Clarence Leonidas Fender (Leo Fender) was born in 1909, and raised in Fullerton, California. Leo developed an interest in electronics as a teenager, and began building and repairing radios for classmates. Leo opened a full scale radio repair shop in 1939 and named it the Fender Radio Service. The shop becmae a general electronics retail outlet. In 1945, the K&F company was formed with Leo and his partner Clayton Orr Doc Kaufman. This lasted a year when the company dissolved and Leo formed the Fender Electric Instrument Co. in 1946 and featured some of the amps that Leo had developed. They had made a few amps under the K&F name, and in 1946 all were Fender amps.
Amplifiers and lap steels are what started Fender. What really made them take off was the inventive genius of Fender releasing two of the most popular guitar designs ever. In 1950 the Fender Telecaster was released (although named different at first) and in 1954, the Fender Stratocaster, which has become the single most copied guitar ever. With rapid success and an ever expanding line, Fender released the Electric Mandolin in early 1956. The Fender Mandolin had only 4 strings as opposed to the traditional 8 strings and was only available in an electric version. The Mandolin was produced for about 20 years until 1976 and changed very little over the course of its life.
Fender was sold to CBS in 1964. The quality also began to drop as a number of key figures left the company. Fender began to go down in the early 1980s due to a number of reasons. This is when Fender began doing business in Japan and Korea and the company was sold again in 1985. When production resumed in 1986, the company was known as FMIC (Fender Musical Instrument Corporation). In 1991, FMIC relocated corporate headquarters to Scottsdale, Arizona. In 1998 they started to produce mandolins again with both electric and acoustic models. FMIC has bought up other interests as well including Sunn and SWR amplifiers, Gretsch, Guild, Jackson, Charvel, Squier, and Manuel Rodriguez guitars. Mandolins are currently produced today. Source for early Fender History: Richard R. Smith, Fender: The Sound Heard 'Round the World.
Mandolins currently produced in Mexico, Japan, China, and/or Korea since 1998. Previously produced in Fullerton, CA between 1956 and 1976. Distributed by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) of Scottsdale, AZ.