Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in the context of "Leo Fender"

The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double-cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously manufactured the Stratocaster since 1954.

The guitar's distinctive body shape was revolutionary when introduced in the mid-1950s. The double cutaway, elongated horns, and heavily contoured back were all designed for better balance and comfort to play while standing up and slung off the shoulder with a strap. The three-pickup design was a step up from earlier one- and two-pickup guitars, and a responsive and simplified vibrato arm integrated into the bridge plate, which marked a significant design improvement over other vibrato systems, such as those manufactured by Bigsby. However, Stratocasters without the vibrato system ("hardtails") were added to the portfolio in March 1955. The modular nature of the guitar, with its easily removable components, enabled players and luthiers to perform numerous modifications to their own guitars, changing out pickups or necks to fit the needs of the player. All of these design elements were popularized and later became industry standards due to the success of the Stratocaster.

The steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar that descends from the gut-strung Romantic guitar, but is strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. Like the modern classical guitar, it is often referred to simply as an acoustic guitar, or sometimes as a folk guitar.

The most common type is often called a flat top guitar, to distinguish it from the more specialized archtop guitar and other variations.

Frederick Theodore Tavares (18 February 1913 – July 24, 1990) was an American designer, engineer, and musician who played with Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Henry Mancini and many others, and was also a key figure at Fender Musical Instruments Corporation for many decades. Tavares is perhaps best known for his role in designing the Fender Stratocaster, the Fender Precision Bass and other Fender instruments and amplifiers (including the classic Bassman amp).

The Bigsby vibrato tailpiece (or Bigsby for short) is a type of mechanical vibrato device for electric guitar designed by Paul Bigsby and produced by the Bigsby Electric Guitar Company (currently an independently operated subsidiary of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation). The device allows musicians to bend the pitch of notes or entire chords with their pick hand for various effects.

Bigsby was inspired to create a new vibrato system after being tasked by Merle Travis to repair the Kauffman Vibrola on his Gibson L-10. The Bigsby system would debut in 1951, with the first example going to Travis. By the mid-1950s, Bigsby had ceased production of his own guitars and began only producing a range of vibrato tailpieces.