Leo Fender (100 años)

Leo Fender nació hace 100 años.

Clarence Leonidas Fender, better known as "Leo Fender" is the creator and inventor of the world famous "Fender Guitar". Some of the world's greatest musicians prefer to play none other than a "Fender Guitar". Leo Fender was born August 10, 1909 on his parents farm in Anaheim, CA. In Leo's spare time he enjoyed repairing electronic equipment. During high school, Leo decided to pursue a professional career in accounting. By the early 1930's Leo married his wife Esther Klosky and worked as an accounted for the State of California Highway Department in San Louis Obispon. When the great depression hit Leo unfortunately lost his job.

Leo who was an extreamly resourceful and creative man decided to start his own business. He borrowed six hundred dollars and opened an equipment repair shop called Fender Radio Service. Eventually Leo got involved in the guitar and amplifier business as well. Leo soon found his true passion in life, this ending up making him a very successful entrepreneur. Leo re-invent and improve on the technology of the electric guitar. His new guitar had a cutting edge sound which ended up revolutionizing and changing the face of the music industry. In his later years, Leo's health began to fail him. Leo continued to innovate right up until his final days. Leo suffered a number of strokes and developed Parkinson's disease, and died on March 21, 1991.

Leo Fender

It’s safe to say there would be no such thing as rock and roll without its distinctive instrumentation. To put it another way, rock and roll as we know it could not exist without Leo Fender, inventor of the first solid-body electric guitar to be mass-produced: the Fender Broadcaster. Fender’s instruments - which also include the Stratocaster, the Precision bass (the first electric bass) and some of the music world’s most coveted amplifiers - revolutionized popular music in general and rock and roll in particular.

Leo Fender and the Heart of Rock ‘n’ Roll

The designer, engineer and inventor would found the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, the banner under which he created and produced the first wave of commercially successful electric guitars, basses and amplifiers. Fender’s panache for instrument design reached its pinnicle with his work on the Telecaster guitar, the Fender Precision bass and, most famously, the Stratocaster, the musical instrument that was the central force in defining rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s and ’60s, and whose influence continues to dominate every genre of popular music.

Leo Fender didn’t invent the electric guitar. Six-string slingers had been experimenting with rudimentary amplification systems since the early decades of the 20th century. Always itching for more volume, guitarists were eager to be heard above the drums and other loud instruments in the dance bands of the time.

The first real innovations toward electric axes, however, came with the awarding of two patents for magnetic pickups. The first went to Gibson’s Guy Hart for his company’s Hawaiian guitar design on July 13, 1937, and the second went to Rickenbacker’s George Beauchamp for his horseshoe magnet pickup design featured on his company’s lap steel “frying pan” guitars, on August 10, 1937 — coincidentally, Fender’s 28th birthday.

The earliest electric guitars were either of the lap steel or hollow body archtop varieties. It wasn’t until guitarist Les Paul constructed his own prototype solid body electric, nicknamed “The Log,” in 1946 that the stage would be set for the revolution that would define popular music in the second half of the century.

And that’s where Leo Fender comes in.

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Rory Gallagher is and always will be THE strat master. Four hour shows almost every night for his whole adult life, never sold out (even though he was asked to join many top bands) with the same strat in his hands playing like his life depended on it, the real deal!! RIP Rory (tomado de los comentarios del video)

Jonathan Richman - Fender Stratocaster

Born in the 50s looking so bold Fender Stratocaster Everythin' your parents hated about rock 'n roll Fender Fender Fender Wangin' and a twangin, sounding so tough Fender Stratocaster And the kids in my corner, they can't get enough Fender Fender Fender Like the wind in your hair when the top is down Like taillights headed for another town Fender Stratocaster, well there's something about that sound. Like gasoline in the sand Fender Stratocaster Like a motorcycle at a hotdog stand Fender Fender Fender Like the Dunkin Donuts in Mattapan Fender Stratocaster Like the Thrifty Drugs in Santa An' Fender Fender Fender Well the sound is thin and the sound is cheap Like a tin can falling on a dead end street Fender Stratocaster, well there's something about that sound. (Guitar)

Well how can it sound so tough? Fender Stratocaster And it's made to be treated rough. Fender Fender Fender It's got the ancient Egyptian script Fender Stratocaster It's got the wang bar from the crypt. Fender Fender Fender Oh you should have known it right off the bat One look and you know it would sound like that Fender Stratocaster, well there's something about that sound. Like gasoline in the sand Fender Stratocaster Like a motorcycle at a hotdog stand Fender Fender Fender Like the Dunkin Donuts in Matapan(?) Fender Stratocaster Like the Thrifty Drugs in Santa An' Fender Fender Fender Oh and the sound so thin it's barely there Like a bitchy girl who just don't care Fender Stratocaster, well there's something about that sound. Like Woo Woo Ginsberg at the juke box joint You hear the sound and you get the point. Fender Stratocaster, well there's something about that sound. Oh Oh Oh Alright, etc.