Fender Ignored Leo Fender Then John Mayer - Now It's Happening a Third Time

Fender has a pattern nobody talks about: reject the innovator, watch them build it better somewhere else, respond with control instead of competing. It happened to Leo Fender himself after the CBS sale — forced into a decade as a silent partner in the company his own former employees built. It happened to John Mayer in 2014, when Fender passed on his vision and PRS turned it into the Silver Sky. And in 2026, with a new CEO, a quietly-won German court ruling, and a wave of cease-and-desist letters hitting builders from LsL Instruments to PRS itself, it's happening a third time — except this time Fender isn't the one losing the idea. It's the one trying to legally take it back. #Fender #PRS #JohnMayer #GuitarHistory #SilverSky #Stratocaster #MusicMan #GLGuitars #GuitarNews #GuitarLegal #GuitarIndustry