bass guitars

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Bass_guitar

FULLERTON

Fullerton was a Korean or Chinese made brand offering electric guitars (including strat and Mosrite copies) as well as jazz guitars, acoustic guitars and basses. Aria introduced a Fullerton series of stratocaster inspired guitars in the mid 1990s. G&L also have a Fullerton range. These brand and model names all allude to Fullerton, California where Leo Fender founded the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company in 1946.

FODERA

Vinny Fodera and Joey Lauricella founded Fodera Guitars in 1983. Fodera was a skilled luthier and Lauricella a professional bass player. Together they began to build distinctive, handmade basses. Since opening the doors of its first small shop in Brooklyn, NY, the reputation of Fodera Guitars grown and today musicians from across the globe play Fodera custom basses and solid body electric guitars.

Fleishman

Harry Fleishman began making instruments in 1969. He began designing custom instruments in an attempt to combine my loves of music and art, making instruments that were fun and original. Over the next few  decades he developed the voice of his guitars and began experimenting with new shapes, multi-wood tops, multiple soundholes, asymmetry, and unusual bracings. Fleishman basses & guitars are played by many pro musicians including: Dave Pomeroy, Scott Bennett and George Holmes.

FERRINGTON

Danny Ferrington worked in his father's cabinet making work shop while still in high school. As a guitar, banjo & pedal steel player he learned instrument making & repairs with Randy Wood at The Old Time Pickin' Parlour when he moved to Nashville in 1975. He built several guitars for celebrities and became well known for making acoustic guitars shaped like electrics, with unusual shapes/colors or necks that played like electric guitars. These acoustics were ideal for rock musicians unused to playing traditional style acoustic guitars and for acoustic players who wanted something different. This opened up a whole new market for Ferrington who travelled to the UK in the late 1970s before moving to California in 1980. Ferrington designed an electro-acoustic range for Kramer starting in 1985-1986. These Kramer Ferringtons were mostly made in Korea and endorsed by the likes of Eddie Van Halen and Dweezil Zappa.

Source: Ferrington catalog 1992

Fender

The company was founded by Leo Fender as Fender's Radio Service in late 1938 in Fullerton, California, USA. While repairing musical instrument amplifiers in his electronics workshop he noticed their design flaws. He began making a few amplifiers using his own designs or modifications to designs. By the early 1940s, he had teamed up with another local electronics enthusiast named Clayton Orr (Doc) Kauffman, and they formed a company named K & F Manufacturing Corp. to design, manufacture, and sell electric instruments and amplifiers. Production began in 1945 with Hawaiian lap steel guitars (incorporating a patented pickup) and amplifiers, which were sold as sets. Leo Fender decided to concentrate on manufacturing rather than repair. Kauffman remained unconvinced, however, and they had amicably parted ways by early 1946. At that point Leo renamed the company the Fender Electric Instrument Company.

Fernandes

The Japanses Fernandes brand was first used in 1969 on flamenco guitars. The company expanded to produce a range of acoustic and electric models, and became Japan's largest maker of Fender copies. The 1970s Fernandes Stratocaster copies were well regarded. In 1992 Fernandes USA was established in Los Angeles, California and in 1996 the Fernandes USA Custom Shop was founded - but it has since closed.
 

FABREGUES

Fábregues basses were made in Puerto Rico by Pepe Fábregues. Pepe Fábregues was born in Spain, and from early on he combined his school studies with learning the craft of making musical instruments. Early on, the Fábregues Family moved to Puerto Rico where Pepe a bass player himself,  took on the local exotic rhythms and influences. As Puerto Rico is an American Commonwealth he was also exposed to Rock & Roll, Rhythm & Blues and Pop Music. Pepe was determined to find a bass sound that was flexible enough to cross play though all these genres and decided to create his own  instrument. Fábregues basses were available in the late 1990s and early 2000s but by 2010 Pepe was not building new basses - instead he was concentrating on repair work.

Source: Fabregues website (archived)

ESTEVE

Esteve Guitars was founded in 1957 in Valencia, Spain by Francisco Esteve and Manuel Adalid. Manuel Adalid's son joined the enterprise and determined to market Esteve guitars worldwide by using new techniques in construction and design, adapting to the demands of the international market. Circa 2017 Esteve had a team of 52 craftsmen building their classical and flameco guitars as well as requintos, tres cubanos and acoustic basses.

Source: Esteve Guitars website (23 February 2017)

DODGE

Dodge Guitar Founder, Rick Dodge, has over 35 years of experience starting in 1975 as an Apprentice to Guitar Builder Paris Banchetti in Miami, Florida. As an apprentice, Rick mastered instrument building and repair, including steel string guitars, classical guitars, violins, cellos, and the viola de gamba. As a young person, it was in this apprenticeship that he learned the use of hand tools as taught by an expert and developed a sense of professionalism in master woodworking wherein excellence in all creation, fabrication and repair work is paramount. In 1995, based on Rick's patented design of modular electric guitar, the Dodge Guitar Company was founded in Tallahassee, Florida. As owner and president, Rick personally developed instrument design and prototypes, and entered into limited and exclusive production of Dodge Guitars.

Source: Dodge Guitars website (24 March 2017)

DIPINTO

DiPinto Guitars was founded in Philadelphia,in 1995 as a repair shop, the store  evolved into a showroom specializing in oddball vintage guitars and Chris DiPinto's own guitar creations. Over the years, DiPinto has grown to include a full scale guitar manufacturing operation while still operating the original retail outlet.

Dillion

Dillion USA is an independently owned company selling Korean made recreations and variations of the worlds most famous vintage electric guitars, basses and acoustic guitars.

Currently manufactured Dillion guitars have "Made for Dillion USA" on the headstock to differentiate them from Dillion guitars Canada (a different company).

Dillion guitars was founded by John Vinci in 1996. Brooklyn musician Vinci had success in the 1960s and 1970s with groups called "Illusion" and  "Network" . In the 1980s Vinci began selling musical equipment and worked for Dean, B.C Rich, Guild and others.

DANELECTRO

Danelectro was a budget electric guitar brand that was used by often used by pros who loved their twangy lo-fi sound.

Danelectro was founded in 1946 by Nathan Daniel, who began his career making amplifiers in 1933.  In 1954 the first Danelectro electric guitars appeared. In the same year Danelectro also made Silvertone branded guitars for the Fall Sears catalogue.

1955 saw the birth of the ginger coloured model C "peanut" model, with the distincitve coke-bottle shaped headstock, and eventually with lipstick tube covered pickups (they used real lipstick tubes!). The U-1 and U-2 models replaced the C models in 1956, they were essentially the same except in different colours.

The 6 string bass UB-2 model (tuned exactly an octave lower than a guitar) was introduced in 1956.

The sixities saw the emergence of several cool models. The longhorn Guitarlin (with 31 frets - beat that!), the electric sitar.

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