Fender Musicmaster | |
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![]() A 1978 Musicmaster. | |
Manufacturer | Fender |
Period | 1956–1982 |
Construction | |
Body type | Solid |
Neck joint | Bolt-on |
Scale | 24 or 22.5 in (610 or 572 mm) |
Woods | |
Body | Usually Poplar Alder Ash |
Neck | Maple |
Fretboard | Usually Maple Rosewood |
Hardware | |
Bridge | Fixed |
Pickup(s) | 1 proprietary single coil, offset variant |
Colors available | |
Desert Sand, Shaded Sunburst, Red-Mahogany, Olympic White, Daphne Blue, Dakota Red |
The Fender Musicmaster is a solid body electric guitar produced by Fender. It was the first 3/4 scale student-model guitar Fender produced. A Musicmaster Bass model was also put on the market. Musicians such as David Byrne and Liz Phair used a Fender Musicmaster.
Design work on the Musicmaster-and its two-pickup variant Duo-Sonic-began in late 1955 following a request from Fender Sales. Prototypes were made in early 1956, followed by sales literature announcing both models. Production of the Musicmaster began in late April of that year, using a body routed for two pickups to be common to the Duo-Sonic, which followed a little more than two months later. The Duo-Sonic and Musicmaster also shared a single-piece maple neck and fingerboard, with a 22.5 inch scale length and 21 frets.
There was one major redesign of these two Musicmaster-bodied guitars, in 1959 when the entire Fender catalog was updated. At this time, the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic both received a plastic pickguard in place of the previous anodized aluminum one, and a two-piece maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard.
In 1964, following the release of the Fender Mustang, both the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic were redesigned using Mustang neck and body blanks. The Mustang body was larger and slightly offset, and was fitted with a plastic pickguard but with the volume and tone controls mounted on a separate metal plate. The headstock was also enlarged. All three models were offered with the option of a 24-inch scale and 22-fret neck or a 22.5-inch scale and 21-fret neck; the 24-inch scale proved to be the most popular of these options. The redesigned Musicmaster II alongside its stablemate the Duo-Sonic II lasted through 1969 before both models were dropped from production in favor of the more deluxe Mustang and new Fender Bronco.
The Musicmaster in its second incarnation was still sold well into the 1970s however, using leftover parts until supplies ran out. In 1969, the Fender Swinger, a particularly interesting byproduct of this surplus was produced using the Musicmaster hardware, electrics, scratchplate, and the seldom ordered 22.5-inch necks, but with a modified Fender Bass V body. Around this same time the Fender Maverick was introduced using similar practices but with leftover Electric XII bodies and necks with Mustang bridges.
Later in the 70s the Musicmaster in its third incarnation was redesigned using the Bronco body and pickguard shapes. These larger pickguards encompassed the entire control cavity which saved production costs for Fender. Certain models of the Musicmaster, especially from between 1978 and 1980, were finished with a coat that reacted negatively with the base coat. This causes many modern surviving Musicmasters from this period to suffer from paint flaking off the body.
The Musicmaster was produced until 1982 when it, the Bronco and the Mustang were dropped in favor of the newer Fender Lead models.
In 2020, Fender released a special version of the Musicmaster for the Shawn Mendes Music Foundation. It features 2 pickups, a single coil and a humbucker, and is the same as the 2020 Duo-Sonic other than the pickup configuration. Unlike the Duo Sonic, the neck pickup is a humbucker and the single coil is the bridge pickup.
The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as a more expensive sibling of the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Show, it was initially marketed to jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in the early 1960s. Its appearance is similar to the Jaguar, though it is tonally and physically different in many technical ways, including pickup design, scale length and controls.
The Fender Jaguar is an electric guitar by Fender Musical Instruments characterized by an offset-waist body, a relatively unusual switching system with two separate circuits for lead and rhythm, and a short-scale 24" neck. Owing some roots to the Jazzmaster, it was introduced in 1962 as Fender's feature-laden top-of-the-line model, designed to lure players from Gibson. During its initial 13-year production run, the Jaguar did not sell as well as the less expensive Stratocaster and Telecaster, and achieved its most noticeable popularity in the surf music scene. After the Jaguar was taken out of production in 1975, vintage Jaguars became popular first with American punk rock players, and then more so during the alternative rock, shoegazing and indie rock movements of the 1980s and 1990s. Fender began making a version in Japan in the mid-1980s, and then introduced a USA-made reissue in 1999. Since then, Fender has made a variety of Jaguars in America, Mexico, Indonesia and China under both the Fender and Squier labels. Original vintage Jaguars sell for many times their original price.
The Fender Precision Bass is a model of electric bass manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrument equipped with a single split-coil humbucking pickup and a one-piece, 20-fret maple neck with rosewood or maple fingerboard.
The Fender Cyclone denotes a series of electric guitars made by Fender. Introduced in late 1997, the Cyclone body is similarly styled to the Mustang, but it is a quarter of an inch thicker than the body of a Mustang and is made of poplar, whereas contemporary Mustang reissues were made of basswood.
The Fender Swinger was a short-lived electric guitar model released by Fender in 1969 and reissued by Fender Japan in 2019 as a limited edition run in single and dual pickup versions. Estimates of the model's total production number range from 250 to 600 made. The Swinger was an attempt by CBS to extract cash from inventory by combining unused bodies from the Duo-Sonic II and the failed Fender Bass V with parts from the Fender Musicmaster. The routing beneath the pickguard differs between instruments made from a Duo-Sonic II or Bass V. Bodies made from the Duo-Sonic II have no comfort cuts and a shorter bottom horn. Like the Fender Custom, the model was an effort to liquidate excess parts and inventory. The Swinger was marketed as another cheaper, short-scale 'student' guitar, but never seriously promoted, with resulting low popularity.
The Fender Mustang is a solid body electric guitar produced by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. It was introduced in 1964 as the basis of a major redesign of Fender's student models, the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic. It was produced until 1982 and reissued in 1990.
The Fender Duo-Sonic is an electric guitar launched by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation as a student model guitar, an inexpensive model aimed at amateur musicians. It was referred to as a "3/4 size" Fender guitar.
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The Squier '51 is an electric guitar made by Squier, a subsidiary of Fender. The '51 is notable for being one of the few original designs made by Squier, which normally manufactures less expensive authorized copies of Fender's popular guitars and bass guitars.
The Fender Mustang Bass is an electric bass guitar model produced by Fender. Two variants, the Musicmaster Bass and the Bronco Bass, have also been produced from time to time using the same body and neck shape.
The Jackson Dinky is a Superstrat-style double-cutaway electric guitar built by Jackson Guitars. The "Dinky" is named for its slightly smaller than normal (7/8) body size. Usually fitted with a two humbucker pickup configuration, some models also include single-coil pickups and/or just one bridge humbucker. The fretboard can be made out of ebony, rosewood and more recently maple, or rock maple, with 24 jumbo frets and is always built with a bolt-on neck. Most of the guitars have a Floyd Rose original or licensed tremolo, and a locking nut to help maintain stable tuning. Some Dinkys have hardtail, or String-Thru bridges. The Jackson Dinky is usually preferred by players of hard rock and heavy metal.
The Fender Jaguar Bass is an electric bass guitar manufactured in Japan and China by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.
The Fender Musicmaster Bass is a model of electric bass guitar, produced by Fender between 1971 and 1981.
The Fender Bullet was an electric guitar originally designed by John Page and manufactured and marketed by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. It was first introduced as a line of "student" guitars to replace the outgoing Mustang and Musicmaster models.
Fender California Series electric guitars were produced by Fender in 1997 and 1998. The guitars were carved in California, shipped to Baja California Norte, Ensenada, Mexico for painting, then assembled in California.
Starcaster by Fender is a range of instruments and accessories aimed at students and beginners, marketed by the prominent guitar company Fender from the early 2000s until at least 2011. As of April 2018, no products were being marketed under this brand.
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The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele, is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful solid-body electric guitar. Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music. Introduced for national distribution as the Broadcaster in the autumn of 1950 as a two-pickup version of its sister model, the single-pickup Esquire, the pair were the first guitars of their kind manufactured on a substantial scale. A trademark conflict with a rival manufacturer's led to the guitar being renamed in 1951. Initially, the Broadcaster name was simply cut off of the labels placed on the guitars and later in 1951, the final name of Telecaster was applied to the guitar to take advantage of the advent of television. The Telecaster quickly became a popular model, and has remained in continuous production since its first incarnation.
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