Fender Musical Instruments Corp

* GlaxoSmithKline has asked a U.S. trade agency to block the Swiss firm Novartis from importing to the U.S. a generic version of Glaxo's antibiotic Augmentin, saying Novartis subsidiaries are using a stolen production process. * Hot Topic Inc., a mall-based retailer of clothing for teens, said second-quarter profit rose 1.5% to $4.34 million, or 13 cents a share. Sales climbed 29% to $92.5 million, but sales at stores open at least a year gained just 0.6%.

Fender Musical Instruments Corp., whose electric guitars helped define rock 'n' roll, has called off its planned initial public offering of stock. The company, which is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., but makes some of its prized custom guitars at its manufacturing facility in Corona, blamed the scrubbed IPO on the economy here and abroad. “Current market conditions and concerns about economic conditions in Europe do not support completing an initial public offering at what we believe to be an appropriate valuation at this time,” Chief Executive Larry Thomas said in a statement Thursday.

Fender Musical Instruments Corp., guitar maker to rock gods such as Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Kurt Cobain, said its initial public offering will likely price at $13 to $15 a share. The company expects 10.7 million shares to be sold - 7.1 million by Fender and 3.5 million by private equity firm Weston Presidio, raising as much as $160.7 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. With 26.4 million shares outstanding after the offering, Fender would be valued around $395 million.

Fender Musical Instruments Corp., guitar maker to rock gods such as Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Kurt Cobain, said its initial public offering will likely price at $13 to $15 a share. The company expects 10.7 million shares to be sold - 7.1 million by Fender and 3.5 million by private equity firm Weston Presidio, raising as much as $160.7 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. With 26.4 million shares outstanding after the offering, Fender would be valued around $395 million.

Fender Musical Instruments Corp., the world's leading guitar manufacturer, said Monday that it would pay about $117 million to acquire Kaman Music Corp., maker of Ovation guitars and other instruments. Fender, founded in Fullerton in 1946 and now based in Scottsdale, Ariz., makes stringed instruments such as electric and acoustic guitars and basses, amplifiers and music-related accessories. The company's manufacturing headquarters is in Corona. "We are delighted to welcome the Kaman Music Corp.

Fender Musical Instruments Corp., whose electric guitars helped define rock 'n' roll, has called off its planned initial public offering of stock. The company, which is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., but makes some of its prized custom guitars at its manufacturing facility in Corona, blamed the scrubbed IPO on the economy here and abroad. “Current market conditions and concerns about economic conditions in Europe do not support completing an initial public offering at what we believe to be an appropriate valuation at this time,” Chief Executive Larry Thomas said in a statement Thursday.

The sound of California business success came to my ears the moment I stepped through the door of Fender Musical Instruments Corp.'s 3-acre manufacturing plant in Corona. It reached me as riffs and scales on electric guitar, audible over the thud of metal stamping and the grind of band saws that one might customarily hear on a factory floor. But this is no ordinary plant. The last step in Fender's quality-control process requires an experienced musician to play every note on a finished guitar, listening for a stray vibration or tuning flaw to be corrected before any model, including the American Standard Stratocaster that is the plant's bread and butter, reaches a dealer.

Fender Musical Instruments Corp., the iconic company that has been making guitars in California since its inception in 1946, is seeking to raise $200 million in an initial public stock offering. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Fender said it intends to use the money to help pay down $246.2 million in debt and to acquire other businesses. Although its corporate headquarters are now in Scottsdale, Ariz., the company was founded in Fullerton and makes its American Standard Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars at a 3-acre manufacturing plant in Corona.

A few months after its legendary founder died, Fender Musical Instruments Corp. is leaving Orange County for Scottsdale, Ariz. Fender said it was looking for a cheap place to expand its Brea headquarters not too far from its plants in Corona and in the Mexican city of Ensenada. The move won't cost Orange County many jobs--only 115 people worked at the Brea headquarters--but it does break a link between the county's recent past and arguably its most famous company.

An electric guitar works like this: Pluck a string, and a field created by a little magnet underneath is disturbed by the vibrations. Wire wound around the magnet translates the vibrations into an electronic signal that can be boosted so it comes out of a guitar amplifier loud . The basic technology has been around for half a century.

Fender Musical Instruments Corp., the iconic company that has been making guitars in California since its inception in 1946, is seeking to raise $200 million in an initial public stock offering. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Fender said it intends to use the money to help pay down $246.2 million in debt and to acquire other businesses. Although its corporate headquarters are now in Scottsdale, Ariz., the company was founded in Fullerton and makes its American Standard Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars at a 3-acre manufacturing plant in Corona.

The sound of California business success came to my ears the moment I stepped through the door of Fender Musical Instruments Corp.'s 3-acre manufacturing plant in Corona. It reached me as riffs and scales on electric guitar, audible over the thud of metal stamping and the grind of band saws that one might customarily hear on a factory floor. But this is no ordinary plant. The last step in Fender's quality-control process requires an experienced musician to play every note on a finished guitar, listening for a stray vibration or tuning flaw to be corrected before any model, including the American Standard Stratocaster that is the plant's bread and butter, reaches a dealer.

Within the confines of his Corona work space, guitar designer Yuriy Shishkov had transformed a plank of blond ash wood into the body of a new Fender Telecaster. Seated at his bench, where he spends hours every day creating one-of-a-kind hand-crafted instruments, he studied the nascent creation.

Don Randall, the dynamic sales and marketing force behind legendary electric guitar designer Leo Fender's phenomenal success during his company's first two decades, has died. He was 91. Randall, one of the founders of what is now the Scottsdale, Ariz.-headquartered Fender Musical Instruments Corp., died of age-related causes Dec. 23 at his home in Santa Ana, said his son, Tim.

Fender Musical Instruments Corp., the world's leading guitar manufacturer, said Monday that it would pay about $117 million to acquire Kaman Music Corp., maker of Ovation guitars and other instruments. Fender, founded in Fullerton in 1946 and now based in Scottsdale, Ariz., makes stringed instruments such as electric and acoustic guitars and basses, amplifiers and music-related accessories. The company's manufacturing headquarters is in Corona. "We are delighted to welcome the Kaman Music Corp.

* GlaxoSmithKline has asked a U.S. trade agency to block the Swiss firm Novartis from importing to the U.S. a generic version of Glaxo's antibiotic Augmentin, saying Novartis subsidiaries are using a stolen production process. * Hot Topic Inc., a mall-based retailer of clothing for teens, said second-quarter profit rose 1.5% to $4.34 million, or 13 cents a share. Sales climbed 29% to $92.5 million, but sales at stores open at least a year gained just 0.6%.

A fresh-faced Buddy Holly was a couple of years out of high school when he landed his first record contract. He borrowed $1,000 from his brother for a suit and a 1955 Fender Stratocaster with a sunburst pattern. During a 1 1/2-year career that ended with his death in a plane crash in 1959, Holly vaulted into the limelight and inadvertently took the then-little known guitar with him. Since then, Stratocasters have been picked by the Beach Boys, strummed by Eric Clapton and burned by Jimi Hendrix.

Within the confines of his Corona work space, guitar designer Yuriy Shishkov had transformed a plank of blond ash wood into the body of a new Fender Telecaster. Seated at his bench, where he spends hours every day creating one-of-a-kind hand-crafted instruments, he studied the nascent creation.

A fresh-faced Buddy Holly was a couple of years out of high school when he landed his first record contract. He borrowed $1,000 from his brother for a suit and a 1955 Fender Stratocaster with a sunburst pattern. During a 1 1/2-year career that ended with his death in a plane crash in 1959, Holly vaulted into the limelight and inadvertently took the then-little known guitar with him. Since then, Stratocasters have been picked by the Beach Boys, strummed by Eric Clapton and burned by Jimi Hendrix.

One particularly fascinating--and sad--chapter in "Fender--The Sound Heard 'Round the World" is the one in which author Richard Smith chronicles the sale of Fender Musical Instruments to CBS in 1965 for $13 million (virtually the same amount CBS had paid the year before to buy the New York Yankees.