The Steel Guitar Forum

Cool film of early Fender guitar production including Stringmasters, Deluxe Steels, Strats and Tele's. I love the pile of tweed amps in their boxes ready for shipment!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nswcAPvH0P8

Enjoy!!

Bill

That was fascinating... can't begin to think what OSHA would make of it these days.

Loved the "Yankee screwdrive" at 2:00.

Wow! what an amazing video. I'm impressed by all the "hand work" done at the factory.

It looks like a pretty informal work atmosphere!

thanks for the video. yeah, I noticed all the hand work too. I was very impressed with the free hand work on the band saw. that guy just ran that headstock right thru. amazing. didn't see any templates, CNC machines. very cool.

edit

That is so cool.
Does anybody know the names of any of these people?
I'd love to see the amp side of the factory....

Jay

Doug Beaumier wrote:

Cool, mine's a 59/60, could it be..........?
It sure has come a long way from hot and sunny California..

Same thing here Steiner- I have a '59 Princeton....that's why I'd like to see the amp side of the factory from 1959

Jay

That is so cool.
Does anybody know the names of any of these people?

I'll bet Jody Carver knows them!

Awesome video.
I'm wondering if one of the women winding pickups is Abigail Ybarra. She was the main winder there and thought of as an icon by today's Fenderheads.

Abigail is in the video at 5:58 and so is Freddie Tavares (at the end).

Much better with the sound off.

Mike Neer wrote: Much better with the sound off.

Yes, that did get a little wearing, didn't it...

I wonder which one is Mary, the lady who signed my dual Pro.......

The footage posted is much of the same footage which was on a DVD which accompanies the "Leo Fender Centennial Edition" of "Fender, The Sound Heard Round the World", by Richard R. Smith. This edition was published in 2009. The book is all I could have asked for (great pictures and text) and DVD is narrated by Mr. Smith, who is the curator at the Fullerton Museum Center. A real treat for Fender fans and definitely worth the $25 I plunked down for it. BTW,the DVD says that the factory tour footage is from 1957.

"BTW,the DVD says that the factory tour footage is from 1957."
That makes sense since the Stratocaster has a 2 color sunburst not a three color with red.

Very cool, indeed. I noticed the absence of any bandages or other hand/finger related injuries. Shocking, really. I seem to draw blood every time I even change strings! (:

Thanks for posting this, it's wonderful to see real instruments being made by real people in real moving color images.

LC

I love the scuba facemask that one guy had on his forehead. Must use it when his eyes start to hurt.