So Leo never played guitar huh?

[Tone2TheBone]

How do you guys feel about that? I think he was an absolute genius. :DR

[ShortBuSX]

I cant help but then compair him to Les Paul *shrug*
But then Id also have to say Im more of a Fender fan than Gibson.

[sunvalleylaw]

I think from what I have read he was passionate about what he could do with his technical background and talent to help musical artists accomplish more with their passions and talents. In other words, he got being passionate about something and was "into it".

[Tone2TheBone]

I think from what I have read he was passionate about what he could do with his technical background and talent to help musical artists accomplish more with their passions and talents. In other words, he got being passionate about something and was "into it".

This is why I think he was amazing. Especially since he didn't play at all. He created some masterpieces though that's for dang sure.

[sunvalleylaw]

Yeah, I find it hard to believe he didn't at least play around a little bit. I wonder it that is really true. Who knows though, maybe he approached achieving a subjective goal from a technical perspective only. I would find that really hard. Not my style, but maybe he could.

[pie_man_25]

wow, that's surprising. I mean, from a technical standpoint he did ingenious things to the guitar, and he never played. But now he's dead, and Les Paul is still alive, and he plays guitar, coincidence? I think yes!!

please note: I like fender better than gibson, but gibson is still awesome.

[Brian Krashpad]

This is why I think he was amazing. Especially since he didn't play at all. He created some masterpieces though that's for dang sure.

The cool thing about Leo was that he took what many would consider to be a negative-- not being able to play-- and turned it into a positive. He had all kinds of ideas and could handle the technical side of getting the technology and production aspects down. But since he didn't know if his ideas would work in the real world, he would give instruments to gigging musicians and then wait for their feedback to his ideas. The info he got from musicians helped him fine-tune his ideas, or discard them, or think up new ones.

For example, back in the early days musicians told Leo that upright basses had a hard time keeping up with electric guitar and being heard on a bandstand, so Leo designed the Telecaster initially with a "bass" circuit so that a guitarist could play pseudo-bass and be heard. When it turned out that guitarists weren't all that interested in playing bass lines on their guitars, Leo scrapped the idea and rewired a Tele so that it had today's pickup settings: neck/both/bridge.

But the bass problem still wasn't solved. So instead Leo invented the electric bass! For years, the electric bass was simply called a "Fender bass" (even if it wasn't a Fender) for that reason (like old timers used to call refrigerators "Frigidaires").

A similar thing happened with the Strat. The orignal design had 3 pup settings, neck, middle, or bridge. But when Leo gave Strats to gigging players, they discovered that "quack" sounds could be gotten by putting the switch into the two "in-between" spaces between the existing selctor notches. When word of this got back to Fender, he incorporated the new settings into the guitar's actual design, and voila: the 5-way switch was born.

Remarkable man.

[Tone2TheBone]

The cool thing about Leo was that he took what many would consider to be a negative-- not being able to play-- and turned it into a positive. He had all kinds of ideas and could handle the technical side of getting the technology and production aspects down. But since he didn't know if his ideas would work in the real world, he would give instruments to gigging musicians and then wait for their feedback to his ideas. The info he got from musicians helped him fine-tune his ideas, or discard them, or think up new ones.

For example, back in the early days musicians told Leo that upright basses had a hard time keeping up with electric guitar and being heard on a bandstand, so Leo designed the Telecaster initially with a "bass" circuit so that a guitarist could play pseudo-bass and be heard. When it turned out that guitarists weren't all that interested in playing bass lines on their guitars, Leo scrapped the idea and rewired a Tele so that it had today's pickup settings: neck/both/bridge.

But the bass problem still wasn't solved. So instead Leo invented the electric bass! For years, the electric bass was simply called a "Fender bass" (even if it wasn't a Fender) for that reason (like old timers used to call refrigerators "Frigidaires").

A similar thing happened with the Strat. The orignal design had 3 pup settings, neck, middle, or bridge. But when Leo gave Strats to gigging players, they discovered that "quack" sounds could be gotten by putting the switch into the two "in-between" spaces between the existing selctor notches. When word of this got back to Fender, he incorporated the new settings into the guitar's actual design, and voila: the 5-way switch was born.

Remarkable man.


Yes YES very cool information thanks B_K. What cracks me up about Leo's story is his scribbled on L E O foam coffee cup. That is SO techno geek in a very unassuming way! :DR I think the 50s was a magical time. Some very cool innovations were birthed from the days of yesteryear. Cool clothes...cool cars...cool colors...cool guitars/basses. And the babes had hot hairdos and served you martinis when you got home. ;)

[Plank_Spanker]

Do you think Leo was thinking "Fifty years from now, they're still going to be playing these Strats and Teles"...........

Fender also has a killer marketing campaign back in the day - it made playing Fenders look really cool. :D

[Tone2TheBone]

Do you think Leo was was thinking "Fifty years from now, they're still going to playing these Strats and Teles"...........

Fender also has a killer marketing campaign back in the day - it made playing Fenders look really cool. :D

Yeah some of those old Fender ads were neat lookin'. This brings to mind just how long a Stratocaster or Tele would really last? 150 years or more? 200 years? That's crazy when you think about it. :o

[oldguy]

1952 Fender Calendar. Real cool.;)

[Tone2TheBone]

1952 Fender Calendar. Real cool.;)

Naked babes and guitars. Yup Leo knew where this was going. :DR

[Plank_Spanker]

Naked babes and guitars. Yup Leo knew where this was going. :DR

And the Fender aura continues..............................:D

[SuperSwede]

Naked babes and guitars. Yup Leo knew where this was going. :DR

She´s naked?? Does anyone have a larger picture? Its purely for historical reasons of course ;)

[tot_Ou_tard]

Cool clothes...cool cars...cool colors...cool guitars/basses. And the babes had hot hairdos and served you martinis when you got home. ;)
One of the erotic things about the sexy woman in that Fender ad is that she has a very womanly sexy curvaceous come roll in my arms kind of look.

Nowadays "Hot Babes" often look too much like boys with slicone balloons appended.

Not a sexy thought in my opinion.

[Brian Krashpad]

She´s naked?? Does anyone have a larger picture? Its purely for historical reasons of course ;)

I'll see if I can get you a bigger version as an atachment:

[Big_Rob]

What I find amazing is that Leo intended the Stratocaster to play western swing.

[SuperSwede]

I'll see if I can get you a bigger version as an atachment:

Ah.. thanks Brian. Very interesting!

[Spudman]

Lets see...a Telecaster, a naked babe and a wiener dog. Simple advertising. Why can't they make it that simple these days? I'm amused.