In Autumn 1980, I spent a wonderful 6-week holiday in the US, doing a round trip from San Francisco through Yosemite, Yellowstone, Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Death Valley Nat’l Parks, on to San Diego, Los Angeles, Monterey and back to SF. In LA, I (at the time a 25-year-old electronics and acoustics student with nothing much to show) had the guts to simply call up the Fender company and ask them for a visit of the factory. They must have been so surprised that they agreed, and I spent great and informative day at the (of course then CBS-owned) Fullerton Plant. I got to meet Ed Jahns who was quite proud of the Fender 75 and 30 amps that had come out a bit earlier, and he discussed tubes with me! What an honor! The visit also gave me the idea to rip the Tolles covering off my Princeton Reverb amp at home – the yet-uncovered cabinets I saw at the plant made me realize that there was potentially very good-looking hardwood underneath that Tolles that would make my amp look quite a bit Boogie-ish (the circuitry had long been dramatically modified, anyway).
The visit concluded with a trip to the Fender administration where i was given a collection of schematics and service documents of all the products manufactured at the time.
I had forgotten about these documents until I came across them recently, and I decided to scan them and post them here – maybe they are of interest to somebody.
Guitars and Basses:
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_13_jazz_bass
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_12_precision_bass
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_11_mustang_bass
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_10_musicmaster_bass
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_9_stratocaster
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_8_starcaster
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_7_jazzmaster
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_6_telecaster_deluxe
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_5_telecaster_custom
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_4_telecaster
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_3_mustang
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_2_bronco
1980_fender_service_doc_guitars_1_musicmaster
Amps:
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_22_ma8
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_21_ma6
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_20_300ps
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_19_pa_135
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_18_studio_bass
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_17_bassman_135
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_16_bassman_70
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_15_bassman_ten
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_14_musicmaster_bass
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_13_dual_showman_reverb
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_12_super_twin_reverb
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_11_vibrosonic_reverb
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_10_twin_reverb
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_9_bandmaster_reverb
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_8_super_reverb
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_7_pro_reverb
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_6_vibrolux_reverb
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_5_deluxe_reverb
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_4_princeton_reverb
1980_fender_service_doc_amps_3_princeton