Leo Fender: 100 Today!
By MNJ
Clarence Leonidas “Leo” Fender was born on August 10th 1909 in California, which makes today his 100th Birthday.
From his early teens, he was tinkering with radios and electronics, building rudimentary PA Systems for local bands and although his early career was in accountancy, he eventually decided that manufacturing amps and guitars would be more profitable than merely repairing them.
After the war he founded the Fender Electric Instrument Company with George Fullerton, producing the first proper guitar amplifiers with names like Deluxe, Champ, Princeton, Twin and Bassman, all still around as Fender amp models.
In response to the demands of local musicians, he designed and built the first solid body electric ‘Spanish’ guitar, the Esquire, which eventually became the Telecaster. At the same time he ‘invented’ the Precision Bass, which transformed bands, previously constrained by the limitations of the double bass, into the guitar, bass and drums format which became the basis of rock music as we know it.
His masterpiece however was undoubtedly the Stratocaster, introduced to the public in 1954 and becoming not only an instant commercial success but a 20th century icon of design. Although there have been countless imitations, copies, versions and varieties, it remains virtually unchanged; still the most popular guitar in the world by far. A list of famous users would be pointless here; you know who they are.
Leo Fender died in 1991, still working at designs and patents for electronics and instruments. Amazingly, he never did learn to play the guitar.
Tags: fender