Employment
Santa Ana is the home of several information technology companies, including First American Corporation and Ingram Micro. It is also the headquarters of the avocado company, Calavo Growers, Inc.
Santa Ana is also the only place in the world where Rickenbacker guitars are manufactured. Founded in 1931 as the Electro String Instrument Corporation nad later re-named after one of its founders, Rickenbacker is one of the earliest manufacturers of electric guitars. They made the first solid-body guitars, first of steel then starting in the 1950s of wood, in order to meet the early sound demands of rock and roll. At that time, they also added acoustic and semi-acoustic guitar lines. In 1964, they developed an electric twelve-string with a standard length head stock by innovative placement of the machine heads. In the 1960s, they began to manufacture bass guitars. Rickenbacker instruments were a staple of the Beatles’ instrumentation, beginning with John Lennon’s acquisition of a Rickenbacker semi-acoustic guitar during the groups early days in Hamburg and progressing through Paul McCartney’s adoption of the Rickenbacker electric bass in time for the recording of the album Revolver. Other devotees of the company’s products include Pete Townshend, Tom Petty, Lloyd Cole, Mike Rutherford, and Roger Waters. Unlike the other major American makers of electric guitars, Fender and Gibson, Rickenbacker does not license its name for use on instruments produced by offshore manufacturers.