Fender Guitar Factory Tour 1959

[Ted Crocker]

[Dan Watts]

Ahhh, back in the good ol days. NO shirt, no safety glasses, OSHA would have a hayday...lol Really like the guy using the Yankee screwdriver, haven't seen one of those in a long time...Great viedo Ted!!

[W.T. Tarapchak]

'59......it was a good year.  Thanks for posting!

[Bob Harrison]

Ted, Was that your mom winding pickups? Acorn didn't fall far from the tree. hehe :)

[Ottie(Sky Dog)Noble]

great vid ted wish we could have heard the tune the guys were picking at the end  that give "handmade" a new look.

[Smoke Box Blues]

Awesome stuff! 50 years ago! where are all of that people, nowadays?... Great stuff was going on for sure!!!

Hi folks, if you like old movies, I invite to see this one: 

http://lugardoreal.com/video/romaria-da-senhora-dagonia/

This is my hometown in August 1958... No soundtrack, but great stuff... this is a movie to promote the city of Viana do Castelo, a catholic festivity called the pilgrimage "Nossa Sr.ª da Agonia"...
See the magic! You won't regret...
Btw, Portugal by the time was living under dictatorship!
Please don't get pissed with me... I know this is not related with Fender Guitar Factory Tour in 1959... but it's a worth great movie!

[Richard Stark]

SO AWESOME THAT YOU POSTED THIS!!! Seems i remember an article about Strat pickups around that era and a women was mentioned and the fact that She wound some pretty hotrodded pups in that era ( SRVs guitar in particular) wonder if that was actually Her. Imagine all those guitars Ya see in the video and what became of them.....  simply a priceless piece of guitar/music history-- Imagine working that factory in that era and just being in Cali @ that time. So freakin cool.

[Ted Crocker]

Richard, you are referring to pickups wound by Abigail Ybarra - the legendary Abby who worked for fender for 40+ years before Fender was bought out by CBS (I believe). That's her at 5:57 in the video above, they even put her name on the screen, no one else was named. I think she went to work in the Jackson Custom Shop afterwards, which was eventually bought by Fender (FMIC).

As with any legendary character, there are conflicting stories. Many believe that it is her 'ball of yarn' scatter technique that gave the pickups that came from her particular winding station that certain magic tone. Others believe it is just smart marketing hype on the part of Fender. Either way, in some circles pickups signed by Abby are revered and worth a lot of money.

[Richard Stark]

Ted Crocker said:

Richard, you are referring to pickups wound by Abigail Ybarra - the legendary Abby who worked for fender for 40+ years before Fender was bought out by CBS (I believe). That's her at 5:57 in the video above, they even put her name on the screen, no one else was named. I think she went to work in the Jackson Custom Shop afterwards, which was eventually bought by Fender (FMIC).

As with any legendary character, there are conflicting stories. Many believe that it is her 'ball of yarn' scatter technique that gave the pickups that came from her particular winding station that certain magic tone. Others believe it is just smart marketing hype on the part of Fender. Either way, in some circles pickups signed by Abby are revered and worth a lot of money.

I wonder who winds the Texas Special Pickups these days. That's what's in my Reissue Strat. Either way I want a set of Abbeys. Hell I wanna work @ Fender!

[Mortimer Mudbutt]

The bandsaw guy had all ten fingers.

The Fender joke probably everybody has heard before, What is the difference between the guitars made in Mexico vs. the guitars made in America? In Mexico, the guitars are built and assembled by Mexicans,, and the guitars made in America are built and assembled by Mexicans.

[Fajar kurniawan]

They should be more appreciated rather than throwing, destroying & burning the guitars just like what Hendrix, Townsend, Blackmore or Cobain did. Those assholes should give their respects to these workers & Mr Fender himself for their contributions & dedications in history of music...

[Richard Stark]

@ Fuqwad... if I built as many gits as Fender that were played by famous people I wouldn't give a shit what they did with em..... Man I only could hope for status like that. In fact. Just to make myself feel more important I'm goin out in the backyard now with one of my lowly CBGs and after the 1st 3 barres of Wild Thing I'm settin the bitch ablaze!