Fender vs Squier

Fender and Squier share 6 plants and 2 companies on record. FujiGen, Grand Reward (GREE), Guangdong and PT Cort Indonesia, Ngoro built for both at the same time.

Two names on two headstocks can come out of the same building. When they do, the difference between them is the badge, the spec and the price, not the factory. When they share an owner, one company decided what each name stood for. Here is everything Fender and Squier have in common, from the records.

Side by side

	Fender	Squier
Founded	1946^{[1, 2]}	1890^{[3, 4]}
Eras on record	14, from 1946	12, from 1982
Owners	4	3
Plants	15	8
Countries built in	USA, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and China	Japan, South Korea, China and Indonesia

Plants that built both

Plant	Fender	Squier	Both at once
Cor-Tek / Cort Korea (Squier builder; city not given) South Korea^[5]	Fender Korea (MIK) year unknown^[5]	Squier Korea 1992–now^[5]	never
FujiGen Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan^[6]	Fender Japan (MIJ / CIJ) 1982–1996^{[7, 8, 9, 10]}	Squier Japan (JV Series) 1982–1985^{[11, 12, 10]}	1982–1985
Grand Reward (GREE), Guangdong Guangdong, China^{[12, 13]}	Fender China (Modern Player) 2011–2018^{[14, 15, 16, 17]}	Squier China 2008–2019^{[13, 18]}	2011–2018
PT Cort Indonesia, Ngoro Ngoro, Mojokerto, East Java, Indonesia^[19]	Fender Indonesia (acoustics; Standard Series) 2024–now^{[15, 20, 21]}	Squier Indonesia 1998–now^{[22, 18]}	2024–now
PT Samick Indonesia, Cileungsi Cileungsi, West Java, Indonesia^[23]	Fender Indonesia (acoustics; Standard Series) year unknown^{[24, 25, 17, 26]}	Squier Indonesia 1999–2006^{[22, 18]} Squier Indonesia 2019–2021^[18]	never
Young Chang (Korea; city not given) South Korea^{[5, 11]}	Fender Korea (MIK) year unknown^[27]	Squier Korea 1987–1989^{[5, 11]}	never

Companies behind both

Company	With Fender	With Squier
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), via Columbia Records Distribution Corp. / CBS Musical Instruments division	owns 1965–1985^{[1, 2, 28]} parent company 1982–1985^{[1, 2, 28, 9, 10, 7, 8, 29, 30, 25]}	owns 1965–1985^{[11, 4, 3]}
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation	owns 1985–now^{[31, 28, 2]} parent company 1985–2015^{[31, 28, 2, 9, 10, 7, 8, 25, 32, 33, 34]}	owns 1985–now^[31]

More comparisons

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
Squiergraded community
4
Squier Historygraded community
5
Serial numbers Stratocaster Koreagraded community
6
フジゲン(株) 会社概要 (本社所在地)graded secondary
- 本社所在地: 長野県松本市平田東3-3-1FujiGen, location
7
Fender Japan: A Brief Guidegraded community
8
Fender Japan Historygraded community
9
Fender Japangraded community
10
Fender Japan history (Fachblatt article, 1987)graded secondary
11
A Brief History of Squier Guitarsgraded secondary
12
Squier Factoriesgraded community
13
Classic Vibe and Vintage Modified Stratocastergraded community
14
fuzzfaced: squier china indonesia en.htmlgraded community
15
Why Fender is building its $599 Standard Series in Indonesiagraded secondary
16
Fender Modern Player Starcastergraded community
17
How can I find out when my acoustic instrument was manufactured (Dating Fender acoustic guitars)graded primary
18
Serial numbers Stratocaster China and Indonesiagraded community
19
PT Cort Indonesia (Panjiva supplier profile)graded secondary
- Kawasan Berikat Ngoro Industri Persada Blok G, 5-6, Desa Ngoro, Kecamatan Ngoro, Kabupaten, Mojokerto, Jawa TimurPT Cort Indonesia, Ngoro, location
20
The Big Review: Fender Standard Telecastergraded secondary
21
Fender Standard Stratocaster reviewgraded secondary
22
Squier Affinity / Tradition Seriesgraded community
23
PT Samick Indonesia (Panjiva supplier profile)graded secondary
- JL. PERKEBUNAN DESA KIDUL, KEC.CIL, BOGOR JAWA BARAT, INDONESIAPT Samick Indonesia, Cileungsi, location
24
Where are Fender guitars made? Fender factories and production locationsgraded community
25
Fender factoriesgraded community
26
Samick Musical Instruments Co., Ltd. Historygraded secondary
27
Squier Korea: plywood (Squiers made in Korea and India)graded community
28
The End of the CBS Era: Inside the 1985 Fender Buyoutgraded community
29
Fender's Radio Servicegraded primary
30
Relics of Fullerton: The Buildings of Leo Fendergraded secondary
31
Fender Musical Instruments Corp, Form S-1/A (2012), accession 0001193125-12-298421graded primary
32
Fender Custom Shopgraded community
33
re: korean squires (forum thread)graded community
34
35 years of Fender Mexico: a timelinegraded secondary

See something wrong, or know a better source?