Fender Custom Shop NAMM 2011 Limited '56 Relic Stratocaster Lake Placid Blue Electric Guitar

This is the Fender Custom Shop NAMM 2011 Limited '56 Relic Stratocaster Lake Placid Blue Electric Guitar. 1 of 40 Guitars featuring Gold pickguard and hardware. Buy Now!

Fender is a part of American history.  The company was started in 1938 by Leo Fender in Fullerton California under the name Fender's Radio Service.  As a qualified electronics technician, Leo Fender had been asked to repair not only radios, but phonograph players, home audio amplifiers, public address systems and musical instrument amplifiers. (At the time, most of these were just variations on a few simple vacuum-tube circuits.) All designs were based on research developed and released to the public domain by Western Electric in the '30s, and used vacuum tubes for amplification. The business also sidelined in carrying records for sale and the rental of self-designed-and-built PA systems. Leo became intrigued by design flaws in current musical instrument amplifiers, and he began custom-building a few amplifiers based on his own designs or modifications to designs.

By the early 1940s, he had partnered with another local electronics enthusiast named Clayton Orr "Doc" Kauffman, and together they formed a company named K & F Manufacturing Corp.  to design, manufacture and sell electric instruments and amplifiers. Production began in 1945 with Hawaiian lap steel guitars (incorporating a patented pickup) and amplifiers, which were sold as sets. By the end of the year, Fender had become convinced that manufacturing was more profitable than repair, and he decided to concentrate on that business. Kauffman remained unconvinced, however, and they had amicably parted ways by early 1946. At that point Leo renamed the company the Fender Electric Instrument Company. The service shop remained open until 1951, although Leo Fender did not personally supervise it after 1947.

Leo Fender soon produced one of the worlds first solid body electric guitar by autumn 1949,The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele, is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender. Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music. Introduced for national distribution as the Fender Broadcaster in the autumn of 1949, it was the first guitar of its kind to be produced on a substantial scale. Its commercial production can be traced as far back as March 1950, when the single- and dual-pickup Fender Esquire models were first sold. The Telecaster has been in continuous production in one form or another since its first incarnation, making it the world's oldest solid-body electric guitar.  Today the Fender Telecaster or the Fender Tele is one of the most instantly recognizable guitars in the world.  

1954 was one of the other most historic years for Fender.  That was the year that the Fender Stratocaster was introduced.  Many know it as the Fender Strat.  The Stratocaster was radically sleek, with a contoured body shape (officially referred to by Fender as the "Comfort Contour Body") was a marked difference to the flat, slab-like design of the Telecaster. The body features a unique curve on the upper back and a gradual curve at the front bottom, where the player's right arm rests. The one-piece maple neck's uniquely-shaped wide "dogleg"-style headstock again contrasted to the very narrow Fender Telecaster's headstock shape. The strings are anchored on a through-body pivot bridge attached with springs to a 'claw' in the bridge cavity on the back of the guitar.  In its original form, the Stratocaster was offered in a 2-color sunburst finish on a solid, deeply contoured ash body, a one-piece maple neck with 21 frets, black dot inlays, and Kluson machine heads, until 1957, when Fender started making bodies made from solid alder. The '57 Fender Strat is probably one of the most sought after guitars ever made.  There was also a set of available custom colors that wasn't standardized until 1960.

In 1959 Fender made some marked changes to their beloved Fender Stratocaster.  From 1959 until summer 1962 the fingerboard of the Strat was a piece of rosewood milled flat on the underside and glued to the maple. This has become known as a "slab fingerboard". The slab fingerboard was approx 4.765 mm at its thichkest point in the centre of the neck under strings 3 and 4. From mid 1962 until 1979 the rosewood and maple were pre radiused and the fingerboard became known as curved, round laminate or "veneer", having an even thickness across the neck unlike the previous slab type.

In 1987 the Fender Custom Shop was opened.  It started off in a small 850 sq ft working space.  Fender recruited Texas Guitar Builder Michael Stevens and John Page, a former Fender R&D engineer. The idea was that they’d build a few custom instruments for artists and some showpiece instruments for trade shows. Little did they know what the very near future held in store for the fledgling operation. That summer they had over 600 Fender Custom Shop orders.  The Fender Custom Shop was immediately expanded to accommodate the demand. To this day Fender continues to produce it's Stratocaster, Telecaster, Broadcaster, Esquire, as well as many models.  And Fender is still one of the most sought after guitars manufacturers in the world.  With artists like Buddy Holly, Eric Clapton, David Gimour, and Stevie Ray Vaughn playing Fender Guitars you know that they are the real deal.  Fender has definitely left it's mark on the world of music.