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Stratocaster, Telecaster… names of legend. These electric, solid-body guitars are at the pinnacle of the luthier’s ancient art thanks to modern technology.

Beginning life in the 1940s under the aegis of Leo Fender, an electronics repairman who reputedly didn’t know how to play guitar, the Fender company has grown into a worldwide producer. Its guitars are now used by professionals everywhere. An innovator in electric design, it developed the first successful Hawaiian laptop. Not long after, the Telecaster came into being.

Produced continuously since 1951, this classic has never gone out of production, or out of style. With an Alder body and a Maple, bolt-on neck it delivers a gorgeous tone using 2 single-coil pickups. Even though they are mass produced, the sound is equal to any handmade model.

Known for its bright tone, produced in part from an innovative pickup design, a Fender is a wonder. The lower pickup has more windings than the neck pickup, producing a greater output at that point. A capacitor is inserted between the two to dampen lower ranges. The result? A lively, clear sound that’s immediately identifiable as a ‘Tele’.

The current American Deluxe is only the latest in a long line of hits. Made from Montego Black Maple and Cherry Burst Rosewood, the jumbo-sized frets along the fingerboard make its attack clean and sure.

But Fender’s fame rests equally on the Stratocaster, or ‘Strat’ as its owners lovingly call it. The choice of such legends as Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and George Harrison, the design has been around since 1954 and never faded. With an Ash body and Maple neck, with Rosewood fretboard, the look and sound say ‘electric guitar’.

At the heart of the guitar is a triple pickup design that delivers a complex sound that is the envy of other manufacturers. At the neck, center and bridge, they resonate to the varying sounds produced at those different points and combine to produce bell-like harmonics.

Widely imitated but never surpassed, the Stratocaster’s head design is even copyrighted. The tremolo bar which actually produces vibrato – a change in pitch, not volume as the word tremolo suggests - is one of the most copied aspects of this fine instrument. Few can match the pure top-end tones of this carefully constructed beauty.

The company also produces bass guitars that have long been the standard among professional players. With a solid construction and deep, enveloping tones, when someone says ‘bass guitar’, they simply mean ‘Fender’.

Wherever you see good music played - whether rock, blues or country - there will be a Fender somewhere nearby. Yes, you can easily pay over $2,000 for a Fender. And if you do, you’ll be getting your money’s worth every day. The choice of professionals for over 50 years, Fender is the standard in electric guitars.