Yup, Leo & George were two pioneers of musical instruments. At a time where guitars were hand built by craftsmen with hand tools, putting them out of reach of the "common folk," Leo Fender came up with a guitar that was derisively called "the plank" by some, known as the Broadcaster, eventually renamed the Telecaster. It was inexpensive, but terrific quality. But that wasn't the only innovation. The electric bass, and amplifiers. The Bassman amplifier is a classic that many of the most amazing guitar amplifiers are based upon.
One other thing... Between the Fender & G&L days, Leo Fender also started Musicman, with a whole new generation of basses and amplifiers.
Just in the bass world, Leo Fender was behind some of the most sought-after basses (Presicion, Jass, and Musicman Stingray) as well as some of the best amplifiers.
Mark
Interestingly, I've recently found out that the Fender Bassman amp was the basis for Jim Marshall's very first "Marshall" amplifier .. the JTM-45 .. circa 1962, otherwise known as the "Bluesbreaker" ...
I was never much of a fan of Marshall amps, to my ears they are all way too distorted and one dimensional sounding ... great tone in what they do, and they do it well, but that's all they have is that one great tone, nothing else. I've recently added a JTM-45 Bluesbreaker emulation from Universal Audio (UAD) to my DAW rig, and gotta say that it sounds *awesome* ... but it's just got that one great tone and no matter how much ya tweak it, that's the only sound that you get. To my ears a good ol' Fender Twin is far more versatile than anything that Marshall ever made.
~ MM ~