I found this fascinating video of a Fender Factory Tour filmed in 1959.
The film was shot on 8mm color film by Forrest White in 1959 and has since been restored by CinePost, who specialize in restoring old film footage, and was edited by Ross Lenenski of Denison University.
It begins with an establishment shot of the outside of the factory, and then cuts to an inside scene of the office where you see Leo Fender himself smiling at the camera from his chair.
Then we are taken to the work area of the factory where we see craftsmen cutting guitar bodies and necks from wood – and doing it all manually, no computer driven cutting machines here!
Some of the workers in the film are known and their names annotated, but many have no names – so if you do know anyone you see please contact CinePost and let them know.
By the time we get to the end of the film we see a couple of shiny new Stratocasters straight off the production line.
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