![]() The main focus for collectors is on the earlier, more valuable Musicmasters from the pre‑CBS era, which means that the later ones, especially from the 1970s, remain a real bargain and an excellent low‑risk entry point for anyone wishing to dip their toes into vintage guitars from one of the major American manufacturers.Īcquisition of this white(‑ish) 1978 Fender Musicmaster was one of those opportunities to fill a gap in the ‘collection’. To‑date, although the Duo‑Sonic and Mustang have been reintroduced, the single pickup Musicmaster has not been reissued. ![]() The Musicmaster was finally withdrawn from Fender catalogues by 1982, to be replaced by the low cost Fender Bullet. After more than a decade with few changes, the humble Musicmaster was given another makeover around 1976, reverting to a much simpler one‑piece 3‑ply plastic scratchplate and colour options were limited to plain black or white, while retaining the rosewood fingerboard. Necks were offered in 24” scale with rosewood fingerboards and the controls were moved to a separate chrome metal plate. The next major change in 1964 was part of a major rationalisation of the three ‘student’ models (Musicmaster, Duo‑Sonic and Mustang) into a coherent line. It went through several updates, first in 1959 when the metal scratchplate was replaced with a plastic one. It originally had a 22½” short scale neck with a maple fingerboard and an anodized aluminium scratchplate. The model is a double cutaway offset slab solid body guitar with one single coil neck pickup. If you like to add this guitar to your collection, it is priced at $15,000 at Gruhn Guitars.The original Fender Musicmaster was the first and simplest ‘student’ model introduced by the company in 1956. In all, this is a very unique, one of a kind instrument that was touched by the hands of the master solid body electric designer. It’s also intriguing that the body is that of a short-scale Musicmaster, mated with a long scale Coronado style neck. Whatever the story, this fascinating instrument is the guitar equivalent of an artist’s sketchbook. It’s interesting to think that, if a mass marketed string bender were easily available, if it would have made an impact on the then-developing country rock scene that was in full bloom by the end of the 1960’s. Perhaps the corporate mentality of CBS found this design too radical, and realized that Fender’s true bread and butter market was in rock n roll, and that a mechanical twang device wasn’t gonna catch on. Perhaps Leo was intrigued with the Parsons-White bender (which was installed into a Telecaster) and applied his mind to a variation. It’s also unclear whether Leo’s string bender was designed before or after the Parsons-White B-Bender, which was realized in late ’65. Leo was experiencing health problems around the time of the CBS sale, so it’s unclear if this instrument was something he worked on before or after the health scare. Even though Fender instruments are known for their twang and treble clarity, that didn’t stop them from taking a massive place well beyond country music- urban blues masters, rockabillies, and rock ‘n’n roll pioneers of all stripes were early to adapt these radical instruments to their guitar of choice.īy the time of this string bending prototype, Leo Fender had sold his company to CBS, although he remained onboard as a consultant until around 1967. Leo and the Fender company had deep roots in country music the earliest Fender instruments ( K&F steels) of the 1940’s were certainly aimed at western musicians, and Bob Wills’ guitarist Eldon Shamblin received one of the earliest Stratocasters (a nifty gold painted one, no less) in May of 1954. Today’s Catch is a fascinating guitar that combines Leo Fender’s love of country music with his engineering ingenuity, and was built at a time when when country, western and rock and roll were starting to merge into a whole new sound on the west coast.
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