Bman's Blues Report

Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender (August 10, 1909 – March 21, 1991) was an American inventor who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, or "Fender" for short. He left the company in the late 1960s, and later founded two other musical instrument companies, MusicMan and G&L Musical Instruments. The guitars, bass guitars, and amplifiers he designed from the 1940s on are still relevant: the Fender Telecaster (1949) was the first mass-produced electric guitar; the Fender Stratocaster (1954) is among the world's most iconic electric guitars; the Fender Precision Bass (1951) set the standard for electric bass guitars; and the Fender Bassman amplifier, popular enough in its own right, became the basis for later amplifiers (notably by Marshall and Mesa Boogie) that dominated rock and roll music. In the 1950s, Leo Fender had contracted a strep infection which caused his health to deteriorate to the point at which he decided to wind up his business aff...

(DVD) Leo Fender launched his Broadcaster guitar later named the Telecaster in 1950. Little did he realize that his invention would forever change popular music. This 2-DVD set features interviews with some of the world's finest musicians, including Albert Lee, Steve Cropper, James Burton, GE Smith, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck and many others, plus noted Fender experts and historians such as Tom Wheeler, Richard Smith and Mac Yasuda. Filmed in the US and Europe, this in-depth documentary includes previously unavailable footageof the Fender production line in the 1950s, as well as up-to-date factory and custom shop tours in the Corona, CA facility. Disc One = 83 min, Disc Two = 76 min.