BOOK: ‘The Fender Archives’ by Tom Wheeler
You’d be hard-pressed to find a guitarist who doesn’t owe something to Fender, whether they own a Stratocaster or not. Fender guitars are marvels of engineering, both for how they play and how they’ve stood the test of time. Tom Wheeler’s new book, The Fender Archives, out now from Hal Leonard, provides a fun and detailed look into one of the world’s leading guitar companies.
The book accurately advertises itself as “part history, part archive, part scrapbook, and part treasure chest.” It’s divided into 10 chapters, each covering a different part of Fender’s legacy and/or history, ranging from the company’s attempt to break into the mostly acoustic and steel guitar industry to its problems under CBS. Everything from the big successes such as the Stratocaster to the seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the time Starcaster. These stories are told through interviews, notes, newspaper clippings, pictures, and any other kind of storytelling device/aid that can be put on the page.
The Fender Archives does a great job showing that Fender was excellent at more than just making guitars — the company is full of brilliant marketers and business people, steering the company through thick and thin while remaining one of the top names in guitar manufacturing.
As with any good scrapbook, there’s no wrong way to read this book. One can either explore this book cover to cover or pick it up and choose a chapter at random — it’s just as readable either way. Whether one wants to read the in-depth interviews or just look at the pretty pictures, the reader’s going to have a good time and learn something along the way. The book contains dozens upon dozens of pictures of promotional material, letters, sketches — if it was put on paper somewhere at some time, a beautiful scan of it is present here. Wheeler wisely lets the pieces speak for themselves, providing little commentary save the necessary context.
Perhaps the biggest selling point of the book are the facsimiles included; interspersed throughout the book are pockets featuring 20 tangible, painstaking recreations, including drafts, letters, diary entries, promotional materials, posters, and set lists. While the pockets holding them are beautiful and perform their function, they’re also a design flaw: they’re flimsy and feel like they need to be handled with medical precision lest they rip. It’s also harder to get the larger pieces in and out, since the pockets are almost exactly the size of a standard piece of printer paper (8.5″ x 11″), so full-size pieces are a bit of a too-snug fit and difficult to sift around at times.
The Fender Archives is undeniably sympathetic to the Fender company; not too many people connected to the company are shown in anything resembling a bad light, but it’s never afraid to examine the company’s missteps such as the aforementioned Starcaster and explain why they didn’t work.
While largely original, much of the written material present in this book are excerpts from other sources, including other guitar books, previous interviews with the author, and internet articles. Don’t let this scare you away, though; many of the articles are obscure and are the product of excellent research that makes you curious for more.
The book functions equally well as a coffee table book or as part of a research project. It’s a fascinating read for any guitar player or rock music lover, and makes a great gift for the axe-wielder in your life.
Order your copy of The Fender Archives now from Hal Leonard!
