Maker of Fender guitars to rock the market with $200 million offering AP file A vintage re-issue 1957 Fender Stratocaster guitar is backdropped by a vintage re-issue 1959 Fender Bassman amplifier. The company that makes the guitars that have graced some of the biggest stars of rock and pop -- including The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton -- has filed for a public stock offering worth $200 million. Fender is "closely associated with the birth of rock 'n' roll and has a strong legacy in music and in popular culture," the company said in a registration filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fender said it sees opportunities for growth because of the continued popularity of guitar-based music and bands and visibility of guitars in popular culture. The increasing popularity and gradual incorporation of guitar-based music in large, emerging markets such as China, India and Indonesia is also an indicator of future growth, the company said. Fender is the country's biggest seller of electric, acoustic and bass guitars, and also electric and bass guitar amplifiers. It also makes banjos, ukuleles, mandolins, resonator guitars, percussion instruments and accessories. About $100 million of the initial public offering's proceeds will go to pay debt, said the Scottsdale, Ariz., company. Fender will list its stock on the Nasdaq stock market under the symbol "FNDR." The company did not disclose how many shares it intends to sell or a price target for the shares. It also did not say when it intends to go public. Fender reported net income attributable to common stockholders of $3.2 million in 2011, up from a net loss of $17.3 million in 2010. Revenue grew 13 percent to $700.6 million in 2011 from $617.8 million the year before, the company said. Fender was founded in 1946 by southern California inventor Leo Fender, who in 1951 developed the first solid-body Spanish-style electric guitar to be commercially mass-produced. The company was sold to television network CBS in 1965. When CBS started selling off its non-media businesses, then Fender Chief Executive William Schultz teamed up with some of the company's international distributors and bought out the company in 1984. J.P. Morgan, William Blair, Baird, Stifel Nicolaus Weisel and Wells Fargo Securities will manage the IPO for Fender, the company said. Will you rock into Fender's IPO? Let us know on our Facebook page.