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The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll by Ian S. Port
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you have ever heard me talk about my days selling guitars you will hear an echo as you read this book. From 1963-68 I was around selling guitars and amps. Later, of course, I was and still am a consumer of these products.
Bringing the music and the hardware together with the personalities of the tinkerers and inventors is fascinating. The first time I saw a Bigsby guitar I wondered how Leo Fender got away with it. And the first time I played a stratocaster and later owned a jazzmaster, I wondered how the tremolo didn't get a patent claim against it.
If you read the book, and I suggest if you like music that you do, here is an anecdote not in the book.
After the beatles became a thinkg I was selling Vox guitars and amps. Accross town there wer stores selling Fender and Gibson. Vox was so popular we could not keep them in stock and the salesmen from those other stores would come over to see why. We discovered that the reason was the beatles and almost nothing else. The amps were big and loud but also tempermental and prone to failure.

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