Fender Factory Tours

[gaylep]

Hello,

Does anyone know if Fender gives tours of their factories, either in Mexico or CA? If so, where might I get some information? I'd love to surprise my husband with a tour trip for his 40th birthday next year.

Thanks much!

[Enzo]

Well, why not just contact Fender and ask them?

And you might be more specific. They make amplifiers and they make guitars. The two manufacturing processes are not particularly related. Each might have its fascination, but your husband moght be more interested in one than the other. AMPlifiers will have machines automatically stuffing little electronic components onto circuit boards, which then roll down assembly lines to soldering machines. On the other hand, in the guitar shop, a hunk of wood that looks like a 2x4 sits on a special lathe, and router blades come along and shape it into a guitar neck in seconds.

He might find both fascinating, but they would be in different places.

I have no idea their response, but more and more companies are getting tighter about allowing access to their plants.

[gaylep]

Well, I thought I'd try here in a music electronics forum, thinking that there would be someone here who is just as crazy about Fender GUITARS as my husband. I thought that this person (or these people) might be eager to share their knowledge. Sorry if I caused an inconvenience.

[Enzo]

No inconvenience implied, just want to get you where you want to be. Meaning no disrespect, asking Fender directly will net you more information than asking us about what Fender would do.

I would like to watch some guitar building myself. I wish I had gone down to the Gibson factory for a tour when it was still down the road in Kalamazoo.

[jrfrond]

I can tell you that they DO NOT give factory tours, because I just inquired about this recently with one of my friends at Fender. I wanted to take my son there after Winter NAMM, because he plays Strats and is a Fender nut. As with many companies afraid of insurance liabilities, the factory tours have gone bye-bye. Even being a long-time Fender service tech doesn't get me in!

[JoeM]

No tours, but there is a museum in Corona, CA.

http://www.fendermuseum.com/index.html

[ritajones]

Ahh, they need to start giving tours. There are so many people who would love to do that, myself included.

[dalziel]

Fender now gives tours of their corona california factory