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- Birthplace: Buena Park, California
- Birthdate: August 10, 1909
- Died: March 21, 1991
- Company originated in 1938, with shop called Fender's Radio Service
- Originally offered electronics including guitar amps
- Sold the company to CBS in 1965
- Later started the musical instrument companies, Music Man and G&L;
- Was not a guitar player
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Leo Fender was an electronics innovator and guitar builder in Fullerton, California. In 1946, he founded a company later known as Fender Musical Instruments, which introduced several designs of electric instrument now standard throughout the world.
Signature Inventions
In the late 1940s, Fender's idea for a solid-body electric guitar had already been explored by several other inventors, to mixed success. But when his Esquire design (later called the Broadcaster and the Telecaster) reached the market in early 1950, country players responded to its practical, no-nonsense design and its distinctively modern sound. It became the first commercial success for the instrument that would become dominant in rock 'n' roll. Fender's 1951 design for a practical electric bass guitar, the Fender Precision Bass, was similarly not unprecedented, but created a usable, modern-sounding instrument that soon became immensely popular and influential.Other Key Designs
Fender's early line of guitars and basses also included the Stratocaster, a 1954 design that, like the Telecaster, continues to be immensely popular and widely imitated. Fender's line of guitar and bass amplifiers are also ubiquitous and much-imitated, as is the Fender Rhodes electric piano.-
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Leo Fender Questions
Did you know that today, 10 Aug, is Leo Fender's birthday? 1 AnswerYes, he was born in 1909 and died in 1991 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Fender read more
Is Leo Laporte a Mormon? 5 AnswersHe has mentioned in his podcasts and tweets that he leans more to the agnostic realm of religion but doesn't advertise it too much because I'm sure he doesn't w... read more



