It features a single-piece maple neck and fingerboard. Fender Electric Guitar Models Fender MusicmasterĬreated in 1956, this was Fender’s first 3/4 scale student-model. Renamed to Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC), ownership was again in the hands of people who were first and foremost dedicated to music. In 1985 ownership was again sold, this time to the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company. Design changes during this period were often due to cost cutting measures that many musicians disagreed with. The highly mobile and fun portrayal of Fender’s design led quite smoothly into the rock and roll lifestyle of the late 50s and early 60s.įender would eventually agree to an offer by CBS and sold his brand for $13 million in 1965. He also had brilliant marketing which not only worked with the evolving culture of the time but might have even helped shape it. Fender was able to keep up with demand in a way that his competition couldn’t thanks to his modular design. But other factors helped launch the brand into the public eye. During that year he would also create his first guitar to sport the now famous F logo.īy 1950 he was ready to take his now perfected prototypes onto the market. Finally, in 1946, Leo headed out on his own to create Fender Electric Instrument Company.

This is where Leo first saw the potential in designing and selling custom audio equipment. Leo’s tinkering with the designs would lead him to co-found a small company called K & F Manufacturing Corp. He was especially intrigued by the problems he’d spot in amplifiers. His specialty was radio, but he also had a steady stream of customers who wanted him to look at various items related to creating music. The Fender brand began with the work of an inventor named Leo Fender. But when one looks closer there’s a lot which even experts might be surprised to find within the brand’s history. But they’ll still be able to give a general description of it. Ask someone what a Strat is and they might be light on details. It’s a brand whose reputation is strong enough to even reach outside that sphere and into the general public knowledge. Fender guitars are a rarity in the music industry.

Fender guitar serial numbers