August 14 carries a lot of weight in history, doesn’t it? Just learned of this August 14, 1951 event:
Most guitar aficionados recognize this icon of rock and roll — the Fender Telecaster. In these drawings on the August 14, 1951, patent grant, it was just a “guitar.”
Leo Fender‘s first name was Clarence? Who knew?
Take a look at page 2 of the patent: Gretsch? What other names do you recognize?
One of my ex-brothers-in-law was Fender’s tax guy, but years later. I was never successful in dropping the hint that Fender’s tax attorney’s brother-in-law might be real grateful if, you know, a sample or a second might find its way to the tax attorney’s office, and then to the brother-in-law’s home and amplifier . . .
Tip of the old scrub brush to Premier Guitar’s Facebook page.
More, Related Material:
- Fender IPO shows how much private equity loves the guitar world (scpr.org)
- Fender Musical Instruments IPO set for Friday (bizjournals.com)
- Les Paul Auction Nets $5m (noise11.com)
- Fender decides against taking the public stage (bostonherald.com)
- The Story of the Guitar: The Complete Three-Part Documentary (openculture.com)
- Telecaster players (gearslutz.com)
- 20 best cheap guitar buys in the world
- Gearofthegodz.com, 20 famous Telecaster players
- Wikipedia list of Telecaster players
“Road worn” Fender Telecaster – photo by Fender
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 