The Alabama Inventors Database includes inventors who lived in Alabama at the time they received their patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The Government Documents Department of the Birmingham Public Library compiles these records and updates the database on an ongoing basis.
The Fender Custom Shop produces special-order guitars for customers through a Custom Shop dealer network, creates limited edition guitars, builds limited edition amplifiers, and does some research & design for the parent company.
Fender Stratocaster - Design developments. 1  The Fender Stratocaster was the first guitar to feature three pickups and a spring tension vibrato system, as well as being the first Fender with a contoured body. The Stratocaster's sleek, contoured body shape (officially referred to by Fender as the Comfort Contour Body) differed from the flat, slab-like design of the Telecaster.