Fender Factory Tour 1959 (or earlier)
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- čas přidán 18. 11. 2010
- 1959 8mm Film by Forrest White. Digital Film Restoration by CinePost www.posthouse.com Edited by Ross Lenenski. Read the story behind this film in "Fender: The Inside Story," by Forrest White available at Amazon: www.amazon.com/Fender-Inside-S... Music by Russell Eldridge at / therusselleldridge . Russell's Stratocaster guitar is from the American Deluxe Series made at the Corona Plant (Fender), USA in the Year 2000.
Leo Fender is in the second shot. No CNC machines back then, everything was done by hand. It is amazing to realize that every guitar made that year is now worth a small fortune. Archival High Resolution film transfer by CinePost at www.posthouse.com If you know the names of the employees, please let us know and we will annotate them. For more info please call 678-238-0800. - Hudba
My father, Jose G. Perez, is at 1:46, working on guitar necks with the band saw & power & hand drills (in long sleeved shirt & hat). My mother, Carrie S. Perez, is at 4:46, working on a lap steel (wearing a long dress & big ear rings). They married on Jan 31, 1959, and I notice neither one of them is wearing a wedding ring. Leads me to believe the film was made in Jan '59, or earlier (at least one of them would have worn their wedding ring-even while working, but I can't be sure). -Joe Perez
Hey Joe thanks for sharing. A bunch of us with vintage Strats ('60s-'66) and have an S black S inside the body or a pencil S. Any idea what it stands for? Someone's name for inspection or Sunburst color to be sprayed? Thanks
Wonderful ... I hope things have been .. staying in tune . for you ;)
You are a lucky man Joe!!!
I wish I knew what the S stands for, but I don't.
@@spiritof76forever81 This great history Man!🤗👍💪
My mother's funeral was yesterday. She is in the film here at 4:46 working on a lap steel. She was skilled in many aspects of guitar making at Fender; so skilled that co-workers called her "the expert" when they needed help on something. Rest in Peace, Mom...
Sorry to hear that.
How old was our mother?Was she born in California?It's so interesting to know her story...
Hey Joe, Sorry about the loss of your mother. I own a mid 50's lap steel. One day I removed the tone and volume plate and found a small piece of paper that said "Inspected by Gloria, Fullerton CA, November 1954". Just wondering what your mother's first name was.
Never mind Joe, I went back to the clip (duh) and see that her name was Carrie.
Scott Berkobien I do recall mom mentioning a Gloria. It was possibly the same woman. My mom started working at Fender around 1956 (I wish I could be certain). My dad was working there at least as early as '54 as there is a photo of him in a group of employees with Leo Fender from '54 at the Fender factory in Corona on the wall.
my dad is in the first part this video. he is the man sitting down. he worked for North American Van Lines. after so many years after his death its good to see a video with my dad in it. my dad had a part in moving the great guitar company to fullerton Ca
Can you give specifics. Is he the guy sitting next to Leo at 0:24 ?. Im trying to build a family tree of workers. May i know his name please?
WOW! Thank you for this. I went to work in this very factory as a janitor at night while attending Anaheim High. Worked my way up the ladder... bought-out by CBS in 65? [I won't go into the "pre-CBS issue.] Continued working there through high school, college... 15+ years. Knew Leo Fender, Forrest White, George Fullerton (George and Leo formed G & L later). CBS built a 300,000 square foot factory. Tremendous "Summer Shutdown" parties every year... 1000's of jobs, spray booths, safety equipt., Freddie Tavares -Aloha Stratocaster, Harold Rhodes - electric piano, Forrest White was the plant manager when I was hired by Andy Koepher Don Randall...I knew them all. Everyone played and dreamed about becoming a rock-n-roll star. I worked in the Ensenada plant and in the San Luis plants as well. I left in the mid-80's during the Bill Schultz rein. For many of us, it was a TREMENDOUS place to "work" and I feel VERY LUCKY. A great American made product - yeah sure some sub-assemblies were made in Mexico by GREAT people as well! I still run into ex-employees and musicians who rhapsodize about Leo Fender, this factory and THE GUITAR! If memories are all we have at "the end," thanks to Leo and my Fender family, I have some doozies! Jer Ayles
That's cool, dude!
Thanks, Man!
That's some serious pride in workmanship. The end product speaks for itself!!!! Btw, what are your feelings on these instruments fetching the prices they do today? Thanks for your comment.
Thanks for sharing.
very cool
it´s crazy that we all have Ipads and stuff & Internet etc... BUT still a Fender Strat is relevant today as it was in 1959...pretty cool...
No CNC machines, just craftsmanship and skill.
yeah, its so sad that guitars made nowadays are made with so much less risk of injury or illness to the builder.
As a guitarist......this is the most incredible piece of film footage that I've ever seen. A magical time!
Back in the days when they were actually made by hand, very very cool video!
Hi Ben!
If you told one of these workers in '59 that those guitars would sell for $40 000 in 2019,
they would probably shake their heads and call you crazy.
,😂😂😂😂😂😂😂👍
@@wolfgangwylde5889 If you could tell one of these workers that, you would be a time traveler, and you should bring as many of those guitars back with you as you can. I believe a new 59 Strat sold for about $75
@@timhallas4275 They were actually really expensive for the era. In today's money, in 1959, a Strat sold for around $2400 (Somewhere around $275 plus 39.95 for a case in '59)
@@timhallas4275 That's about right for the Tele, but the Strat was a bit more expensive. Even in '54 I think that price was about the same.
Just imagine if these people working in this humble little corner factory saw the future of what was to become of the name of Fender and also how collectible the guitars they are making would become in the future, they had no idea. That time period looks so peaceful and carefree, no internet, mobile phones and no mind control, such a beautiful simple life.
The working conditions look pretty horrendous by today's standards.
They wouldn’t believe or understand it.
@@motoguy3574 where do you work, the candy ass factory?
All right… except for the mind control bit. This is at the top of the Cold War and American propaganda machine was at its best brainwashing their citizens.
@@motoguy3574 They don't seem to mind.
Woaw, a video of Abigail Ybarra handwiring the pickups & the Perez family doing the lapsteels. Honoured to see this, seriously, they're making actual 1959's! FML
I love that they were played by a shirtless guy before being shipped off...lol
No one is wearing protective masks while spraying polycoat
That appears to be John McClain actually
That is really funny! Ah, those summers in SoCal.
@@richardernest1612 Its Nitrocellulose.. Nasty stuff
all hand-made with human errors that's why its PERFECT!!! hope y'all understand the meaning
What an incredible video. It's great to watch craftsman making some of the best instruments in the world. It's like watching history being made.
Great short film.....to remind us of how America got its reputation for building great products, and how American instruments still hold their value today.....I bet somebody out there has a grandparent or parent in this film....
7:05 I hope that guitar made some kid somewhere very happy.
Great video.
Long Live Fender!
Tadeo appears shortly at 3:25, he built my beloved Telecaster back in 1952! Thank you so much for this video!
Same with me , serial # 0761
Thanks for this film. Good to see the ladies on the drills. Beautiful guitar sound on the soundtrack. ty
Seeing that guy cut out the body and size the neck on the band saw by eye was probably the coolest woodworking I've ever seen.
And all in about what... 25 seconds? Unbelievable
Watch this movie over and over and over...
So beautiful this piece of history. The best part is in the end with that man with no shirt testing the guitar and then the old guy cleaning it up with a cloth. Just amazing!!!
I've been playing the Guitar since 1967 but I didn't have money to by myself a good guitar and that caused a little frustration. It wasn't until 1972 that my Dad introduced me to my first Fender Guitar, a Mustang. Here it is 40 plus years later and I still own and play Fender Guitar's and I still own that Mustang that my dad got for me. Fender Guitar's are like an addiction to me that I will never recover from and that's OK with me and that's just the way it is!
This is simply beautiful and a bit emotional too; thank you Leo, with your creativity you somehow made the world a better place; R.I.P.
When the handmade WAS handmade...
I thought there would be jigs and guides. Nope. Here is a piece of lumber and a file, get rid of everything that is not a Strat body. :)
You are so right! That’s why I think guitars made in that era sound and play so much better.
That's an assembly line. Its not like one person built each guitar by themselves. There was a whole team of people -each doing one thing in building guitars.
That's why those guitars sound so good, human touch, they were all different, no 2 alike,
like any handmade instrument...
Love the guy painting without a shirt mark etc....
Try that today...
Wow, brings back memories..., I visited Fender in 1974 and took a factory tour. At the the time, this building was being used as the Customer Service counter (You could walk in and have your Fender product repaired/setup and even buy parts "factory direct") and R&D department run by Freddie Tavares. We saw the first rosewood Tele and the Lucite Strat hanging on the wall. CBS built a large building next door where production moved to, but it was still the same hand work even in the CBS years...
Something about watching a work day at the old Fender Gitarr factory just calms you down!
Hand made for easy assembly, Leo put affordable guitars in the hands of many who wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise. Genius.
History ! Respect to all the great workers peace !!!
I was just saying to the person who sent me this link how every guitar seen in that film would be a collector's item today. Thanks for sharing this classic bit of history.
Wow..She is a major part of musical history.How great is that!..I know it’s 4 years since your post but I’m sorry for your loss.Im sure she is in heaven now with the great creator..Prayers go up.
Thank you for your words and sentiment. Much appreciated, even now.
That's Forrest sitting next to Leo in the second shot. I had the honor of working with Forrest in the mid-80's. He was a wonderful and brilliant man. Fender would not have been nearly as successful without Forrest there to guide things along.
Mr White gave my father and me a personal tour of the big Fullerton factory, during the CBS years, while he was still at Fender.
As a child of the 50's, this really brings back fond memories of when, as a kid, touring the GM plant where my Dad worked. I'm enjoying reading through the comments of others too. What nostalgia! I wonder how many of the tasks are still done by human hands today?
Thank you, so much, for adding their names. My mom's health has declined in recent days and these images are a comfort.
i have no idea where i got the idea that alot of these processes were somehow more 'automated'....lol. this is old-fashioned workmanship. wow. thanks for this reality check.
Much appreciated and so nice to hear...he was a very nice man who loved music. I looked for years on the internet for this film and I believe there is at least one more of my dad out there (the one he said was on TV). Let's hope much more film of the Fender employees will be found and posted soon. They all deserve the recognition for what they helped Leo & Co. create!
This is video gold..cutting out bodies on a bandsaw with no jig..are you kidding... wow....hand built.....this is awesome...
My dad graduated high school in '54 and he and his friends were doing it back then. . .
My brother, sister and I are honored to know our parents helped create such beauty in this world...though they were largely unaware of it. Mom later went on to work in the aerospace industry (1960's), helping wire circuits that put our astronauts into space and on the moon!
Oh man I just keep watching this - thank you for restoring and posting it. Amazing to see these being built by hand and the workmanship and pride that went into each guitar. Thank goodness they are being preserved and treasured now.
Thanks for posting this. I'm a player and fan of older Fenders, and do a lot of building and repairs, too. Viewing this classic footage is a great experience!
Did you notice the calmness of the workers and how focused yet relaxed every single person was? Didn't it kind of seem like slow motion compared to the way operations like this occur in today's world? There's a lot to learn from watching this video about people and how we've changed. Just like Leo's instruments, this planet doesn't make people like it used to. Be kind, be your best, and don't forget to breathe. Often.
love youtube you can see anything = great stuff loved fender guitars since i was 13 in 1968.
I love the "vintageness" of all there is in this video. The so fifties dresses women are working with ("Uniform? What the hell is that?"), their hairstyles, the guy with no respirator, working in his tshirt, just applying paint to the bodies and possibly just putting on his shirt when the shift is done, all normal in a day´s job but looking so nostalgic and wholesome to us, the dwellers of these shitty 21st century technological fast years. I seriously doubt that anyone of these hard working people could think "here I am, manufacturing this guitar for which a whole bunch of people will be paying SHITLOADS of money 60 years from now..." Awesome video.
Well that was cool as hell...
Watching this is amazing - at the time they were just trying to make a living - not knowing every single thing would one day be so valuable and sought after -
Did you see the high quality and fine craftsmanship going into each and every piece, now you know why they sound so much better than the new ones made by machines. Ahhhhhh, those were the days of pride in workmanship and pride in what they made.
27 people took the effort to "dislike" this video? I'm losing faith in humanity.
They put their heart into it; maybe thats why people prefer vintage guitars
At 03:02, the great Queen oferece tone appears: Abigail Ybarra. She started to work with Leo Fender informações 1956.
A great Legend.
Nope. 5:56 that is Abigail Ybarra
Love it, thank you for not letting us forget the pre-CNC days!
There are two things about these guitars that make them separate and apart from any Fender Custom Shop creation. Hand shaped necks for one. Each year had different evolving features from baseball bat shape in the early days, to V necks, to tapered C shape necks. I've owned many of these guitars (wish I had them all now) and each guitar was personal and unique. The second thing is sound differences largely created by uneven and erratic windings of the pickups. The rosewood fingerboard models had less windings and the other maple ones were always brighter by design. You could take two identical '50s strats, put identical strings on them, and they would sound different. I've done it years ago when I was a kid. That's what makes these original vintage Fender's so awesome. I managed to keep some of my favorites over the years. I currently own a '50 Broadcaster, '59 maple necked Strat, '60 Telecaster with rosewood fingerboard (my favorite) and two '60s P basses. I will probably die with those instruments and somebody will inherit them if I don't give them away before then.
Abigail Ybarra used to wind the Custom Shop pickups by hand until she retired in '03. I'm not sure what they do today. The woodwork is all done by hand. No CNC machining.
Woods used to be better as well.
50 broadcaster has to be worth a pretty penny indeed
I was waiting for Abby Ybarra to show up and it did not disappoint. I wonder if it ever crossed their minds they are making music history while they work.
doubtful, they were just earning a living to support their families.
Leo wasn't thinking about making history, he was making millions
My pickups are signed by Abby.
@@guppybill that's awesome!
...before CNC and automation took over. This is real American craftsmanship on display!
Cool memories I was in the dumpster out back one day after school getting parts for another guitar build and Leo and another guy asked me if I had everything I needed and helped m find a 3 way switch knob and dial knobs . I rode off with a bag full of parts hanging off my handlebars. Had I known then that i was in a dumpster full of rare antique parts I would have brought my dad back with the pickup ....Those were the days back in Fullerton
With all the fans going it must have been a stinking hot day in the factory, I've worked in a factory like this and it's hot!
It would have been a perfect day to film as there would have been a lot of light.
The lack of OH&S would have mean quite a few of these guys would have perished due to inhalation of saw dust and inhalation of paint. The comments about the band saw and pin router are all true.
I suppose it is of little comfort to them or their relatives, but it was nice to see the people who made the beautiful Fender instruments recognized. Looking at the primitive tooling made me appreciate Leo Fender setting up an effective business producing high quality instruments even by today's standards.
EPIC.Poor guys spraying lacquer with out a mask. Ouch.
+bobbysbackingtracks indeed!
+bobbysbackingtracks That was how they did it back in the day...you can pretty much assume everyone in this video is long dead...
+Alan Jankowski Yep long dead (no dust masks a bad way to go) and gone, but the guitars live on.
+bobbysbackingtracks theres not alot of overspray with lacquer
+BAJARACER43X Wood Dust kills too.
Crazy to think the sounds that were developed and tools of music were all created and came out of that building and from those people, thanks for posting
Skilled hands working carefully and with pride. This is what built America, folks....
the guy doing the setup at the end was named Gene .. i forget his last name but he was final inspector at plant off of Raymond in Fullerton in the 70s when i worked there as final setup and test
I do remember Vern Morgan who was with Leo from the start as well .. I had started in the Amp Cabinet shop in '72 . worked though the guitar woodworking section .. then got into the final assembly area doing neck filing and hardware .. then got into final set up by '74 .. left near the end of '75
About 3 years ago I ran into Bud Morgan, Vern's son in Goodyear AZ. He still has his dad's strat from the last day of production at the CBS plant. (2-knob) I talked to him about his Fender years for an hour or more. Really nice man with lots to say about the early days of Fender. He still has the banjo that Little Jimmy Dickins gave him. Bud said he was in charge of shipping and receiving, as well as parts procurement for lots of Leo's sudden design changes.
@@guibensotar3 Ha! Just read an interview with Forrest White where he talks about having to put his foot down regarding Leo's mid-production run changes
Eugene "Gene" Gallien..
I wonder then if the first Strats are all different between them. No CNC = the artisan cutting the necks and bodies made it by "eye measurement", so I would guess it would be impossible to get them all the same. Just for this, I would love to have a damn time machine, get some 1952 US dollars from some collector and go to the year this video was made. "Hi Mr. Fender, can I purchase one of these? Maybe this one that was just finished? Thank you, here´s your money". Back to the machine and back to 2015, with a perfect vintage 1959 Strat.
Well, they would bandsaw the rough neck and body blanks, then screw on a template and route them the rest of the way. Pretty sure the contours were done by eye on a belt sander, though. Still WAY more hands-on then any production guitars made now, though
If you time travelled back to '59, and brought a strat with you to the present day, would that strat not be just a few weeks/months old when you are back here? It would be like new off the cutting board, it would be called a fake everywhere lol
@@Whydoyoureadme You would have to stash it somewhere safe in 1959 and go collect it today. You would be better off buying them 2nd hand when prices were at there lowest, then stash them.
What a cool piece of history. These guys and ladies were cranking em out fast, by hand, and the quality was still top-notch. Id like to own one of those '59 Strat's right now: ) The amazing thing is since Leo sold in '64-'65, most all have copied but none have bettered his amp circuits! The best (and most expensive) brand new amps Fender sells today are the reproductions made closest to Leo's mid-sixties originals.
Este material es un tesoro, nos recuerda como se forjan las leyendas!!! Larga vida Fender!!
This is probably pre-1958, as the sunbursts here are two-color
Someone should pin this to John 5 , He would love to see this vintage stuff .
Yeah. I think John 5 would be ecstatic. He remains a real pioneer and we're so lucky to have him still around.
These guitars where literally... -:O... Hand freaken made!!!
your dad, with his work, has helped make many people happy ... including my dad! :) respect
Awesome to hear and know. I fantasize (with good reason) that when I hear Eric Clapton's classic works (playing "Brownie") that he was using a guitar they both had a direct hand in making. Same goes for many other songs by many other artists. Thank goodness for gift of great music.
Amazing find & great post. This is what youtube is all about, or should be!!!!
George Fullerton is shown at 6:15 - 6:20
I am in awe,,,,,just beautiful to see people working and not a bunch of soulless CNC robots,this is where all the mojo of the old ones comes from ,everypart touched by human hands thousands of times gently coaxing the magic out of the wood and steel
Great video, a perfect example of why the early Stratocaster plays so amazing.
The old saying goes: Do you know what is the difference between a Mexican and a USA Fender?
The Mexican Fender is built by Mexicans in Mexico. The American Fender is built by Mexicans in the USA.
Q. What is the difference between a Fender Usa and Fender Mexico ? A. About 300 kms.
About 20 miles, depending on what route you take.
Si es verdad gabacho. De nada( means you welcome in English sir). Señor.
@anticala u have no way of knowing these things...like air conditioning. jeez.
Assuming that you can reliably tell americans and mexicans apart by appearance alone.
No masks, no gloves, no respirators, no ventilation, no shirts....hahaha! Man, those were the days. Hard working folks making legendary instruments. Love it!
I'm 58 and can tell you that most places I worked looked just like that when I was a kid first working in 1968. Notice the barechested men, lack of respirators (painting) and eye protection. But, look at the way, particulary the women, dressed for these simple jobs. Shows respect for themselves, the owner, and the workplace. I own a small factory today and am always sending people home for improper attire. Forget asking anybody to sweep the floor. Man, please take me back to the fifties!
i love old films :) i think i was born 50 years to late, the 90's
The film is probably from 1957 as you can see that the Strats still are 2-tone sunbursts.
Check out this film posted by Fenderampfreak and he provides a lot of commentary on it and he mentions 1957 as the year of its filming.
Same observation I made on the Tobacco Burst Strats, Krook. Plus, no rosewood fretboards, which came online in 1959. It's 1957 in this film.
I love the guy applying lacquer with a paint brush!! Ha ha!! Also, the guy doing the spraying was not even wearing a mask. Think of all those gnarly, toxic fumes he breathed in every day! Unbelievable. But those guys were true craftsman. I would love to see the same video from 1969 to see how things changed for the worse after CBS jumped into the mix and put profits before craftsmanship!
He probably just was applying a grain-filler or grain-sealing coat of lacquer with the brush. The finish and clear coats certainly would have been sprayed.
I'm not certain but it kind of looks like he might be spraying under an exhaust hood, similar to what you find in a commercial kitchen. At least I hope so.
Thank you for this great piece of history!!!!
those two guys jamming at the end is the best bit!
I highly recommend "Fender: The Inside Story," by Forrest White. Thanks to whoever for this nice little old video. And to that blues-guitar-player: develop some variety in comping!
It's a working mans style of blues that shows off the pure single coil sound of those awesome tone machines... it's something you woulda heard in the 50s no doubt....its sonic gold....
Got that for my Dad for Christmas. 😄
Now, most of those guitars would be worth five figures! Didja see those guys spraying those guitars without respirator masks? Ah, the 1950's.
Priceless footage. Interesting to see how many women worked on these now vintage instruments. Leo was an innovator in more ways than one.
Women have a long tradition in factory assembly work particularly electronics.
This is an awesome video....to see what real skilled craftsmanship is like ....without the aid of computers !!!! Long live Fender instruments 🎸!!!!!
I have wondered for 40 years what "Gloria" must have looked like; the girl that wound my pickup and installed all the controls in my 54' Esquire.
+stearman Gloria Fuentes was no pickup winder (like Abby Ybarra). She was a Final Assembly employee.
Strato Dude Thanks for that, never knew her last name.
@@TheStratoDude I think it’s cool that a lot of people seem to know these factory workers from back in the day, first and last name, and what they did. That’s a cool personal touch!
Cool video, love the nostalgia and the history, but it's not much different than they way they make them in China an Vietnam nowadays, hand made guitars are good if you have a luthier making one specifically for you , but if you're building guitars on a production line you can't beat the consistency of today's modern technology.
People love to hype vintage guitars and ooh and aah over them but the percentage junk being made back then is far greater than it is now, only a small portion of the vintage guitars survived are still around and even those are not all gems, all if not most of them have been refurbished to make them playable. Leo Fender's idea to make guitars modular was genius, this way you can keep replacing components as they broke or wore out or even take an exceptional neck from one guitar and an exceptional body from another make one guitar out of them and toss out the rest.
The problem with high end American guitar today isn't that they aren't exceptional, they are exceptional, in fact they are the best guitars ever made, the problem is that they are overpriced, but not nearly as over priced as the vintage ones.
+Snake Plissken Agreed. and It would have been very interesting to go back there and check out how differently each "same" model came out when completed. As Grover Jackson stated, "people have good and bad days. Machines don't"
+Jeff L I'm replying here as the replies are disabled on the other thread.
I want to comment on two points you raised.
Firstly, you misunderstood my point about illegals in the US.
My point was that it was a shit job, so bad that often the only people who would do it were those at the bottom rung of society, among those were people who were in the US illegally.
And generally speaking, if someone is in a country illegally they usually don't have the same protections as those that do, e.g. being able to secure a minimum wage role.
Secondly regarding sweatshops, I knew someone who ran one in the garment district in downtown LA back in the '90s. He paid people 10c per garment sown so they do exist even if your naivety won't entertain that.
Finally, I never "bashed" entrepreneurism. My point was to counteract the romanticism that some people here have about the working conditions at the original Fender factory. It was certainly not a "great job" as the original poster stated.
So firstly let’s talk about the person you "know" from your example from 20 years ago. Well, shame on him/her and a call to the department of labor should have been made which is much easier in recent times then many years ago, which was my point that YOU missed.
However, if the workers were willing to accept such low pay/conditions and NO call to the D.O.L. is ever made especially from any of the workers, then perhaps there’s more to the story?? Perhaps a call to the I.N.S. is more appropriate.
Remember YOU were the one that stated they were illegals. If so, THAT is the reason they are NOT entitled to the same rights as legal citizens, including minimum wages etc.
Further, are these illegals, that you think should have the RIGHT to earn more, also paying taxes, insurances, licensees and all the other fees that come out of the rest of our paychecks?? Incidentally, that’s a large portion of our paychecks. Hence the more people that don’t pay those other fees, the more WE have to.
So if you are going to hurl words like “naivety” you should have mirror in hand.
And again, the key word is they “accepted” that pay scale freely, NOT by force or coercion.
And my original point still stands about Leo Fender and Co. It was a well-known fact that Leo himself, his wife, friends and others all worked long hours in the factory because they believed in cultivating the new company, regardless of the conditions in the very early days. The OP was commending their hard work and dedication once upon a time right here in the US. I Think anyone with eyes and a computer can see that factory conditions were not good hence changed since then. The viewers were simply fascinated to watch how the original Fender instruments were made.
"counteracting the romanticism" is plain unnecessary and biter.
+Jeff L Again, you've misunderstood my entire argument.
My sole argument is that it was a bad job, no more.
I have never once said that illegal immigrants should have the same rights as legal residents nor have I advocated an anti-Fender stance. You are creating a straw man argument.
Where in either of my comments have I stated this...
"...are these illegals, that you think should have the RIGHT to earn more..."
Where have I stated or implied this? You're twisting my words to create arguments that I never advocated.
I brought up the example of illegals not because I support their rights but to illustrate that these were the only people who were prepared to take on such a job because it was so bad.
Please re-read my comments again. It gets tiresome writing the same thing over and over for someone determined to have an argument about something other that what I wrote.
You don't have a clue what you're talking about. Back in the day cavities were tightly routed, pickups were wound on time (not nr of windings), different woods were used, thinner laquer; nitrocellulose instead of polyurethane and as you can see it was a tightly nit workshop with about 15 people set out to make the best guitar in the world. Now Fender has a board of 40+ directors, looking to get the cheapest wood, the cheapest hardwear and the cheapest pair of asian hands to put it al together. Also you can't replicate time. As moisture in the wood crystalizes and magnets loose a bit of there strength after 50+ years. So yeah vintage guitars ARE often a lot better than the driftwood that comes out factories these days. The reason vintage prices are high is because they are good, survived 50 years and are regarded highly collectable. Leo indeed did things like a screw on neck, so you could replace it if the frets wore out. I think he never meant the price to go up as much as it did. And dude to proove quality has gone down. The same cheap pickups are used in the Mexicans aswell as the Asian models. Under $700,- neck aren't even lacquered anymore ''because it's more comfortable to play, satin finish etc.'' my ass! it's saves time and laquer and therefor money.
It's really cool to see the lap steels, many people often forget what Fender originally made...
It's amazing everything was cut by hand, no computer guiding you. No wonder they are so much better and worth lots of money
What the hell is naked Tom Hanks doing there at 6:50???
I guess that's where Private Ryan worked after the war, then...
Lol. I thought that too.
BAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHahhaahahhHaahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Forrest gump is real
No shit... he finds his way into everything! haha
Nothing has changed, Fenders still made by Mexicans, and still the best builders.
MIM Fenders have nothing on the originals. Hell, MIJ Fenders have always been superior to MIM.
Abby was Mexican! Worked there 50 yrs & her pickups are legendary.
I worked there in final assembly in the 70s .. and by chance ran into Abby shortly after she retired up in Rialto in the late 90s
Doesn't matter the colour of the skin does it, it's the person not the skin colour.
The difference is that these "mexicans" were Mexican Americans bleeding red, white, and Fender blue. Shit was made with love and pride back in those days.
Wow.This is so cool to see.My self a guitar lover.What a perfect background song singing guitar.I remember in my boyhood days.My neighbour named Albert Stewart who lived in Britain for many years and moved back to his homeland Grand Bay Dominica with some machines identical to the video.Thanks for taking me back to the good old days.
Amazing to see the creation of the greatest guitar ever made.
all the guitar being made in this vid are currently in actions somewhere.... back then, they went for $250.00
Pinche Pendejo That was the 1920’s and did not include land or labor. I was born in a house my grandfather paid $5000 for in 1947 and in 1966 when I was five we moved and it sold for $16K. It sold last year for $870K. And was promptly torn down.
Adjusted for inflation, $250 in 1959 dollars is equal to $2,164.85 in 2018 dollars.
Correct. All things musical--amps, instruments, and decent home hi-fi equipment, were pretty expensive by today's standards. This was also in a brief era when many working people in the US earned living wages.
For all those "it has to be a two or single piece body" wise guys: on 1:20 yo can clearly see a three piece Tele being cut
Strat, not a Tele. And depending on the available stock, they could be anywhere from 1 to 4 pieces.
@@LeftyPem I think less pieces for sunburst bodies, more for solid colour bodies
No masks, no goggles, no a/c, no filters, no warning notices. Just shows how much of a nanny society we've become.
Brilliant video. Utterly brillliant.
Lol really dude?
that was beautiful, That's a cornerstone of rock history right there!
@zeLudoo She's at 5:55 - Abigail Ybarra
Dudes working bare chested ... like a boss.!
Yeah you had to be tough as there was no air conditioning .
Bruce Scott That's some avatar you got..lol
nonameinfl Thanks . It's a mutated Kiwifruit .
0:51 shaping the guitar from a blank (looks like a Strat he's makin) completely by hand. Man, thats some skills!
Wow all done by hand on band saws , belt and hand sanding pure art. If I worked there I would never want to go home. And everything was so cool back then I bet the boss would let you make an extra strat to take home. Or maybe these guys would make their own starts in the secret home shop.
Que genio el que corta los cuerpos, y Tom Hanks en cuero probando las guitarras jaja
Javier Lafuente Eso sí, tan fluido
JL! jj