The history of the electric guitar

Leo Fender and the birth of the solid-body electric guitar

Before the 1950s, electric guitars were almost always acoustic guitars “electrified” with a pickup fitted to the soundbox — with all the feedback and sustain limitations this brought. Leo Fender, in Fullerton, California, turned the problem upside down: if the solid body doesn’t need to vibrate to amplify the sound as in an acoustic guitar, then an instrument could be built from scratch for electronics, simple to mass-produce and to repair.

The Telecaster (1950-51): the first mass-produced solid-body success

Launched in 1950 as the Esquire, then the Broadcaster, renamed Telecaster in 1951 due to a naming conflict with another company, it is the first solid-body electric guitar produced industrially on a large scale. A single simple body shape, a bolt-on neck (not glued, to make replacement easier), two single-coil pickups: an essential design that has remained almost identical for over 70 years, still chosen today for its bright, defined attack.

See our selection of Telecasters.

The Precision Bass (1951): the first mass-produced electric bass

Around the same time, Fender introduced the Precision Bass: the first fretted, solid-body electric bass produced on an industrial scale. The name “Precision” comes precisely from the frets, which guarantee accurate intonation compared to the traditional double bass, where note position depends entirely on the player’s ear. It is the instrument that made the electric bass a standard in bands, gradually replacing the double bass across much of popular music.

See our selection of Precision Basses.

The Stratocaster (1954): the evolution

Four years after the Telecaster, the Stratocaster introduced everything that had been missing: a contoured body (shaped for comfort, no longer a flat slab), three single-coil pickups instead of two, and a bridge with an integrated vibrato (“tremolo”) for bending note pitch. It has become the most copied and recognisable electric guitar in the world, played in every musical genre.

See our selection of Stratocasters.

The lesser-known models

Beyond the three pillars, Fender has experimented with models aimed at different audiences: the Jazzmaster (1958), with its offset body and dedicated controls, was created for jazz guitarists (who initially snubbed it, only for it to be later rediscovered by surf rock and, decades on, indie rock); the Jaguar (1962) carries the same offset body with a shorter scale and even more elaborate controls; the Bass VI (1961) is a six-string bass tuned an octave below the guitar, designed for a hybrid guitar-bass sound; the Electric XII is a twelve-string guitar designed for the folk-rock sound of the 1960s. Niche models compared to the Telecaster/Stratocaster/Precision, but they show just how much Fender kept experimenting beyond its three most famous designs.