Thursday, December 18, 2008

Fender 1985–1998

When the Fender company was bought from CBS by Bill Schultz in 1985, manufacturing resumed its former high quality and Fender was able to regain market share and brand reputation. This sparked a rise in mainstream popularity for vintage (and vintage-style) instruments. Dan Smith, with the help of John Page, proceeded to work on a reissue of the most popular guitars of Leo Fender's era. They decided to manufacture two Vintage reissue Stratocaster models, a maple-neck 1957 and a rosewood-neck 1962 along with the maple-neck 1952 Telecaster. This project was very important and critical to the company's survival. These first few years (1982–1984) of reissues are now high-priced collector's items and considered as some of the finest to ever leave Fender's Fullerton plant, which closed its doors in late 1984.

In 1985, Fender's US production of the Vintage reissues resumed into a new factory at Corona, located about 20 miles away from Fullerton. These three guitars form an important part of the American Vintage Series line since July 10th, 1998.

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