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 Home > Learning Center > Fender guitars

Fender guitars

Click here to see our selection of Fender guitars.

Fender Guitars are some of the most iconic guitars ever made, but greatly declined in quality when they began being mass produced.

Leo Fender is responsible for manufacturing one the first electric guitars ever. He may not have invented the electric, but he surely made it iconic and legendary. Fender guitars have been played by musicians ranging from Frank Black in the Pixies, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton to Luther Perkins who played a Fender for Johnny Cash.

While the Esquire was the first model to come out in 1950 its production halted later that same year with only 50 models originally made. They had a back order of over a hundred units, but there were structural problems with the neck, it was not stiff enough, warped, and easily broke. After their short run the Broadcaster was introduced in October 1950 effectively replacing the Esquire. The Broadcaster, which was later renamed the Telecaster, had a truss rod stiffening the neck and two pickups improving off of the one pickup Esquire.

The Stratocaster was introduced in 1954 with three pickups, a highly contoured body, and a built in tremolo arm that worked with the guitar. These improvements over the Telecaster proved to bee an instant success for Fender guitars. Even after 50 years it is still the guitar that all others are judged against. They are used in every type of music from country to rock and roll to surf music.

The Jazzmaster was introduced by Leo Fender in 1958 in an attempt to appeal to jazz musicians. It has specially designed pickups that produced a mellower sound than the Stratocaster but was generally disliked by jazz guitarists. Fortunately for Fender it produced the perfect sound for surf music and became widely popular in the 1960s. They were discontinued in 1982 but remain popular guitars among collectors and guitar aficionados.

All of these guitars have been used by legendary musicians to produce some of the most memorable sounds ever and until 1965 they were handmade from the finest materials. They had custom contoured bodies making each guitar unique, but they also had a number of other finishing touches that made them great guitars. The fingerboards were made from Brazilian rosewood and inlayed with beautiful clay dots and sturdy maple necks. They came in classic yellow tweed cases and had wooden pick guards. Even the lacquer, a nitrocellulose based treatment, looked and felt incredible protecting the spaghetti string logo.

That party ended in 1965 when CBS purchased Fender and began retooling the operation to be able to mass produce these electric guitars. That year marks the death of Fender guitars. Plastics and resins replaced wood where ever possible, the wood changed to a cheaper, Indian variety and a three-bolt neck and die cast bridge was employed which allowed many more to be produced and lowered their production cost but ruined their tone and feel.

CBS’s quest to lower production costs has resulted in a cheaper guitar that doesn’t sound anything like the Fender guitars from 1950-1965 which has made guitars made in those years highly sought after, collectible and very expensive, but anyone who owns one will attest that it is worth it to be able to play on a legend.

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