Or those who think that great things aren't still being made in the USA, I say check out the Fender Guitar Factory Tour and Visitor Center in Corona, California. A must-see for any guitarist, bassist or music-lover, this place gives guests a chance to go behind the scenes and see how legendary Fender guitars are made from a start to finish.
The complex also boasts a world-class collection of rare instruments on display, as well as hundreds of new ones for purchase in the 8, 600-sq-ft Visitor Center.
My recent getaway to the Fender factory and museum began when a friend and I booked an 11:30 am tour and drove about 50 miles southeast from Los Angeles to Corona. At the Visitor Center, we checked-in, put on a headset and safety goggles and followed our guide outside to the Fender Factory across the parking lot.
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The huge factory, which produces more than 300 Fender guitars and basses per-day, is arranged in sections, where various experts work on the instrument's metal, wood, painting and electronic components, before testing begins and the musical masterpieces are ready to shipped around the world to their new owners.
Our tour began in the metal shop, where actual, real people use large lathes to shape and cut metal pieces and bars to go on the guitars. We then strolled over to the wood working section, where giant computerized machines precisely cut giant chunks of ash or alder wood into beautiful curved guitar bodies. Near here, machines also cut strong rosewood and maple into those gorgeous guitar necks that Fender is so famous for.
After the wood is cut, it moves to the sanding area, where expert craftsmen sand the bodies and necks to perfection. Our guide told us that the sanders must train more than a year before they master the delicate and precise process.
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Once the guitars are sanded, they are sent to the paint department, where they get treated to signature Fender paint jobs, such as Butterscotch blond, Sunburst, Candy Cola, Sea Foam Green, and many more. With the wood painted and polished, the bodies and necks are put together and the instruments are hung high above on a conveyor belt near the ceiling where they dry.
After drying, the guitars are ready to be thoroughly tested by Fender technicians. And once they pass inspection, the instruments ready to be sold to the public.
At the end of the tour, our guide showed us the Dream Factory – the world-famous Fender Custom Shop, where some of the best guitars in the world are built for some of the biggest names in music. Guitars in the custom shop are built by hand by the best of the best guitar builders in the industry and when complete, they fetch roughly between $4, 500 and $12, 000.
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During the tour, our guide let me touch a new, 1952 Reissue Telecaster right off the assembly line and it was love at first sight. With a beautiful butterscotch blond paint job, a fat baseball bat type neck, and a classic, curved body that screamed rock and roll, the guitar sent musical lightning bolts through my fingers and into my soul. This is the type of guitar used by the likes of Merle Haggard, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, Mike Campbell from Tom Petty and The Hearbreakers, and countless other famous and not-so-famous rockers. I knew I had to have one.
After taking the tour and seeing what goes into making these musical works of art, I have a better appreciation for the value of these classic instruments and I can see why they are not cheap to purchase. This is American craftsmanship at its finest and there is a lot of love, history and hard work that go into every American made Fender that comes out of the Corona factory.
When the tour was over we went back to the 8, 000 sq-ft Visitor Center and explored the showroom, which boasts hundreds of instruments, amplifiers, photos, historical artifacts, and interactive displays related to the Fender brand, which began in 1946 and literally changed music.
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Some of the instruments on display at the Visitor Center include Fender Stratocaster guitars owned by Jimi Hendix, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, as well as other instruments played by Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and Kurt Cobain. There is also a hand-crafted guitar covered in jewels that is worth an estimated $1 million!
The center also offers shopping for apparel, accessories, collectibles and other items in the retail shop, and walls full of instruments for purchase. There is even a big room where new instruments can be played. It was in this room that I got to actually play the aforementioned 1952 Reissue Telecaster. It felt like warm butter in my hands and played like magic. I knew I was holding my early Christmas present.
The Visitor Center is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and is free admission. Tours begin at 10am and 11:30 am and cost $10 for adults. For more information, call 951.898.4040 or visit: www2.fender.com/features/visitor-center/
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I leave here April 21 for Maui and can hardly wait. It'll be my 15th trip, more or less and I love it, and your pictures.
It's not a forest of banyan trees in Lahaina by the harbor. It's one huge tree, about 140 years old. It's an important landmark of Lahaina, and one of our favorite views.We always stay at the Pioneer Inn, overlooking the harbor and the banyan tree. Every evening thousands of mynah birds fly into the tree, chattering and fluttering until they settle down for the night. Otherwise, great article.One of the many things we have to be proud of in Southern California are the sheer number of original creations that have come out of our land of continuous sunshine and blue skies. The hula hoop, the jacuzzi, and even the Zamboni are all local inventions that have made their mark worldwide, but one local inventor, Leo Fender, actually helped to revolutionize modern music with his innovations. Without him, rock and roll would not have sounded as we know it.
Born in 1909 and raised in Fullerton, Fender opened a radio repair business in 1938 and soon became involved with helping Big Band, Country and Hawaiian-style musicians repair and amplify their acoustic guitars and lap steels. By the mid-1940s he and a partner, Doc Kauffman, had patented a lap steel with an electric pickup and put aside radio repair to focus on the guitar making process. By 1945, Doc had left the business and Leo formed his own company, Fender Electric Instruments. He realized that there would likely be a market for newly developed electric solid body guitars, which were still rare and considered somewhat of a novelty item. Although Fender didn’t invent the first electric solid body guitar, he was the first to recognize its importance and was the first to find a way to mass produce them and make them light, attractive and affordable to the average musician. The Fender Broadcaster, which was soon renamed the Telecaster, was introduced in 1950 and was the first mass-produced electric guitar. In 1951 Fender invented and released the first electric bass, the Precision Bass and in 1953 he put out the iconic Stratocaster. It is no surprise that the first twangs of early rock music were heard a few years later.
Photos: Fender Guitars
Today, the Fender company is based in Corona, CA, about an hour’s drive from Los Angeles and not far from its Fullerton origins. This location has been a working factory since 1998 and manufactures about 400 guitars a day. They offer tours to the public twice daily for a small fee. It is quite an experience to see step by step how these guitars are constructed from simple blocks of wood into instruments that can stir the human soul.
Our tour begins in the Fender Visitor Center, where our friendly guide, David, instructs us to don safety goggles and earphones. The factory is quite dusty and also very loud. In order to hear David’s tour we must turn up the volume and fittingly, amplification, the thing that drove Leo Fender himself, is the order of the day. We enter the actual factory through a long hallway lined with large vintage photos commemorating much of Leo Fender’s life and the history of the Fender guitar. We proceed through many rooms, each specialized departments where segments of each guitar is manufactured by a busy crew of workers. We are led through the Fabrication Room, where pickups are manufactured. While watching the industrious workers busy with each each step we hear a detailed explanation about what is actually happening around us.
It is extremely fascinating to enter the Woodmill and watch planks of alder, ash, maple and more turn into familiar shaped guitar bodies and necks and then see the Sanding Room where these pieces are sculpted and shaped. We are not allowed into the Paint Department, however. We are told that contamination from our clothes could ruin the final product, so we are escorted to the Buff and Polish Room to watch
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