One person who did more to create a musical revolution in the early days of electrical musical instruments was Clarence Leonidas Fender, or rather, Leo Fender. He and C. O. (Doc) Kauffman worked together to make and market a guitar and amplification system that had a clean, clear sound without feedback at higher volume. Before their successful solid body guitar, the electronic pick-ups would get vibrations from the guitar's sound box as well as from the strings. By eliminating the sound box found on classical, Spanish-style guitars, they were able to control the feedback caused by secondary signals to the pick-ups. Amplifiers were then able to just get the vibrations from the strings which were clean and defined. That pure sound was then able to be amplified by the vintage guitar amplifiers.
Leo found another electronics enthusiast in C. O. (Doc) Kauffman and formed a company to design, manufacture and sell Hawaiian lap steel guitars and their amplifiers in the early 1940's, named the K & F Manufacturing Company. K & F began making lap steel guitars in 1945 using their innovation of wound electronic pick-ups to gather the sound from the strings to feed it to the amplifier. The next generation of the company evolved to be the Fender Electric Instrument Company after Doc Kauffman left Leo Fender in 1946.
The Esquire was Fender Musical Instrument Company's first unique product. While Leo Fender would argue its originality, it did resemble Rickenbacker's Bakelite guitar. Like the Rickenbacker, the Esquire had a separate neck piece which made it much easier to make and fix. The Broadcaster also came out in 1951, but was quickly renamed the Telecaster to avoid further legal action from the Gretch Musical Instrument Company because of the similar name to their trademarked drum kit, named "Broadkaster". Innovations continued that year with the Precision Bass, the first vintage electric bass guitar. Bass players were delighted to have volume and tone control at their fingertips as well as a more durable, much more compact instrument than the traditional stand-up bass.
A few years after the Telecaster obtained its famous reputation, Fender released its hallmark vintage electric guitar, the Stratocaster. Being a market leader began taking its toll on Leo Fender and due to declining health, sold the Fender Musical Instrument Company to CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System). From 1965 to 1985, the brand languished because of the apparent lack of interest the parent company had for music, musicians and the reputation of Fender. Many felt CBS failed to maintain innovation and the high quality standards set by Leo Fender during their two decade ownership. As a result, loyal business partners, company employees and investors wanting to return to original standards bought the company back and reinstated Leo's original premise of making excellent musical instruments.
Although the present Fender company has come back to make extremely high quality musical instruments, the most prized Fender vintage guitars are those made up until January, 1965. Guitars made before January 5, 1965 were the original Fender masterpieces and those from that date until 1985 were a production of CBS. Master musicians and serious vintage electric guitar collectors highly desire Esquires, Telecasters and Stratocasters sporting Fender serial numbers from 1951 through 1964. Additional models like the Mustang introduced in 1964, the JazzMaster in 1958, the Jaguar, a new version of the JazzMaster introduced in 1962 are all rare finds and highly prized. In fact, the so-called "student" guitars like the Mustang, the MusicMaster and the DuoSonic of pre-1965 command high values because of their year of make and who made them.
Unfortunately, Leo Fender passed away March 21, 1991 at age 81 from complications of Parkinson's disease but did get to see the success of his foresight and innovation. Fender had once again entered the top position of master guitar building and regained its name for superior musical instruments. - 15478
Leo found another electronics enthusiast in C. O. (Doc) Kauffman and formed a company to design, manufacture and sell Hawaiian lap steel guitars and their amplifiers in the early 1940's, named the K & F Manufacturing Company. K & F began making lap steel guitars in 1945 using their innovation of wound electronic pick-ups to gather the sound from the strings to feed it to the amplifier. The next generation of the company evolved to be the Fender Electric Instrument Company after Doc Kauffman left Leo Fender in 1946.
The Esquire was Fender Musical Instrument Company's first unique product. While Leo Fender would argue its originality, it did resemble Rickenbacker's Bakelite guitar. Like the Rickenbacker, the Esquire had a separate neck piece which made it much easier to make and fix. The Broadcaster also came out in 1951, but was quickly renamed the Telecaster to avoid further legal action from the Gretch Musical Instrument Company because of the similar name to their trademarked drum kit, named "Broadkaster". Innovations continued that year with the Precision Bass, the first vintage electric bass guitar. Bass players were delighted to have volume and tone control at their fingertips as well as a more durable, much more compact instrument than the traditional stand-up bass.
A few years after the Telecaster obtained its famous reputation, Fender released its hallmark vintage electric guitar, the Stratocaster. Being a market leader began taking its toll on Leo Fender and due to declining health, sold the Fender Musical Instrument Company to CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System). From 1965 to 1985, the brand languished because of the apparent lack of interest the parent company had for music, musicians and the reputation of Fender. Many felt CBS failed to maintain innovation and the high quality standards set by Leo Fender during their two decade ownership. As a result, loyal business partners, company employees and investors wanting to return to original standards bought the company back and reinstated Leo's original premise of making excellent musical instruments.
Although the present Fender company has come back to make extremely high quality musical instruments, the most prized Fender vintage guitars are those made up until January, 1965. Guitars made before January 5, 1965 were the original Fender masterpieces and those from that date until 1985 were a production of CBS. Master musicians and serious vintage electric guitar collectors highly desire Esquires, Telecasters and Stratocasters sporting Fender serial numbers from 1951 through 1964. Additional models like the Mustang introduced in 1964, the JazzMaster in 1958, the Jaguar, a new version of the JazzMaster introduced in 1962 are all rare finds and highly prized. In fact, the so-called "student" guitars like the Mustang, the MusicMaster and the DuoSonic of pre-1965 command high values because of their year of make and who made them.
Unfortunately, Leo Fender passed away March 21, 1991 at age 81 from complications of Parkinson's disease but did get to see the success of his foresight and innovation. Fender had once again entered the top position of master guitar building and regained its name for superior musical instruments. - 15478
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Vintage guitars are a great investment in this wayward and slippery economy. Add value to your investments with a vintage guitar.
