This is a pretty cool vid that shows a Fender being made from scratch in Corona, California. Mine was made there, so this was interesting to watch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MnylRaQC3w

The comments link to a factory tour from '59 for comparison. Differnet facility but still a cool vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nswcAPvH0P8

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I really enjoyed this video! It is always a great thing to see how our beloved guitars are made! Thanks Fender!!!
ABS

Is that Leo Fender on the left?

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"Music is what feelings sound like"

Interesting. Even with all the automation, it's still quite a hands-on process

Great vid!! It's always nice for me to see the shop work in action.

If I may, I'd like to point something out though. A lot of what I saw on the videos showed a good amount of good ol' fashioned hand-work. While it's easy to think of every little minute detail being measured and micro-metered, it shows that not every detail is. I see posts on here from time to time about "poor quality control", and there are cases that are warranted. But in the grand scheme of things, there's human error. A lot of these processes ARE being done free-formed, and by the hands of people unlike everyone here. A flaw here and there represents that, and it never bothers me unless it's completely blatant. Otherwise, I'm all about it. It shows that no guitar is the same. What you got is unique by nature, and even more unique by every individual's hand who built it.

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Hi Klowenst: yep, it's the same vid that Brad posted in the announcements section at the top of the Forum index pages, isn't it? I think it's a very cool little movie, full of interesting details.

Obviously, they're out to make a point about how much of the building work is still done by hand, so they've quietly omitted the substantial parts that are done by CNC machines, such as carving the bodies and necks. Still, it is quite surprising that certain aspects are indeed still done by human hands. Drilling holes in bridge blocks, for example.

And automotive factories have been painting cars with robots for donkey's years now. It's quite curious that Fender haven't automated that part of the process yet, given how much they've spent on their spraying facilities. Fascinating.

And do they really wax pot the pickups just ten at a time? Gosh, it must take a lot of hours to make their hundreds of thousands of pickups a year!

Great stuff.

Cheers - C

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Woops! I must have missed that post. Sorry for the double posting

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Haha - no probs! In fact, it kinda feels easier to discuss the vid on this thread, where it's a bit more informal than an "official" company thread.

I think Brad might be a bit disappointed that you're not studying his posts closely enough, though...

Cheers - C

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I like the more relaxed tour. Probably because I am getting old

The second video really shows how great it was in those days. Like carving a body pretty much free handed. That old cooter sure made it look so easy!

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"Music is what feelings sound like"