Who was Mr. Fender who started the Fender brand? The official Fender website gives a history of Fender guitars and Mr Leo Fender. See our Fender Guitars. See the difference between American Fenders and Mexican Fenders
Clarence Leonidas Fender was born on August 10th 1909 in a barn between Anaheim and Fullerton, California. For a whole year, little Leo and his family lived on one side of the barn while the horses lived on the other!
Leo never learned to play guitar, but was a music lover, particularly Hawaiian music. He took piano and saxophone lessons and played saxophone in the high school band, but preferred the sound of stringed instruments because of their harmonics and tonal variations.
In 1922, while still in grammar school, Leo began tinkering with radios and built his first crystal radio, which he listened to with a pair of earphones. At the time, his uncle owned an auto-electric store in Santa Maria, California, and gave him magazines and books full of electronic experiments which the young Fender performed with relish.
Leo Fender's First Speakers
By the time he graduated from high school in 1928, he was hooked on electronics. He had an amateur "ham" radio station called W-6-DOE and was already building amplifiers and P.A systems, which he rented to dance bands, political rallies, baseball games and entertainment events. 1928 was also the year that the first AC vacuum tubes were available and so, along with the arrival of Paul Jensen's revolutionary new speakers, Leo found himself in a good position to build quality equipment and expand the boundaries of his knowledge.
Leo Fender's Work and Marriage
After graduating from high school, Fender studied accounting for two years. He passed a civil service exam in 1930 and was employed by the California Department of Motor Vehicles' accounting department in 1932-33.
On August 1st 1934, aged 25, he married Esther Klosky, an old friend, and after a job as an accountant in California's Highway Department, decided to start his own business up in 1938.
Leo Fender's First Business
The business in question was a local store called Fender's Radio service. In no time at all, the business blossomed, requiring a change of address. Leo started selling phonograph records on the premises as a sideline, but it was his knowledge of electronics that really got things moving for him. Soon, musicians started bringing their amplifiers for him to repair and the more he worked on them, the more he became interested in musical instrument amplification. After working on so many of these early amplifiers, he was convinced that he could greatly improve their circuitry. Gradually, he began to build amplifiers on a custom-order basis and the musicians liked the sound he gave them.
In the early 1940's, Leo Fender and an associate, Doc Kauffman built a record player with a record changer mechanism so precise that it was displayed, fully operational, in the shop window 24 hours a day. This success led the pair to their next project, which would eventually make music history.
Leo Fender's First Guitar
In 1943, Leo and Doc designed a new pickup and built their first guitar to test the new pickup. The body was narrow, almost plank-like with 6 strings and a fretted neck. This guitar was the first ever prototype and served as a test-bed for positioning pickups. However, this primitive instrument sounded so great that several local musicians asked if they could borrow it. A patent for the pickup was granted on December 7th 1948.
Leo Fender's Success
Due to continued growth and success, the business re-located to larger premises again, and in 1945, under the name K & F, they built the company's first lap model Hawaiian steel guitars, along with their newly designed amplifiers, which they sold as sets.
Leo Fender and the Birth Of The Fender® Corporation
By this time, Leo had really become dedicated to working with electric guitars and amplifiers. Doc had decided (unwisely) that there was no future in electric guitars and left the business in 1946, leaving Fender to go it alone. Now that Leo was the sole owner of the operation, he renamed it the Fender® Electric Instrument Co.
The Fender Telecaster® Guitar
In 1950, Fender introduced the single pickup Esquire® guitar, which was joined the following year by a dual pickup version, which Leo named the Broadcaster. However, as the Gretsch® company already produced a drum kit named the 'Broadkaster', they ordered Fender® to halt production of any instruments bearing that name or face legal action. Rather than halt production, Fender® manufactured a number of pieces with no name on the headstock, merely the Fender® logo. (These hard-to-find models are known as 'No-casters' to collectors). Shortly afterwards, the name Telecaster® was decided upon. Leo decided to call it this because television was growing in popularity. (In fact, 1951 saw the world's first colour television set).
The Fender Precision Bass® Guitar
In 1951, Leo Fender invented the Precision bass®, which was the world's first solidbody electric bass.
The Fender Stratocaster® Guitar
Another milestone occurred in 1954, when Leo invented and produced the Stratocaster®, the world's first three-pickup solidbody electric. The Strat® was built in close consultation with musicians (as was everything else Leo did) and offered more tonal possibilities and contours for player comfort. It also featured a vibrato. The Strat® has changed very little since then.
Leo Fender's Further Achievements
A series of innovations followed, which included the 4x10" Bassman amp in 1955, the Jazzmaster® in 1958, the Jazz Bass® in 1960, the Jaguar® in 1962, the Twin Reverb® in 1963 and the Mustang® in '64.
Time Out
In 1965, Leo began to feel the strain of his continued success and due to health concerns (as well as uncertainties about financing expansion) he sold the company for $13,000,000 to the CBS Corporation in 1965.
Leo took two months off, after which he decided to pursue his interest in boats. He went shopping for one at Newport Beach, settling for a $80,000 40-foot power cruiser. True to form, as soon as he started sailing the new yacht, he immediately began customizing and improving it!
CBS Consultant
Between 1965 and 1970, he was kept on by CBS / Fender ® and as a research and development consultant, during which time, his genius flourished with innovations such as the Fender-Rhodes piano, Mustang® Bass and a vibrato tailpiece for acoustic electrics. He also patented the 12-string bridge and developed an acoustic guitar bridge. One of his last projects as a consultant for CBS was the B-Bender, a pitch-changing device that enabled the player to make pedal steel effects: pulling down on the guitar strap activated a lever setup in the guitar that attached to the B-string.
Music Man Guitars
In 1972, Leo and former employee Forrest White formed a new guitar and bass company - Tri-Sonics, which Leo eventually called Music Man. Under Leo, Music Man made guitars that were quite unlike any Fender® guitars and met with partial success. However, Leo was a victim of his earlier successes and the guitars competed with the phenomenal success of the Fender range. A new generation of players, listening to the likes of Hendrix wanted Fender® and nothing else would do.
In 1979, Leo's wife Esther died of cancer.
G & L Guitars
In 1980, Music Man was sold and Leo started to make his own-brand G & L guitars. (G & L stood for George and Leo).
In 1985, the city of Fullerton made Leo Grand Marshall of the Founder's Day Parade, with new wife Phyllis by his side and thousands of cheering onlookers.
Leo continued to work for his beloved new company despite little financial success. The growing love of Fender guitars and the collectability of the older, pre-CBS models meant that Leo was often approached by musicians with technical questions, which he was always happy to answer.
Leo Fender's Final Days
Even in old age after suffering several small strokes and progressive degeneration from Parkinson's disease, Leo Fender was dedicated to the point of obsession. He continued working every day he was able, sometimes seven days a week. He died on March 21 1991.
Leo Fender left the world with an incredible legacy. The Fender guitar range is one of the most famous, successful and respected names in guitars. Fender guitars are played by the world's most famous musicians and by guitarists who are just starting out. Fender guitars have influenced music for years and their influence continues today.
