A short history of Squier: roots of Fender MIJ, funds Superstrats & much more
From its lightweight origins producing electric lap steels in Leo Fender’s California broadcast shop throughout very early 1940s, Fender has expanded into a global brand that not only encompasses a multitude of musical instrument marques, such as Squier, Gretsch, Guild, Jackson/Charvel, Tacoma and SWR, but features also branched around into avenues as different as auto audio, in collaboration with Volkswagen, and vintage themed tennis shoes.
It’s challenging picture today, but at the conclusion of the 1970s, tomorrow looked bleak for Fender. There was clearly an often-justified perception of decreasing top quality on the previous fifteen years since Leo Fender had ended up selling the business having his name for the U.S. transmission company CBS. Contributing to Fender’s issues is improved competitors from affordable brought in instruments, lots of that have been manufactured in Japan at the time.
Even though the American-made guitars are seen as getting progressively tough, the Japanese-made instruments were certainly getting best. Indeed, firms for example Tokai Gakki and FujiGen Gakki, which produced Ibanez instruments, happened to be making products which were excessively close replicas for the Stratocasters and Telecasters made by Fender during their halcyon days of the later part of the ‘50s and early ‘60s. […]