1909-1991
Fairhaven Memorial Park, Santa Ana
“Rock and Roll as we know it could not exist without Leo Fender.” So says the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, which inducted Fender – the inventor of the Stratocaster electric guitar – in 1992.
Fender was working as a radio repairman when he began experimenting with guitars. He partnered with musician Doc Kaufman and started a company called K&F. His Fender Broadcaster (1948) was the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar.
Fender followed that with the first electric bass, amplifiers and the flashy Stratocaster – a favorite of rock guitarists such as Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.
Fender’s instruments, according to the Hall of Fame, “revolutionized popular music in general and rock and roll in particular.”
