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Fender Guitars: Literally a Household Name

Anybody who isn’t immediately familiar with Fender ought to go outside and drown their electric in a ditch. With the possible exception of Gibson, no guitar company comes close to the influence, quality, skill, and craftsmanship that has made Fender literally a household name.

It is almost impossible to mention Rock and Roll without mentioning the Fender Stratocaster. The Strat has been around since 1954, right about the time when Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the rest of the crew at Sun Records set about creating an entirely new form of music. The Stratocaster is still the guitar of choice among the vast majority of rock stars. Buddy Holly, Eric Clapton (who has his own signature Strat), Buddy Guy, David Gilmour, John Mayer and a plethora of other players from every music genre owe an allegiance to the Strat. In this case, it isn’t simply a brand name choice. The Stratocaster easily earns its place in the pantheon of legendary guitars because of its consistently brilliant design. Nearly all Strats have either two or three single-coil pickups. The third will often have a hot humbucker. The tone of the Stratocaster is incredibly bright and poppy and the sustain and vibrato achievable on the fretboard has to be seen to be believed. If there is any guitar that can come even close to the Strat in terms of popularity and influence, it would be Gibson’s Les Paul.

Lest you think that Fender is a guitar company dedicated only to the pursuit of Rock and Roll, you have likely never heard of the Telecaster. The Tele is THE country electric guitar of choice. The twang achievable on a Telecaster with a set of Tex-Mex pickups instantly clues you in to the fact that no other electric guitar ever made has matched the Telecaster’s ability to create that honky tonk sound. When you listen to Buck Owens, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Waylon Jennings, Steve Wariner, Vince Gill, Merle Travis, and nearly any other country great, the classic sound you hear is that of the Telecaster. Using a bolt-on neck and a fretboard that is either Maple or Rosewood, the Tele delivers a punchy, bright tone that can maintain sustain for days on end. The Telecaster has in fact been around since 1950, predating the Strat. With a single coil pickup that is often supplanted with pickups that further enhance the twang, the Telecaster is easily one of the most cherished and most popular guitars ever made.

Buying one of Fender’s Teles, Strats, Broadcasters or any similar popular model will usually cost upwards of a thousand dollars and, in some instances, over ten thousand dollars. Fender has its own Squire company, however, and Squire makes quite a few decent knockoffs of more expensive Fender fare. On the same token, you can get many Fender acoustics and even electrics for a few hundred dollars. Any guitar player worth his or her tuning pegs knows that they owe Fender big. Without the invention of the Stratocaster and Telecaster, Rock music as we know it wouldn’t exist.