In 1991, year of the death of the founder Leo Fender, Fender’s main offices were moved from Brea to Scottsdale, Arizona. This headquarters controlled Squier, Charvel, Gretsch, Jackson and EVH brands in addition to the Fender one, while the factory of the made in USA instruments and the Custom Shop remained in Corona.
In the second half of 1998, Fender’s factory was moved from Pomona Avenue to the Cessna Circle plant, also in Corona; but if in the past ten buildings were reserved to the production for a total surface area of just over 10,000m², the new factory, consisting of a single building, was about 177,000m², and, given its value of 20 million dollars, was defined by the top management of Fender as the most expensive factory for guitars ever existing: an excellent investment to improve production avoiding the waste of time caused by the previous fragmented factory structure, but also in anticipation of future production increases.
In the second half of 1998, Fender’s factory was moved from Pomona Avenue to the Cessna Circle plant, also in Corona; but if in the past ten buildings were reserved to the production for a total surface area of just over 10,000m², the new factory, consisting of a single building, was about 177,000m², and, given its value of 20 million dollars, was defined by the top management of Fender as the most expensive factory for guitars ever existing: an excellent investment to improve production avoiding the waste of time caused by the previous fragmented factory structure, but also in anticipation of future production increases.
Fender organizes free factory Tours at Fender Visitor Center 301 Cessna Circle, Corona
In the '90s Stratocaster production experienced a period of strong expansion and the number of models with different characteristics increased considerably: guitarists could indeed choose from American, Mexican, Japanese and the Squier models, the latter initially produced in Japan and later in other states too (Korea, India, China, Indonesia, but also Mexico and United States!). The top model of American Stratocaster was of course the American Standard; its variants were however numerous, including Plus Series, Signature, Vintage, Hot Rodded, and the many Anniversary Stratocaster. But we haven’t to forget also all the made in Mexico and made in Japan Stratocaster, the Squier and the Custom Shop ones, such as the Custom Classic, Set-neck and Contemporary Series, and limited edition or one-off models. In 1993 the first out of catalog factory Stratocaster appeared, the “mother” of the future FSR, the Special Edition 1993 Stratocaster. In 1997, thirty years after Hendrix's debut with Are you experienced, Fender launched on the market two guitars – a factory and a Custom Shop production - dedicated to the musician who most of all contributed to Stratocaster’s spread: the Jimi Hendrix Tribute Stratocaster and the Custom Shop Jimi Hendrix Monterey Pop Stratocaster, both described in the chapter on Jimi Hendrix. In 1998 Voodoo Stratocaster joined them.
1998 marked another stage for Stratocaster. In July the American Deluxe Series replaced the obsolete Plus Series. In the '90s Stratocaster’s catalog was very extensive but also very chaotic; it could contain, in some cases, very similar instruments with different names and a lower priced guitar could be sometimes of higher quality than a higher priced one. “Hybrid” guitars, whose components came from one country and were assembled in another, complicated the situation; these instruments, as the California Series, were very common in the '90s. There were also a made in US Squier and a made in Brazil Stratocaster, the Southern Cross Stratocaster. Today it is clear that these were years of transition for the new Fender, a company that in 1999 was just ten years old.
Antonio Calvosa