Fender plays away the blues

Pickguard

Jack plug

Tremolo arm: Controls bridge vibrato system. Bridge has six movable saddles that allow intonation of each string to be adjusted so guitar will play in tune up full length of neck

Selector: Five-position switch selects pickup combinations

Pickups: Alnico (aluminum, nickel, cobalt) or ceramic. Neck and middle pickups give warm jazz/blues sound, bridge pickup gives country twang. Ceramic-magnet pickups have harsher, more brittle sound

Body: One-piece, knot-free, solid ash or alder

Frets: 21 or 22

Fingerboard: Rosewood or maple

Nut

Fender Stratocaster headstock with six machine heads

Clarence “Leo” Fender


1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

1946: Leo Fender founds Fender Electric Instruments Company

1949: Fender’s guitars are initially used by Californian country and western acts

1950: Fender launches single and dual pickup solid body electric guitar. Esquire – renamed as Fender Telecaster – sells for $189.50 ($4,950 in today’s money)

1951: Fender launches Precision Bass, his first electric bass

1954: Fender Stratocaster introduced – most popular guitar ever made.
Strat is priced at $249.50

1959: Workforce exceeds 100 employees

1960: Fender Jazz Bass introduced

1965: Business sold to Columbia Broadcasting System for $13 million

1970s: Players such as Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix raise profile of Stratocaster

1975: Bureaucracy at CBS leads to fall in quality. Fender starts to lose money

1980’s: CBS recruits William Schultz (above) from Yamaha Musical Products to turn struggling Fender around

1985: Schultz turns Fender into industry leader after purchasing company from CBS for $12.5m

1996: Production soars – company is valued at around $250m

2005: Schultz retires

2010: Sales reach $618m amid losses of $1.7m

2011: Company has $246m in long-term debt

2012: Fender scraps planned $200m initial public offering on Nasdaq

2017: Plummeting sales threaten to sink Fender

2019: Fender introduces Acoustasonic Telecaster, followed by Acoustasonic Stratocaster

2020: Pandemic triggers guitar revival, especially among women, and biggest sales volume in Fender history

2021: Fender celebrates 75 years with anniversary editions of iconic guitars


Axemen: From left Hank Marvin, Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards; (front right) John Mayer, Albert Hammond Jr.


Sources: Fender Electric Instruments Company, Jay Leonard J, New York Times 
Pictures: Associated Press, Bob Perine, NAMM 
© GRAPHIC NEWS