Fender Guitars Corp., supplier of electric guitars to top rock stars since the 1950s, has put itself up for sale, the Financial Times has reported. The company has appointed Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs to help it find a buyer, and is thought likely to fetch $500m according to the FT.
California-based Fender is one of the music industry's best-known brands.
Its guitars are closely identified with rock icons such as Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, and Kurt Cobain.
The company's best-known product is the Fender Stratocaster, which set a new quality benchmark for electric guitars when it was introduced in 1954.
High note
The firm also makes a range of electric basses and amplifiers.
Arizona-based Fender is currently in private ownership, having been bought out by a group of employees and private investors nearly 20 years ago.
The company had previously been owned by US television network CBS, which bought it from founder Leo Fender in 1965.
The firm has been expanding steadily in recent years, opening a hi-tech manufacturing plant in California in 1998, and acquiring rival guitar maker Gretsch in 2003.
The company declined to comment on the FT report.
