50 Years of Fender: Half a Century of the Greatest Electric Guitars

Rating:
Summary: The icon of American rock music
Review: Answers many of the questions inquiring minds want to know. I bought it for my 9-year old son, a budding electric guitar player, who was forever asking me questions about Fender. He had found the site on the Internet and was learning the sounds of each of these distinctive guitars from the audio bytes they generously served up. The book is handsomely illustrated and includes all the famous Fenders with short bios on this who played them. But the star of this book is the guitar which has become an icon of American rock music. We have even made some cardboard models of those he likes most. A must have for Fender fans of all ages.

Rating:
Summary: The icon of American rock music
Review: Answers many of the questions inquiring minds want to know. I bought it for my 9-year old son, a budding electric guitar player, who was forever asking me questions about Fender. He had found the site on the Internet and was learning the sounds of each of these distinctive guitars from the audio bytes they generously served up. The book is handsomely illustrated and includes all the famous Fenders with short bios on this who played them. But the star of this book is the guitar which has become an icon of American rock music. We have even made some cardboard models of those he likes most. A must have for Fender fans of all ages.

Rating:
Summary: The only unbiased book that tells the whole story
Review: Mr.Smith was able to write a story of the evolution of Fender Musical Intruments that was crafted in much the same way as Leo Fender's "no nonesense" technical philosophy. It seems that everyone who worked for the company is writing, or has written a book that often is either romanticized or modified to fit a personal agenda. The unbiased approach is both shocking and refreshing. Mr.Smith's book also has hundreds of rare and unseen inside photos of the factory, people, and instruments that alone are worth the price of the book. If anyone is interested in the history of this company, "Fender Sound Heard "Round the World" is the only book you will need. Be warned, the book is as addictive to read and browse as playing a blues lick on your Stratocaster!

Rating:
Summary: The only unbiased book that tells the whole story
Review: Mr.Smith was able to write a story of the evolution of Fender Musical Intruments that was crafted in much the same way as Leo Fender's "no nonesense" technical philosophy. It seems that everyone who worked for the company is writing, or has written a book that often is either romanticized or modified to fit a personal agenda. The unbiased approach is both shocking and refreshing. Mr.Smith's book also has hundreds of rare and unseen inside photos of the factory, people, and instruments that alone are worth the price of the book. If anyone is interested in the history of this company, "Fender Sound Heard "Round the World" is the only book you will need. Be warned, the book is as addictive to read and browse as playing a blues lick on your Stratocaster!

Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2* Nice Coffee Table Book
Review: This is a very good book to develop an appreciation of the Fender guitar and its development from the "Broadcaster" to the "Telecaster" and beyond. There are some outstanding pictures of vintage Fenders, the Fender "Precision" and other basses, steel guitars, and amps, as well as the musicians who played and/or promoted them. There's a sense of history too, as the book's sidebars list important historical and musical events of each era. At this relatively low price, it's a nice, albeit brief, introduction to the history of the electric guitar and the man who both made it commercially viable and made some outstanding innovations.

Now, I don't want language that only a sound engineer could understand, but the book does not go into enough detail about how the electric guitar works, the differences between guitar brands and among the various Fender models, or the various sonic experiments performed by Leo Fender and his colleagues at the Fender factory in Fullerton, California. This renders the book most suitable for those with a passing (or newfound) interest in the subject, rather than those with a passion for it. For more details, you might try "The Fender Book: A Complete History of Fender Electric Guitars (2nd Ed)" by Tony Bacon and Paul Day.