Early Music Revolution - Fender Electric Instruments
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.
By the early 1940s, he had partnered with another local electronics enthusiast named C. O. (Doc) Kauffman and together they formed a company named K & F Manufacturing Corp. to design, manufacture and sell electric instruments and amplifiers. Production began in 1945 with Hawaiian lap steel guitars (incorporating a patented pickup) and amplifiers, which were sold as sets. Fender and Kauffman had amicably parted ways by early 1946 and at that point Leo renamed the company the Fender Electric Instrument Company.
The first electric guitar Fender made was the Esquire, styled after the Rickenbacker Bakelite with a detachable neck. In 1951, Fender invented and marketed the Broadcaster, a new solid-body guitar with Spanish styling, the first to go into commercial production. The Broadcaster was later renamed the Telecaster to avoid legal problems with Gretch and their trademarked “Broadkaster” drum kit. Bass players were soon delighted to a Fender electric bass also in 1951, allowing them to have the freedom and flexibility of sound volume and tone control at their fingertips.
The famous Stratocaster came about a few years later and became the hallmark of vintage electric guitars. Unfortunately, Leo Fender’s health was declining during his highlight years of making electric guitars and he sold the company to CBS in 1965. The years CBS owned the Fender guitar company were “less than stellar” because musicians soon found the parent company had little interest in them or making excellent musical instruments. In 1985, employees, loyal distributors and guitar aficionados bought back the company to return to the original goal set by Leo Fender, that is to make a superior musical instrument demanded by the best musicians in the world.
Once again, Fender Musical Instrument Company makes exceptional quality musical instruments, yet, the most prized are those made by the original master, Leo Fender. Fender vintage electric guitars dating 1964 and before and having Fender serial numbers which correspond to years 1951 to 1964 have the highest value. Fender made good guitars during the era CBS owned the company, after January 5, 1965 to mid-1985, but serious musicians began to feel as if the parent company was bleeding the good name of the maker by making cheaper and less quality instruments. Clearly, profits were more important than making quality guitars and in 1985, company employees, management, loyal business partners and interested investors bought the company back and renamed it the Fender Musical Instruments Company.
The sale to CBS put Leo Fender in a very short retirement before he founded more music instrument companies, MusicMan Instruments and G & L Corporation. Equipment from these companies are fairly rare and, although neither company were financially successful, each have a huge following of professional musicians who use their vintage electric guitars. Fender died March of 1991 at age 81, partially from the stresses of the two companies as well as due to Parkinson’s disease. Leo Fender’s legacy is that of master of the electric guitar revolution. Thank you, Leo!
