by Carolyn Bednarski

While Gibson was in the guitar business first, it was Leo Fender who actually established the solid-body electric guitar most significantly in the second half of the 20th century. The Fender Electrical Instrument Company was founded in 1946, first producing electrified lap-steel guitars and amplifiers. Two years later, Leo Fender and George Fullerton, one of his employees, created the production-line solid-body electric guitar, which took over the market and became a legend. The Fender Esquire, later renamed the Broadcaster and then eventually, the Telecaster first hit the market in 1950. When Gibson released their Les Paul model in 1952, Fender retaliated with his own luxury model, the Stratocaster. The Telecaster, the Stratocaster and the variations of the Les Paul Gibson models have remained the three most classic and recognizable designs for almost 50 years.

By the end of the ‘40s the electric guitar had become far more than just a novelty among players. It had begun to take center stage with a variety of musicians ranging from R-&-B legends like Muddy Waters (1915-1983) whom picked up the solid-body electric guitars as soon as they hit the market, to B.B. King, whose 1950 debut single “Three O’ Clock Blues” was played with a Fender Telecaster. Later key Blues guitar players include: Bo Diddley, who was famous for his “jungle rhythms”; gospel and blues man Freddie King and John Lee Hooker, who had an influential 40-year recording career before achieving widespread public acclaim in the ‘80s.

The R-&-B Boom that kicked off the 1950s set the pace for a new variety of musicians, and new uses of the electric guitar. With the new decade, the demand for louder amplified music grew, and Leo Fender was the man to solve the performer’s problems. Although the first amplifiers were built towards the end of the ‘30s, they were capable of producing a volume only slightly above 10 watts at best. Fender’s Super amplifier, built in 1949 was the first significant amp on the market. By the mid-‘50s, Fender had produced several classic designs—the Twin and Bassman-- which are still available in upgraded forms today. Later competition came from the British Vox company who produced the AC30, which remains as much a classic as the Fender Twin.