Clarence Leonidas Fender (August 10, 1909 – March 21, 1991) was an American inventor and founder of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.  Fender designed the company's iconic early instruments: the Fender Telecaster, the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar.  The Fender Stratocaster is among the most iconic electric guitars and the Fender Precision Bass literallyset the standard for electric basses.  He also designed the Fender Bassman amplifier, which became the archetype for later amplifiers (notably by Marshall and Mesa Boogie) that dominated rock and roll music.  Fender, who was not a guitarist himself, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.  He was working at the company he founded in 1979 up until the day before his death in 1991.