I spent my first full day of the NAMM music show with friends from Fender at the company’s new visitor center and custom shop in California.

According to Fender, the factory employees about 700 people — there are two shifts running 16 hours per day building guitars. The company produces about 540 guitars each day — 500 factory guitars and about 40 from the Custom Shop.

Fender representatives said each guitar goes through about 250 steps to complete. That takes it from a block of wood to a guitar that is ready to be shipped to a customer.

Below are some photos I took while on the tour.