Leo Fender, the creator of the Fender guitar who couldn’t play his creation – Fender, it feels like almost every guitarist on the face of the earth has played a Fender guitar or at least knows Fender guitars. Fender is a famous and legendary brand of guitars, basses and amplifiers created by Clarence Leonidas Fender or Leo Fender
Many world-class guitarists play Fender guitars and use Fender guitars as their main weapon, including Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton, Yngwie Malmsteen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour, and many more guitarists who play Fender guitars.
There is a unique fact behind the creation of the guitar which has given birth to world class guitarists, namely that the creator Leo Fender could never play the guitar and even Leo Fender never learned to play the guitar so he couldn’t play his own creations.
Leo Fender was an American national who founded the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company . In 1965 he sold the company to CBS and founded two more companies which were also involved in the musical instruments industry, namely Music Man and G&L Musical Instrument .
Leo Fender’s talent was noticed when he was still a teenager. When he was 13 years old, Leo Fender was already interested in everything related to electronics. At a relatively young age, Leo had already opened a small radio service kiosk at his parents’ house.
Leo studied accounting at Fullerton College . After graduating from college, Leo worked as an accountant. Leo did not stop pursuing his hobby in electronics. After graduating, Leo worked, but the economic crisis hit at that time and Leo had to be fired from his job twice.
Not discouraged, in 1938, with borrowed money worth USD 600, Leo returned to his hometown of Fullerton. Here Leo opened an electronic equipment repair business, Fender Radio Service . Leo’s skill in repairing electronic devices made him famous. Some musicians order devices that can change the sound of an acoustic guitar to an electric guitar.
The idea to create an electric guitar only emerged when Leo met Clayton Orr Kauffman or Doc Kauffman, who was an inventor of the lap steel guitar and an inventor who worked at the Rickenbacker guitar factory . From that introduction, Leo then invited Kauffman to work together to create electric guitars under the K&F Manufacturing Corporation
Thanks to this collaboration, in 1944 they finally patented an electric guitar under the Fender brand. In 1949, Leo completed a prototype electric guitar. The guitar was then marketed in 1950. The guitar made by Leo with one pickup was named Esquire which later changed to Fender Broadcaster. Several years later, the Fender Telecaster with two pickups was born.
In 1953, Fender started working on a new project, namely the Stratocaster model, a guitar which became one of the best-selling guitars in the world since it was first launched.
Even though Leo created a guitar which is one of the best electric guitars in the world today, Leo was never able to play his creation.
