Fender Musical Instruments Corporation of
Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body
electric guitars, including the
Stratocaster and the
Telecaster. The company, previously named the
Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, was founded in
Fullerton, California, by
Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender in 1946. Leo Fender also designed one of the first commercially successful solid-body
electric bass, the
Precision Bass (P-Bass), which has become known in rock, jazz, country, Motown, funk, and other types of music.
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. William (Bill) Mendello is Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer and James Broenen is Chief Financial Officer.
Fender's headquarters are in Scottsdale, Arizona with manufacturing facilities in Corona, California (USA) and Ensenada, Baja California (Mexico).
Fender offered the first mass-produced solid-body Spanish-style electric guitar, the Telecaster (originally named the 'Broadcaster'; 'Esquire' is a single pickup version)[1] the first mass-produced electric bass, the Precision Bass (P-Bass); and 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.
