14 Facts About Leo Fender

Clarence Leonidas Fender was an American inventor and founder of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

Leo Fender designed the Fender Bassman amplifier, which became the archetype for later amplifiers that dominated rock and roll music.

Leo Fender, who was not a guitarist himself, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

Clarence Leonidas Fender was born on August 10,1909, to Clarence Monte Fender and Harriet Elvira Wood, owners of a successful orange grove located between Anaheim and Fullerton, California.

At the age of eight, Leo Fender developed a tumor in his left eye, resulting in the eye being removed and being replaced with a glass eye, making him ineligible for the draft in World War II later in life.

When he was 14, Leo Fender visited his uncle's automotive-electric shop in Santa Maria, and was fascinated by a radio his uncle had built from spare parts.

Soon thereafter, Leo Fender began repairing radios in a small shop in his parents' home.

In 1928, Leo Fender graduated from Fullerton Union High School, and entered Fullerton Junior College as an accounting major, though he continued to work with electronics.

Leo Fender recognized the potential for an electric guitar that was easy to hold, tune, and play, and would not feed back at dance hall volumes as the typical archtop would.

Leo Fender, assisted by draftsman Freddie Tavares, began designing the Stratocaster in late 1953.

In June 1957, Leo Fender announced a redesign of the Precision Bass.

Walker and White went to Leo Fender to help finance their company and it evolved into "Music Man", a name Leo Fender preferred over their name.

In 1934, Leo Fender married Esther Klosky, and the couple remained together until Esther's death from cancer in 1979.

Leo Fender was buried at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana, California, next to his first wife Esther.