February 11, 2025

Original Fender Broadcaster at Fair Deal Music Birmingham

Few guitars can claim to have changed the way people play more so than the Broadcaster. The solid-body Spanish-style guitar was the forerunner to the unanimously acclaimed telecaster. The journey of the Broadcaster began in the late 1940’s with Leo Fender, who up until this point had been producing mostly lap steel guitars. Fender sought to create a guitar that could be played upright that was easy to maintain and easy to mass produce; thus, in late 1949, the broadcaster wrought.

However, less than a year into production, Gretsch sent a cease and desist to Fender due to the name having too much similarity with their drum kit called the ‘BroadKaster’. In February of 1951, Fender ceased production of the Broadcaster by simply removing the logo, creating a brief period of ‘Nocasters’ until the name ‘Telecaster’ was decided upon in April 1951.

The mechanics of the broadcaster are different to many modern guitars. Early Fender switch wiring used what is commonly referred to as a “blend” circuit. The blend circuit doesn’t use a tone knob or capacitor like on later guitars. The second knob is used to blend the neck and bridge pickups together in the switch lead. The forward position of the switch is just the neck pickup with a low-pass capacitor to mimic a bass guitar sound as the Broadcaster predates standard production of solid-body bass guitars. The middle position features a neck pickup alone with no tone knob.