![]() Both instruments featured bolt-on neck designs. The 1976 catalogue shows the first offerings: a two-pickup guitar, the StingRay 1, and the StingRay bass. These instruments were designed by Fender and White. In June 1976, production started on guitars and in August basses followed. By 1976, it had built a manufacturing facility for musical instruments, and was contracted to make Music Man products. Fender also operated a consulting firm, CLF Research, in Fullerton, California. In 1975, Fender's legal restriction expired and, after a vote of the board, he was named the president of Music Man. The number of designs rapidly increased, and 15 of the 28 pages from the 1976 catalogue were dedicated to amplification. In 1974, the company started producing its first product, an amplifier designed by Leo Fender and Tom Walker called the "Sixty Five," a hybrid of tube and solid-state technology. Fender did not like the corporate name, so it changed first to Musitek, Inc., and in January 1974 the final name, Music Man, appeared. White had worked with Leo Fender since 1954, in the very early days of the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company as the plant manager, eventually becoming vice president, and stayed on after the company was sold to CBS, but grew unhappy with their management and resigned in 1966. Because of a ten-year non-compete clause in the 1965 contract that sold the Fender companies to the CBS Corporation, Leo Fender became a silent partner. ![]() Walker approached Leo Fender about financial help in the founding. Walker had previously been a sales representative at Fender. ![]() In 1971, Forrest White and Tom Walker formed Tri-Sonix, Inc. Stingray bass in Trans Gold finish, 2001 model ![]()
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