The greatest rock 'n' roll guitar maker in the world has expanded its European headquarters to bring new jobs to Sussex.

The move by Fender Musical Instruments Europe Ltd has already created five new jobs and recruitment of more than 20 additional staff is expected over the next 18 months.

Fender guitars have led rock 'n' roll revolutions and remain equally popular in today's music scene.

Buddy Holly was one of the first musicians to pick up a stratocaster and popularise the electric guitar.

Later Jimi Hendrix famously burnt his on stage and chart toppers Oasis are keen contemporary buyers.

Martin Brady, managing director, Fender Musical Instruments Europe Ltd, said: "Everybody who's anybody uses our guitars.

"Recently at Glastonbury there were thousands played throughout the festival."

The Fender European main office has relocated from Crawley to Felbridge, near East Grinstead, to enable expansion of the business.

The new buildings are more than five times the size of the previous offices, covering 16,000 square feet.

The extra space was needed to develop a new distribution centre as well as to house the existing management team.

A large warehouse at the new site stocks and distributes Fender accessories to 40 countries in and around Europe.

The main centre for guitar distribution remains in Holland.

Mr Brady said: "The accessories market is worth about $6 million in Europe at the moment and we expect that to double now we have set up our distribution centre at Felbridge."

The company expects to seek extra staff when the distribution centre becomes established and demand increases.

The Fender brand originated in the States in 1946 and the international headquarters are in Arizona.

The company set up a base in the UK five years ago to oversee all European business.

Mr Brady said: "Sussex has always been a good location for our European headquarters because of ease of access to the Continent via the coast and America from Gatwick."

Today, the European Fender market is worth $100 million and is set to expand further.

Mr Brady added: "At the moment we have a presence in all the major European markets such as France, Germany and Sweden but we are also looking at new markets."