Fender guitars are probably the most recognizable icon of music for the past 50 years. Starting as a home-grown operation in southern California, Fender guitars and basses have become some of the most heard instruments in the world. From country-western artists of the early 1950's in Bakersfield like Buck Owens to Dick Dale's surf guitar starting in the '60s to the Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Bonnie Raitt, Eddie Van Halen's first guitars, Stevie Ray Vaughn, his brother Jimmy, Robert Cray, the guys in Blink182, Eric Johnson...the list goes on and on.
Some may argue that the Gibson Les Paul, or even a 335 or SG or maybe the Beatles with their Epiphone Casino guitars rank at the top (yeah, yeah, yeah - George and John did use matching Fender strats on "Nowhere Man" and other Fenders on later songs for the Beatle-maniacs out there). But, even with owning Gibsons, Fenders and other guitars myself, I'd have to vote that the most heard and duplicated guitars would be the Fenders.
This is certainly not an all-inclusive site with every bit of Fender trivia - just a brief history on some guitars that shaped many of the sounds and songs from our past to the tunes we listen to today.
