Inductee Biography for FENDER MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION
Fender Musical Instruments Corp. has had a corporate home in Scottsdale since 1991. The company was founded by Leo Fender back in 1946 in Fullerton, Calif. According to Fender’s website: “A radio repairman by trade and inventor at heart, Leo Fender made the transition to musical instruments by default, tinkering with his friends’ faulty amps. In 1943, he teamed up with local musician and inventor Doc Kaufmann and formed K&F Manufacturing Corp, producing a limited run of amplifiers and lap steel guitars at the height of the Hawaiian music craze. When the two parted ways a few years later, Fender continued working under his own name, developing the original Princeton, Deluxe and Professional amps in 1946. Built with hardwood cabinets, Fender’s original ‘woodie’ amps – as they’ve come to be known in collectors’ circles – were among the first products to bear the official Fender seal.” Fender also brought the world the Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars and the Jazz and Precision bass guitars. What else needs to be said?

Fender Musical Instruments Corp. website