needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . november 2007 learn how and when to remove this template message fender musical instruments corporation formerly called fender electric instrument manufacturing company type private industry musical instruments genre music founded fullerton california u.s. 1946 ; 70 years ago 1946 founder clarence leonidas fender headquarters scottsdale arizona united states area served worldwide key people andy mooney ceo 1 james s. broenen cfo evan jones cmo 2 products electric acoustic resonator & classical guitars acoustic & electric bass guitars banjos mandolins ukuleles harmonicas amplifiers effects units audio equipment brands fender squier gretsch jackson charvel evh 3 divisions corona california usa ensenada baja california mexico website fender.com fender musical instruments corporation fmic commonly referred to simply as fender is an american manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers . it is known for its solid body electric guitars and bass guitars such as the stratocaster also known as the strat telecaster also known as the tele precision bass and the jazz bass . its headquarters are 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 . the company is a privately held corporation with andy mooney serving as the chief executive officer . the company filed for an initial public offering in march 2012 4 but this was withdrawn 5 6 five months later . in addition to its scottsdale headquarters fender has manufacturing facilities in corona california us and ensenada baja california mexico . 7 the company also makes and or distributes acoustic guitars electric basses mandolins banjos and electric violins as well as guitar amplifiers bass amplifiers and pa public address equipment . other fender brands include squier entry level budget jackson charvel gretsch guitars and collaborated with eddie van halen to make the evh guitars and amplifiers . contents 1 history 1.1 origins 1.2 sale to cbs 1.3 after cbs 2 products 2.1 electric guitars 2.2 acoustic guitars 2.3 electric basses 2.4 amplifiers 3 custom shop 4 squier 5 the fender visitor center and factory tour 6 associated artists 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit in 1951 fender offered the first mass produced solid body spanish style electric guitar the telecaster originally named the broadcaster ; esquire is a single pickup version 8 and the first mass produced electric bass the precision bass p bass . in 1954 fender mass produced 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 with musicians in a variety of genres . origins edit diagram of leo fender s lap steel guitar from 1944 patent application . 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 . a custom lap steel guitar made in 1946 for his friend noel boggs was probably the very first product of the new company already sporting the familiar big f logo . 9 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 randall assembled what 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 literatures 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 . sale to cbs edit in early 1965 leo fender sold his companies to the columbia broadcasting system cbs for 13 million . 10 11 this was almost two million more than they had paid for the new york yankees a year before . cbs entered the musical instruments field by acquiring the fender companies fender sales inc. fender electric instrument company inc. fender acoustic instrument company inc. fender rhodes inc. terrafen inc. clef tronix inc. randall publishing co. inc. and v.c. squier company as well as electro music inc. leslie speakers rogers drums steinway pianos gemeinhardt flutes lyon & healy harps rodgers institutional organs and gulbransen home organs . the stratocaster was released in 1954 . this had far reaching implications . the sale was taken as a positive development considering cbs s ability to bring in money and personnel who acquired a large inventory of fender parts and unassembled guitars that were assembled and put to market . however the sale also led to a reduction of the quality of fender s guitars while under the management of cost cutting cbs . several cosmetic changes occurred after 1965 1966 such as a larger headstock shape on certain guitars . bound necks with block shaped position markers were introduced in 1966 . a bolder black headstock logo as well as a brushed aluminum face plate with blue or red labels depending the model for the guitar and bass amplifiers became standard features starting in late 1968 . these first silverface amps added an aluminium trim detail around the speaker baffle until 1970 . other cosmetic changes included a new tailless fender amp decal and a sparkling orange grillcloth on certain amplifiers in the mid 1970s . regarding guitars in mid 1971 the usual four bolt neck joint was changed to one using only three bolts and a second string tree for the two middle g and d strings was added in late 1972 . these changes were said to have been made to save money while it suited the new improved micro tilt adjustment of the neck previously requiring neck removal and shimming the bullet truss rod system and a 5 way pickup selector on most models it also resulted in a greater propensity toward mechanical failure of the guitars . during the cbs era the company did introduce some new instrument and amplifier designs . the fender starcaster was particularly unusual because of its shallow yet completely hollow body design that still retained the traditional fender bolt on neck albeit with a completely different headstock . the starcaster also incorporated a new humbucking pickup designed by seth lover . this pickup also gave rise to 3 new incarnations of the classic telecaster . though more recent use by jonny greenwood of radiohead has raised the starcaster s profile cbs era instruments are generally much less coveted or collectable than the pre cbs models created by leo fender prior to selling the fender companies to cbs in 1965 . the culmination of the cbs cost cutting may have occurred in 1983 when the fender stratocaster received a short lived redesign lacking a second tone control and a bare bones output jack as well as redesigned single coil pickups active electronics and three push push buttons for pickup selection elite series . additionally previous models such as the swinger also known as musiclander and custom also known as maverick were perceived by some musicians as little more than attempts to squeeze profits out of factory stock . the so called pre cbs cult refers to the popularity of fenders made before the sale . after selling the fender company leo fender founded music man in 1975 and later founded the g & l musical instruments company which manufactures electric guitars and basses based on his later designs . after cbs edit leo fender and early guitar models at the fender guitar factory museum . in 1985 in a campaign initiated by then cbs musical instruments division president william schultz 1926 2006 the fender electric instrument manufacturing company employees purchased the company from cbs and renamed it fender musical instruments corporation fmic . behind the fender name fmic has retained fender s older models along with newer designs and concepts . the sale however did not include the old fullerton factory ; fmic had to build a new facility in nearby corona . fender manufactures its highest quality most expensive guitars at its corona factory in california and manufactures a variety of other mid to high quality guitars at its ensenada factory in baja california mexico . channing ward is the lead designer of the 2009 stratocaster . fender also contracts asian guitar builders to manufacture fender guitars and the economy priced entry level squier guitars . in 1991 fmic moved its corporate headquarters from its corona location to scottsdale arizona . currently this is where administration marketing advertising sales and export operations take place not only for the united states operations but many other countries also . 12 older vintage and u.s. built fender guitars are generally the most favored but pre 1990 fender japan guitars are now highly regarded as well . fender guitars built in ensenada mexico now fulfill the primary export role formerly held by japanese made fenders . the japanese fenders are now manufactured specifically for the japanese market with only a small number marked for export . on february 11 1994 the fender manufacturing plant based in ensenada mexico burned down . fender president bill shultz decided to temporarily move production from the mexico plant to the u.s. plant . these fender guitars are fairly rare and can be identified by the unique serial number . in recent years fmic has branched