Magic Moment
The moment when Leo Fender got the idea about the electric guitar says a lot about what made him tick.
Germany invaded Poland in 1939, just a year after Leo got married. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, millions of men jumped at the chance to serve their country, but Leo was left at home. The Army did not want him because he had a glass eye. This did not sit well with Leo, who knew he could contribute and was always eager to help.
Leo never once complained about his situation, he just quietly kept moving forward. He loved his country, and he wanted to do his part to serve. This meant that he needed to invent a way to do it. That was okay because Leo was an inventor at heart.
In the 1940s, it was common to have war bond dances where the town would come out, sing, dance and hopefully buy some war bonds and stamps to support the troops. One warm summer night, at a park in Fullerton near his high school, Leo figured out how he could help. He was the guy who would set up the dances. He was good with electronics, so he would lay the cables to bring in the electricity, string the lights from tree to tree, set up the microphones and amplifiers for the singers, set up chairs, and quietly get the whole event set up.
Leo typically worked alone, a nondescript, quiet man who was attentive and pleasant and made the place come alive. Content with being in the background, Leo silently enjoyed the setting he created.
When the sun went down, and scores of people flowed into the dance, Leo remained on the sidelines. Leo was always calm, and keenly observant. He stood by in case anything broke or needed his attention. Not being much of a dancer himself, he just enjoyed the simple things, like seeing everyone enjoying themselves, watching the sales of bonds and stamps, and knowing that he was doing his part to support his country.
One warm, Fullerton summer night, everything was going smoothly, so Leo just sat near the band enjoying the music. At the war bond dance, they were mostly playing big band music, and Leo always admired musical talent. While Leo had played the piano and saxophone in high school and college, he no longer played any instruments. Leo knew music took both a special gift and a lot of time. He never really got good himself, but he appreciated those who did. He watched the brass section, tapped his foot to the beat of the drums, and soaked in the beautiful singing.
Then something caught Leo’s eye. Leo noticed the guitar players. That was the moment that changed the world forever.
While the guitarists played their wooden, acoustic guitars with all their might, nobody could hear them. They were playing their hearts out, but they were basically invisible! Leo felt bad for them. The guitarists had to be heard! Leo got an idea. He was determined to help these talented musicians be heard, just like the rest of the band.
The whole idea of the electric guitar was sparked by Leo Fender’s deep, never-ending desire to help other people. The birth of the electric guitar is a profound story, and it reveals so much about Leo. It was never about Leo, and it would never be about Leo. He simply wanted the underdog to be heard. Little did he know that he was changing the world. He had no idea of the millions of dollars or the international fame that would be coming his way. For Leo, it was all about his deep, authentic passion for helping people.
From setting up for the dance to helping fund a cause he felt so deeply about, to working behind the scenes to make sure everyone had a good time, to the moment he wanted to help a struggling guitarist to get heard, it was never about Leo. In his mind, it was all about helping his country, the dancers, and ultimately the musicians.
Leo in high school
That’s the secret to understanding Leo Fender. He knew that helping others made him happy, and he never strayed from that guiding principle.
THE TELECASTER DAYS
The idea to help the struggling guitarists remained Leo’s obsession for the rest of his life.
The day after the dance, in 1943, Leo Fender went to his radio shop. He got out some drafting paper and started working on designing a ground-up, solid-body electrical guitar with electrical pickups. Nobody had ever done it before, but that did not stop him. He told me that at his radio shop, he got a hunk of wood, cut the middle, out and put some electronics in it. That is where the magic began. He built several “paddle guitars” that quickly evolved into the guitars we see today.
Leo’s high school yearbook
When Leo came out with the electric guitar, he said that people laughed and made fun of him. Scoffing, people called them “boat paddles.” Most people do not like being laughed at. Leo did not like it either, but he did not take it personally. He converted that energy into fuel that propelled him forward. Leo believed in himself and in his invention.
Ironically, when Leo’s electric guitar took off, the critics went from laughing to trying to take credit. Some manufactured a debate over who really invented the electric guitar, so let’s clear that up. At the time that Leo invented the electric guitar, a few people were starting to put pickups on regular acoustic guitars. Leo never claimed to have invented that concept, and some people, including himself, were putting pickups on different things like steel lap guitars. However, Leo got the idea from the war bond dance to put pickups on a solid body piece of wood, and create what today is considered a true electric guitar. When these kinds of discussions came up, Leo would just smile, and calmly say, “I’ve got the patent.”
Leo really had something, but it did not take off immediately. In his rented shop on Harbor Boulevard, Leo bought some parts from Mr. Ellingson, who owned the shop he rented. Leo built guitar after guitar, but they did not sell overnight. After thirty days Mr. Ellingson came to collect on his invoice, and Leo just said, “You can’t collect on that bill, I haven’t sold the guitar yet.” Mr. Ellingson just smiled and tried to explain things to Leo, who as an accountant knew better. However, Leo soon did sell the guitar, and then another and another. And they just kept on selling. Sales may have started off slow, but they quickly picked up. Leo paid his bills.
Leo’s first shop is listed on the National Historical Register. It is a good thing too because that building was made from beautiful brick, while all the rest of Leo’s buildings were so ugly! Leo just wanted places to get the job done, and he was no interior decorator. The key word for Leo was function! From the time Leo started building his own factories, the rest of his buildings were non-descript, grey, concrete block buildings. But I will say that inside those ugly buildings, beautiful things did happen.
Today, at the rear of his first building there is a ceramic mural of a striking red Stratocaster guitar, created by wonderful school children from Fullerton.
While the war was raging, Leo met Clayton Orr “Doc” Kauffman. Doc had been a designer of lap steel guitars in the 1930s for Rickenbacker. Leo talked Doc into teaming up, and they formed the K&F Manufacturing Corporation. In 1944, Leo and Doc patented a lap steel guitar that used a pickup that Leo had patented. Leo would later buy out Doc’s interests and rename the company after himself.
Guitar Player magazine said,
Clayton Orr “Doc” Kauffman was a key person in Leo’s introduction to manufacturing. “Leo came by one day,” recalled Doc, “and he said, ‘Hey, you’ve been building guitars around here – want to build some together?’ and I said, ‘Well, sure, sounds okay to me.” Kauffman and Fender called their company K&F and built lap steels and small amps. Doc was dubious about a
