Note that the following case descriptions concerns mostly U.S. sold guitars. Fenders distributed in other countries were often shipped without cases. The reason: the foreign distributor felt they could get cases locally and less expensively. Canada and Europe are perfect examples of this. Until the mid 1960's, most Canadian imported Fenders were sold with a Canadian case.

Note: the following info does not apply to student model Fenders such as the MusicMaster and DuoSonic. The interior material of these cases generally will match the descriptions below, but the exteriors will not. The exterior of these cases in the 1950's didn't have any material on them (they were just a brown formica), and didn't have any interior pocket system.

• From 1950 to 1953 Fender used a guitar-shaped hard case for the Tele and Pbass nicknamed the "thermometer" case, due to it's unique thermometer shape. This case had a brown covering with a brown plush lining. The case had a bulb shape at the peghead.

The 1950s Fender gig bag, an alternative to the more
expensive rectangle hard shell tweed case.

• Also available from 1951 to the early 1960's, was a Fender gig bag case. These cases are soft, foldable bags, and are brown in color. If you couldn't afford a hard case, this was the alternative.
• From 1953 to mid-1954, this case changed to the "poodle" case. Still shaped like a guitar, the poodle case had one flat side that did not follow the contours of the guitar (this was the side of the case that rested on the ground when the case was set down by the handle). Though this case looks similar for both the Telecaster and Stratocaster, it was not (a Strat won't fit into a Tele poodle case). The interior was a bright red plush shag.


The early "thermometer" and "poodle" style Telecaster cases. These were used from 1950 to early 1954.

• From mid-1954 to early 1956, Fender dropped the guitar shaped case in favor of a rectangle shaped case. The first generation rectangle case used in 1954 was called the "center pocket tweed" case. The interior center pocket not only allowed cord and pick storage, but also supported the neck of the guitar. These cases were covered in lacquer-coated tweed and had a bright red plush shag lining.




• From 1955 to early 1958, the next generation of rectangle case was the "side pocket tweed" case. The same lacquer-coated tweed outside and bright red shag plush lining was used, but the interior pick pocket was moved to the side next to the neck. They also had an interior tag proclaiming the case as a "Koylon" brand case. These cases also had exterior brown leather ends. These cases also had an exterior "Fender" logo thick foil sticker which fell off 99.99% of all surviving cases today.

• From 1958 to mid-1959, the case stayed the same except now the interiorwas a much shorter burnt orange plush. Also the "Krylon" interior tag is gone. I believe the exterior thick foil sticker is now no longer used.
• Also available starting in the late 1950's to the early 1960's was a brown molded form-fit case. This was a very rare, upper line case with a hard brown molded exterior with a golden brown interior.


This case was basically rectangle, but with very rounded corners. This case looks similar to the black molded Fender cases of the 1980's, except this case is brown, thicker, a little shorter in length, and the interior is not blue. This case was primarily available for the Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars.

This picture includes the "center pocket" tweed case, the "side pocket Koylon" tweed case, the "side pocket burnt orange" tweed case, and the 1962 style "brown" case with the dark orange interior. The only case missing from this photo is the 1959 to 1961 style "brown" case with the lighter colored burnt orange interior.

• From late-1959 to 1961 the exterior of the Fender case changed. A new material called "Tolex" was now used, in a coffee-with-cream type brown color. Tolex is a rough rubber-like compound that was much more durable than tweed. Brown leather ends stayed the same. The interior burnt-orange plush used from 1958 stayed until 1961 when the interior of the cases changed to a dark orange plush.

Left to right: Tweed, brown
tolex, white tolex.

• In late 1963 to mid-1964, the exterior again changed on Fender cases. Now white tolex with black leather ends was the standard. The interior stayed the same dark orange plush.
• In mid-1964, Fender finally moved to a black tolex case with the (same) dark orange interior. This type of case was basically used till the end of the 1970's, with some minor changes (mostly the logo). Mid 1964 to 1966 cases have no exterior "Fender" logo.
• about 1967: Still used the black tolex case, but now the case exterior has a plastic Fender logo with a "tail".

• about 1972: The logo on the black tolex case changes to have no "tail" and a small "R". Also the white piping around the leather case ends becomes more pronouced.
• Mid to late 1970s: The logo on the black tolex case changed yet again. No "tail", a bigger "R" (registered) mark, and a "Made in USA" marking.
• When Fender started making reissues in 1983, they also reissued the tweed case. But now the exterior tweed was considerably "hairer", and was not lacquered. Also the interior was not a short dark orange plush, butwas now a long, light colored orange shag.

U.K. Fender cases: Starting around 1961, Jennings Musical Industries of Unity House Dartford Road, Dartford Kent, was the sole Fender distributor in the U.K. The case included with these Fender guitars was a Jennings case, which was similar in dimensions to a California rectangle Fender case, but not as stylish. For example, the Jennings case had no leather ends, and were covered in thin brown vinyl tweed with dark pressed metal corners. The interior was a plush deep wine color, with no lid to the interior "glove compartment". The handle was a smooth plastic-leather over metal. By 1964, Selmer also became a Fender importer. And later, Arbiter also became a Fender distributor in the U.K.

The exterior case logos used through the years. The top logo was used on rectangle Fender tweed cases from about 1956 to early 1958. It is missing on 99.99% of all original tweed cases today. The next three plastic case logos were used through the mid 1960s to thru the 1970s. Second logo from top used in 1967 to 1971 ("tail"). The third logo from the top with no tail and small "R" was used from 1972. The bottom most plastic logo (with "Made in U.S.A." and the "R" symbol) was adopted in the mid to late 1970's.