Fender was sold in 1965 to CBS on 1/5/65 FOR 13 MILLION. The $@!& started to hit the fan in the late 70s. The hiring of Bill Shultz who worked fot Yamaha was the turning point he came in and turned the company around with designer Dan Armstrong. The 25th anniversary model in 79 was the return of the 4 bolt neck in 80 the STRAT saw the return of the smaller peghead,in 84 all Fender stock,inventory and trademarks were offered to Shultz and co as a management/employee buy out for roughly the same price of 13 million that CBS bought it for.In 2004 Fender was valued at 500 million cosidering that liquidation was a real prospect a decade and a half before that is some success story.So I guess we can all thank Bill Shultz for saving our beloved Fender.

I know they owned Harley Davidson for a while, I just don't remember them picking up Fender.

pretty sure they owneb Fender too.

Well in 2000 Fender had a Revenue of about 263 mil. by 2007 it had increased to 438. Also the debt ratio was abot 43% back in 2000 and they were carring a long term dept of almost 30 mil. and that has gone up since. I don't have the number in front of me though.
Also Roland and the equity firm of Weston Presidio are minority owners.

Theres a lot more then just saying a company is worth this much.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

AMF never owned Fender. Leo sold to CBS, CBS sold it back to the employee group led by "Uncle" Bill.

Yep, Schultz and investors bought the company in 1985 from CBS for 12.5m. and the name was changed to Fender Musical Instruments and just over 700 employees were let go. And as I said in the other post there are some other companies as minority owners.

Until 1981 CBS was making money with Fender.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

I have a76 sunburst and it is my number 1 guitar with a 89 Strat ultra coming in a close second so i can't say anything bad about the mid 70's strats

'70's strats suck - they dont even make good firewood!!



But let me know when you come across a nice one, my offer to buy them up to get that junk off the market still stands! No sense in everyone having to suffer, ill take them

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"Wait a minute, somethings wrong here!"

Harley, Fender, it's all about the same thing!

Looking good for the ladies!

AMF, CBS, it's all about the same thing!

Increasing the Corporate profits (and big CEO pay which impresses the ladies)!

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Hi there,

I have a '72 Strat that I bought new as a teenager. I still own it and it is my top guitar today (I have 8 guitars), however not without going through some necessary modifications. The maple neck and sunburst body are perfect, and look even better today due to some fading, aging of the finishes. The neck however, needed a fret job pretty early on. The original frets were very narrow and low in height, and the laquer finish was so thick on the fretboard that it was almost flush with the surface of the frets, especially past the 12th fret. This made it almost impossible to play with any skill past the 12th fret. The guy who did my fret job refinished the fretboard with a very thin coat, making it feel almost like a rosewood fingerboard. The new frets (standard) were attached after the new coat of finish was dry. Now the whole neck is playable from top to bottom.

I was also unhappy with the stock pickups so I replaced them about 10 years ago with Seymour Duncan SSL-5s which provides a classic but slightly heavier/louder sound.

The stock bridge with the cast saddles was terrible. I could never set the intonation quite right so I replaced the whole thing with a "Fender vintage strat bridge" with the proper steel saddles and now the whole thing plays like butter. I love it and will never get rid of it.

My other Strats are a 1987 Japanese model, which I also love, and a Squier Strat that was signed and given to me as a gift from one of my clients. The Squier, I must add, plays like sh*t, but it looks beautiful hanging on my wall in my office.

BTW, My friend has a 1972 Telecaster and interestingly it suffers from the same thick finish issue that my Strat had (above). Otherwise, it's a fine guitar.

I've never had any problems with the 3-bolt neck attachment.

I never understood why people complain about the heaviness of 70's strats, I like the heavier feel! So if you like the heavy feel, like i do, get it!

mines not that heavy at all

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"Wait a minute, somethings wrong here!"

I have a 1976 that i bought new in April 1977 and its an incredible axe.I,ve kept the 3-way switch on it as well.It,s a natural finish with white guard.Being fairly heavy,this is one that,s not leaving the herd.