The company began as Fender's Radio Service in late 1938 in Fullerton, California. It got its name from the surname of its founder Leo Fender. As a qualified electronics technician, Leo Fender had been asked to repair not only radios, but phonograph players, home audio amplifiers, public address systems and musical instrument amplifiers. (At the time, most of these were just variations on a few simple vacuum-tube circuits.) All designs were based on research developed and released to the public domain by Western Electric in the 1930s and used vacuum tubes for amplification. The business also sidelined in carrying records for sale and the rental of self-designed PA systems. Leo became intrigued by design flaws in contemporary musical instrument amplifiers and began building amplifiers based on his own designs or modifications to designs.
By the early 1940s he had partnered with local electronics enthusiast Clayton Orr "Doc" Kauffman and together they formed the company K & F Manufacturing Corp to design, manufacture, and market electric instruments and amplifiers. Production began in 1945 with Hawaiian lap steel guitars (incorporating a patented pickup) and amplifiers sold as sets. By the end of the year Fender became convinced that manufacturing was more profitable than repair and he decided to concentrate on that business instead. Kauffman however remained unconvinced and he and Fender amicably parted ways by early 1946. At that point Leo renamed the company the Fender Electric Instrument Company. The service shop remained open until 1951, although Leo Fender did not personally supervise it after 1947. Fender owed its early success not only to its founder and talented associates such as musician/product engineer Freddie Tavares but also to the efforts of sales chief, senior partner and marketing genius Don Randall. According to The Stratocaster Chronicles (a book by Tom Wheeler; Hal Leonard Pub., Milwaukee, WI; 2004, p. 108), Mr. Randall assembled what Mr. Fender's original partner Doc Kauffman called “a sales distributorship like nobody had ever seen in the world.” Randall worked closely with the immensely talented photographer/designer Bob Perine. Their catalogs and ads were innovative—such as the "You Won't Part With Yours Either" campaign, which portrayed people surfing, skiing, skydiving, and climbing into jet planes, all while holding Jazzmasters and Stratocasters.
In Fender guitar literature of the 1960s, attractive, guitar-toting teenagers were posed with surfboards and Perine's classic Thunderbird convertible at local beachside settings, firmly integrating Fender into the surfin’/hot rod/sports car culture of Southern California celebrated by the Beach Boys, beach movies, and surf music. (The Stratocaster Chronicles, by Tom Wheeler; Hal Leonard Pub., Milwaukee, WI; 2004, p. 108). This early success is dramatically illustrated by the growth of Fender's manufacturing capacity through the 1950s and 1960s.

 





Fender offered the first mass-produced solid-body Spanish-style electric guitar, the Telecaster (originally named the 'Broadcaster'; 'Esquire' is a single pickup version)^[4] the first mass-produced electric bass, the Precision Bass (P-Bass); and the popular Stratocaster (Strat) guitar.
While Fender was not the first to manufacture electric guitars, as other companies and luthiers had produced electric guitars since the late 1920s, none was as commercially successful as Fender's. Furthermore, while nearly all other electric guitars then were either hollow-body guitars or more specialized instruments such as Rickenbacker's solid-body Hawaiian guitars, Fender had created versatile solid-body electric guitars. These guitars were and still are popular for musicians in a variety of genres.

Eric Clapton playing a Fender Stratocaster

Many bands still use Fender guitars today. Some notable Fender players, both past and present, include Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Roy Buchanan, Eric Clapton, Kurt Cobain, Albert Collins, Steve Cropper, Mike Dirnt, Bob Dylan, Tinsley Ellis, John Frusciante, Rory Gallagher, Danny Gatton, David Gilmour, Buddy Guy, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Doyle Holly, Mark Hoppus, Ernie Isley, Waylon Jennings, Mark Knopfler, Yngwie Malmsteen, Johnny Marr, Hank Marvin, John Mayer, Paul McCartney, Duff Mckagan, Tom Morello, Dave Murray, Buck Owens, Brad Paisley, Rick Parfitt, Tom Principato, Don Rich, Keith Richards, Jim Root, Francis Rossi, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, The Bad Dolphins, Lucas Sierra, Robert_Smith_(musician), Webb Wilder, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, Robin Trower, Keith Urban, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Brian Wilson and many others.

 

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC), commonly referred to simply as Fender, is a US manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers. They are particularly known for solid-body electric guitars and bass guitars, including the Stratocaster, Telecaster, Precision Bass, and Jazz bass. It is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. The company, previously named the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, was founded in Fullerton, California, by Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender in 1946.^[1] Leo Fender also designed one of the first commercially successful solid-body electric basses, the Precision Bass (P-Bass), which has become known in rock, jazz, country, Motown, funk, and other types of music. Fender's Precision and Jazz Bass models are now widely considered a standard to which most other electric bass guitars are measured.
The company is a privately held corporation, with the controlling majority of its stock owned by a group of its own company officers and managers. Larry Thomas is Chief Executive Officer and James Broenen is Chief Financial Officer. The company filed for an Initial public offering in March 2012.^[2] In addition to its Scottsdale headquarters, Fender has manufacturing facilities in Corona, California (US) and Ensenada, Baja California (Mexico).^[3]