Squier by Fender

The V.C. Squier Company had been founded in 1890, in Battle Creek Michigan, by the son of a European shoemaker and farmer who had also learned how to make fine violins. Jerome Bonaparte Squier, moved from England to Boston around 1881, and began teaching his son, Victor, how to build and repair violins. In 1890, V.C. Squier moved to Battle Creek Michigan and opened his own shop.  Eventually, he moved the shop to a location at 427 Capitol Ave, which is known as the famous "fiddle factory". Because there was not much of a market demand for violins in Battle Creek, Victor networked actively with famous violin players and national music schools. Before 1900, European made violin strings were considered the best and most popular, but they were also the most costly because they were all hand-wound. When Victor began making his own strings, his business grew at an incredible rate and demand was almost too much for his small band of employees. In the 1930s, electric stringed instruments began gaining popularity among musicians and performers. At this time, Squier was already firmly established in the acoustic string market, so the addition of string production for electric stringed instruments was natural. Along comes Leo Fender, business man and investor from California, and his strange new electric guitars. A subsequent marriage between the Squier company and the Fender company emerged as Squier became and OEM (original equipment manufacturer) for Fender's strings in 1963. Fender did not acquire the company and it's naming rights until 1965, but did not use the Squier name for any guitar models until much later, in 1982. After acquiring the V.C. Squier company, Fender used the facilities to produce strings, but never used the Squier name as a string brand.  They continued to create their own strings under their own "Fender" name. Fender had used other guitar model names (non-Squier names) for their cheaper models back in the 70s, but with steep competition from the Japanese manufactured guitars continued to increase due to much cheaper labor and productions costs, Fender decided to revive the Squier name and move their cheaper guitar production off of American shores, and on to Japanese shores.