As a qualified electronics technician, Fender had repaired radios, phonographs, home audio amplifiers, public address systems and musical instrument amplifiers, all designs based on research developed and released to the public domain by Western Electric in the 1930s, using vacuum tubes for amplification.

Production began in 1945 with Hawaiian lap steel guitars like the "Champion" (incorporating a patented pickup) and amplifiers, sold as sets.

In 1950, Fender introduced the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar, the Telecaster ("Tele") (originally named the Broadcaster for two-pickup models and Esquire for single-pickup).

With the Telecaster and Precision Bass having been on the market for some time, Leo Fender was able to incorporate input from working musicians into the Stratocaster's design.

Despite being shunned by the Jazz community, the guitar found a home in the growing surf rock music scene, one that would go on to influence the Jazzmaster's successor, the Jaguar in 1962.

CBS brought in new money and personnel who assembled and put to market a large inventory of Fender parts and unassembled guitars.

The sale also led to a reduction of the quality of Fender's guitars while under the management of "cost-cutting" CBS[citation needed].

A bolder black headstock logo, as well as a brushed aluminum face plate with blue or red labels (depending the model) for the guitar and bass amplifiers became standard features, starting in late 1968.

Other cosmetic changes included a new "tailless" Fender amp decal and a sparkling orange grillcloth on certain amplifiers in the mid-1970s.

In 1966 Fender opened a much a larger facility at 1300 S. Valencia Drive adjacent to the existing factory at 500 South Raymond Avenue.

[13] In 1981, CBS brought in three new executives, John McLaren, William "Bill" Schultz and Dan Smith, who had previously worked for Yamaha Musical Instruments.

To address quality control issues, the Fender Fullerton plant was shut down for a short time in order to revamp manufacturing.

[14] In 1983, the Fender Stratocaster received a short-lived redesign including a single ("master") tone control, a bare-bones pickguard-mounted output jack, redesigned single-coil pickups, active electronics, and three push buttons for pickup selection on the Elite Series.

Previous models such as the Swinger (also known as Musiclander) and Custom (also known as Maverick) were perceived by some musicians as little more than attempts to squeeze profits out of factory stock[citation needed].

In January 2020, the company's UK arm, Fender Europe, was fined £4.5 million after admitting resale price maintenance (a form of price-fixing) between 2013, and 2018, in breach of the United Kingdom's Competition Act 1998.

[28][27] Other notable interviews featured Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour,[29] Glenn Hughes from Deep Purple,[30] and King Crimson's Adrian Belew.

[31] In 2001, Fender eliminated the interviews and features section, and Frontline became an annual illustrated price list until 2006, when it was replaced with a product guide.

[26] Fender's core product are electric guitars, namely the Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Mustang, Telecaster, Stratocaster, Duo-Sonic, Meteora, and Jag-Stang.

[35] Fender manufactures and distributes all musical instruments sold under the EVH brand, including Custom Shop models and replicas of the Frankenstrat.