The story
Founded by Leo Fender in 1946, in Japan.1
History
Origins
The company began as "Fender's Radio Service" in late 1938, in Fullerton, California. As a qualified electronics technician, Leo Fender had repaired radios, phonographs, home audio amplifiers, public address systems and musical instrument amplifiers. He became intrigued by design flaws in contemporary musical instrument amplifiers and began building amplifiers based on his own designs or modifications to existing designs.
By the early 1940s, Leo Fender had entered into a partnership with Clayton Orr "Doc" Kauffman, and they formed the K & F Manufacturing Corp to design, manufacture, and market electric instruments and amplifiers. Doc Kauffman's experience in the industry had great value for Leo. During the 1930's Doc Kauffman had assisted George Beauchamp & Rickenbacker in developing the Lap Steel A-22 Frying Pan, as well the Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts the first full-scale electric guitar. A scale length, which Fender would continue forth. Production began in 1945 with Fender's first stringed instrument design, a Hawaiian lap steel guitar encompassed with a patented pickup and accompanying amplifier. By the end of the year, Fender became convinced that manufacturing was more profitable than repair and decided to concentrate on that business instead. Kauffman remained unconvinced, and he and Fender amicably parted ways in 1946. Fender then renamed the company the "Fender Electric Instrument Company".
The brand's first official guitar design came in spring of 1950 with the release of the Esquire, which came with both single- and double-pickup options. However, as the Esquire's one-piece maple neck proved susceptible to bowing in high humidity, a truss rod was added and the model was renamed the "Broadcaster", and later the "Telecaster" after a trademark dispute with Gretsch. The Telecaster's bolted-on neck allowed for the instrument's body and neck to be milled and finished separately, and for the final assembling to be done quickly and cheaply by unskilled workers. The "Tele" was the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar. Following the success of the Telecaster, Fender debuted the world's first electric bass, the Precision Bass, in 1951, alongside the first-ever bass amp, the Bassman.
In August 1954, Fender unveiled the Stratocaster electric guitar. The "now-iconic" Strat differed significantly from the Telecaster's design in several ways, such as using three pickups, a spring-tension vibrato bridge, and a contoured body shape. Following the Stratocaster's release, the Precision Bass received a major makeover, aligning its design more with the Stratocaster, as opposed to the Telecaster. In 1959, Fender released the Jazzmaster guitar. Like the Stratocaster before it, the Jazzmaster was a radical departure from previous guitar designs, with an offset body, new vibrato system, and innovative electronics that were designed to (unsuccessfully) capture the Jazz guitar market. The Jazz Bass followed in 1960, with the Jaguar released in 1962 and Mustang in 1964, completing Fender's "classic" instrument lineup. Fender began producing acoustic guitars in 1964, as well.
Sale to CBS
In January 1965, Leo Fender sold his companies to the Columbia Records Distribution Corporation, a subsidiary of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), for $13 million ($133 million in 2025 adjusted for inflation). As Fender later explained, "In 1964 Leo found himself with 17 buildings, about 600 employees, and a back order of $9 million in guitars and amps. The overwhelming demands of the company coupled with his often debilitating illness forced him to sell the company to CBS in 1965." Fender's "CBS-era" saw several notable changes implemented, such as a redesigned oversized headstock (1965), bound fretboards with block inlays (1966), and a three-bolt neck joint (1971).
The company introduced new instrument and amplifier designs during this time, as well. The Starcaster, for one, was unusual because of its shallow semi-hollow body design that still retained the traditional Fender bolt-on neck with a new headstock design. The Starcaster also incorporated a new humbucking pickup by P.A.F. designer Seth Lover, the Wide Range pickup. This pickup was installed in three new incarnations of the Telecaster: the Telecaster Custom, the Telecaster Deluxe, and the Telecaster Thinline.
In 1966, Fender opened a much larger facility at 1300 S. Valencia Drive adjacent to the existing factory at 500 South Raymond Avenue. Guitar and amplifier production, which had increased 30% in CBS's first year, soon increased another 45%.
Despite the new models and technology, Fender's popularity waned among players due to a perceived decline in quality with CBS' takeover, while so-called "pre-CBS" vintage instruments became highly collectible. To try and restore the brand's reputation, CBS brought in three new executives in 1981: John McLaren, Bill Schultz, and Dan Smith, who had previously worked for Yamaha Musical Instruments. To address quality control issues, the Fender Fullerton plant was shut down for a short time in order to revamp the manufacturing process. Fender was also struggling to fight against lower cost copycat guitars on the market. Production was moved to Japan. On March 11, 1982, Fender Japan Ltd. was founded.
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After selling his namesake company, Leo Fender founded Music Man in 1975, and G&L Musical Instruments in 1979, both of which manufacture electric guitars and basses based on his earlier designs.
After CBS
In 1985, Bill Schultz and a group of investors—including company employees and external companies like Servco Pacific Capitol—purchased Fender from CBS for $12.5 million and renamed it "Fender Musical Instruments Corporation" (FMIC). However, the sale did not include many of the company's patents or the old Fullerton factory, leading to the cessation of U.S. operations that same year. Production of Fender products instead moved to Japan, but their import strategy became untenable in 1987 when the value of the Japanese yen doubled. Fender reintroduced U.S. production in 1987 with the American Standard series via their new Corona, California-based Custom Shop, which would also release the brand's first artist signature series models, both Stratocasters, for Eric Clapton and Yngwie Malmsteen a year later.
In 1987, Fender established a manufacturing facility in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, and by 1990 Fender and their Japanese partners FujiGen had started manufacturing in the city. In 1991, FMIC moved its corporate headquarters from its Corona location to Scottsdale, Arizona, and the Ensenada plant took over as Fender's primary export line. The plant was rebuilt in 1994 after a fire. Ownership changed in December 2001, when private equity firm Weston Presidio bought a controlling stake in Fender for $57.8 million. Weston Presidio sought an initial public offering in 2012, but the IPO was withdrawn to poor market conditions. Longtime investor Servco instead bought out Weston Presidio, with TPG Growth as an equal partner. Fender began new measures to attract customers, including implementing direct-to-consumer sales in 2015; the introduction of a digital learning platform, Fender Play, and a practice app, Fender Songs; and creating an eCommerce store in China to capitalize on the country's growing music scene. These initiatives resulted in a 300% increase in revenue. In 2020, Servco bought out TPG Growth's stake, making them Fender's majority owner.
In 2025, Fender's headquarters will move to Phoenix, Arizona.
1960s–1980s
Electric guitar-based music continued to increase in popularity into the 1960s, especially among younger musicians. Surf rock icon Dick Dale created his unique sound with a Stratocaster and the brand's amplifiers beginning early in the decade. When Bob Dylan went electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, he was playing a 1964 sunburst-finish Stratocaster. Jimi Hendrix, perhaps the Stratocaster's most well-known player, famously set one on fire at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. He also used a Strat during his rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock, a performance considered one of the most iconic moments of the 1960s. Despite his later association with the Gibson Les Paul, Jimmy Page was gifted a Telecaster by Jeff Beck and used it on much of his early Led Zeppelin work, including "Stairway to Heaven". His bandmate John Paul Jones played Fender's Jazz Bass model. Outside of rock and blues, session bassist James Jamerson created a distinctive feel and groove with his Precision Bass on numerous Motown records, amassing 23 Billboard Hot 100 number one songs during the 1960s and 1970s.
David Gilmour of Pink Floyd extensively used a black Stratocaster during the 1970s and 1980s, as did Eric Clapton with his Strat Blackie. A former Gibson player, Clapton had bought his first Fender in 1967. It made its debut in 1970 on his first solo album and was used in concerts with Derek and the Dominos and on the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. That same year, Clapton gifted a butterscotch Telecaster to his friend Keith Richards just as the Rolling Stones were about to record Exile on Main St. Dubbed "Micawber", Richards replaced the neck pickup with a P.A.F. humbucker and it became his primary guitar for much of his career. Heartland rockers like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen played Telecasters on many of their hits, with Springsteen using his hollowed-out 1952 Tele, "The Mutt", continuously since 1973. In the world of heavy metal, Steve Harris played a single "P-Bass" across all of Iron Maiden's albums beginning in 1975 with the band's debut.
Although Fender's popularity waned somewhat in the 1980s with the rise of heavier music styles and the "superstrat" era, many noted players continued using the brand's guitars and basses. Andy Summers and Sting scored a string of hits with the Police during this time, with Summers using a heavily-modified Telecaster and Sting playing Precision Basses. Shred virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen notably stayed loyal to the Stratocaster throughout this era. Stevie Ray Vaughan prominently played Strats throughout his short career, including his favorite, the battered, sunburst Number One.
From Wikipedia’s article on Fender (company), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3