass (1951) set the standard for the new era of the electric bass guitar, and the Fender Bassman amplifier, popular enough in its own right, became the basis for later amplifiers (notably by Marshall and Mesa Boogie) that dominated rock and roll music.
Believe it or not, Leo Fender was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 - a unique achievement considering that he never learned to play the instruments which he made a career of building. Yep that's right! Leo couldn't play guitar! But he sure made it great for the rest of us!
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Leo Fender Quotes:
“Ah, I could make it in the shape of a guitar, and it would a) be more affordable, and b) a guitar player could double on this instrument.”
“The design of each element should be thought out in order to be easy to make and easy to repair.”
“If something is easy to repair, it is easy to construct.”
“I wonder if I could make an electric bass.”
“Let there be bass.”
Here’s a cool guitar history book about the great Leo Fender written by his Wife Phyllis, released in 2017. The co-writer Randall Bell grew up in Leo Fender's neighborhood and his father was the head of the R&D department at the Fender company.
Leo Fender, the man, is revealed in a rare book by his Wife and details many things about him that the rest of us had no way of knowing. The funny thing about Phyllis Fender was that back in the mid-1990s, two different doctors informed her she would be dead in six months and 22 years later, both of the doctors are dead and she’s still here. This book is a great testament to her as well as her husband and guitar legend Leo Fender.
Fender Serial Number Lookup
If you own a Fender guitar and are curious about the date that Fender guitar was made, check out this article from Fender.
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