Who made Fender guitars in 1980?

In 1980, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), via Columbia Records Distribution Corp. / CBS Musical Instruments division controlled the Fender name. Its one line on record was built at Fender Fullerton factory (Pomona Ave / S Raymond Ave / S Valencia Dr campus) (USA).^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]}

A Fender guitar from 1980 belongs to whichever era was running on its product line that year. An era is a stretch when the company that controlled the name and the plant that built the line both stayed the same. If you know the line, the table below tells you which version of Fender you have. The name dates from 1946^{[1, 2]}, 34 years before.

Line by line in 1980

Line	Controlled by	Parent	Built at	Era	Grade
Fender USA	Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), via Columbia Records Distribution Corp. / CBS Musical Instruments division	—	Fender Fullerton factory (Pomona Ave / S Raymond Ave / S Valencia Dr campus) Fullerton, CA, USA^{[4, 5, 7, 3, 6]}	1965–1982	unverified^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]}

What changed in 1980

Nothing changed in 1980. Every era running that year carried on from an earlier year, so a Fender from 1980 is the same version as one from 1979.

Where Fender was built in 1980

Fender Fullerton factory (Pomona Ave / S Raymond Ave / S Valencia Dr campus). See every brand each plant built for, and every plant in the same country:

Other brands in 1980

Fender, year by year

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Sources

Every numbered marker on this page points here: the document, its grade and the passages relied on. An era is computed, so it cites the facts it was derived from. A fact marked “no source” has no claim attached yet.

1
Fender ownership historygraded secondary
2
Fender Musical Instruments Company Historygraded secondary
3
The End of the CBS Era: Inside the 1985 Fender Buyoutgraded community
4
Fender's Radio Servicegraded primary
5
Relics of Fullerton: The Buildings of Leo Fendergraded secondary
6
Fender factoriesgraded community
7
Fender Musical Instruments Corporationgraded community

See something wrong, or know a better source?