In the 1930s, Squier began making strings for the era's new electric instruments; the company also sold pianos, radios and phonograph records until divesting itself of all products other than strings in 1961. Fender Electric Instruments entered the picture in the 1950s, when the V. C. Squier Company began supplying Southern California inventor and businessman Leo Fender with strings for his unusual new electric guitars. The V. C. Squier Company became an official original equipment manufacturer for Fender in 1963. Fender acquired the V. C. Squier Company in early 1965, shortly before Fender itself was acquired by CBS in May of the same year. By the mid-1970s, the Squier name was retired as the strings had taken the Fender name.Fender Squier History The company itself was shuttered along with its Battle Creek factory in 1981.
