Leo Fender was the ultimate guitar man

On the 25th anniversary of Leo Fender’s death, Jonathan deBurca Butler looks at the legacy of a great guitar maker who had a huge impact on popular music.

IN AN interview he gave in the 1980s, Leo Fender was asked how he came up with his most famous creation, the Stratocaster guitar. His answer said much about the Californian’s ethos.

“Twenty-four hours a day, I sat at home and thought about it,” he said. “A lot of times a musician would make a casual remark about how he wished he had this or he wished he had that.