K&F

Before there ever was such a thing as a Fender product, Leo Fender built his first amplifiers in partnership with Clayton “Doc” Kauffman. They called their small company K&F (obviously for Kauffman and Fender) and introduced their very first products in 1945. Besides one of the first modern guitar amplifiers, the company built electric lap steel guitars featuring a special new pickup that Leo had developed. Despite early successes, Kauffman didn’t like the uncertainties of the music industry, which was all about Hawaiian music and Western Swing at the time. So he bowed out of the partnership the very next year, leaving Leo Fender to go on and become almost a household word in the next half century!