Despite never playing a note, one man’s influence on modern music still lingers today. Leo Fender designed the Fender Telecaster, which came to define the “Bakersfield Sound”, a gritty alternative to the Nashville polish that overtook country music in the mid-to-late 1950s. Fender died on this day (March 21) in 1991 of complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was 81 years old. On the 35th anniversary of his death, we’re reflecting on the contributions and accomplishments of Leo Fender.
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Born Aug. 10, 1909, in Anaheim, California, Fender did play saxophone and piano as a child, but the fledgling electronics industry was always his primary passion. At age 14, he visited his uncle’s automotive-electric shop in Santa Maria, where John West showed his nephew a radio he had fashioned from spare parts. This was the early 1920s, and the first commercial radio broadcasts had only taken place a couple years prior.
Fender began repairing radios in his spare time, continuing to tinker with electronics while studying accounting at Fullerton Junior College. He earned his degree just as the Great Depression was taking hold, working a series of accounting jobs that would eventually lay him off.
Leo Fender and the Telecaster
Fender’s break came when a Hollywood bandleader commissioned him to build six public address (PA) systems for local dance halls. In 1938, he and wife Esther returned to Fullerton, where he borrowed $600 to open his own radio repair shop, Fender Radio Service.
Gradually expanding, Leo Fender’s repair business eventually evolved into a one-stop shop for musicians. In the early 1940s, he teamed up with Doc Kauffman, Rickenbacker’s chief designer of electric guitars, to form K & F Manufacturing Corp. The partnership faded, but the business didn’t, with Leo rechristening it as Fender Electric Instrument Co. in 1947.
Recognizing a need for an affordable, reliable guitar that wouldn’t cause feedback, Fender developed the single pickup Fender Esquire in 1950. He later released a double-pickup version called the Broadcaster, which he renamed the Telecaster due to trademark issues.
Allowing for a range of sounds, the Telecaster soon became a fixture in the music industry. Buck Owens, and Tennessee Ernie Ford used the instrument in their recordings. Session guitarist James Burton, who also favored the Telecaster, featured on songs by The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, The Monkees, Emmylou Harris, John Denver, and many others.
Today’s Telecaster looks much the same as the first one ever designed by Leo Fender. Eight years after his death, he received a posthumous Technical Grammy Award in 1999.
Featured image via X/Twitter
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