![]() There was one major redesign of these two Musicmaster-bodied guitars, in 1959 when the entire Fender catalog was updated. The Duo-Sonic and Musicmaster also shared a single-piece maple neck and fingerboard, with a 22.5 inch scale length and 21 frets. 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. Prototypes were made in early 1956, followed by sales literature announcing both models. Musicians such as David Byrne and Liz Phair used a Fender Musicmaster.ĭesign work on the Musicmaster-and its two-pickup variant Duo-Sonic-began in late 1955 following a request from Fender Sales. It was the first 3/4 scale student-model guitar Fender produced.Ī Musicmaster Bass model was also put on the market. The Fender Musicmaster is a solid body electric guitar produced by Fender. It's also routed for a bridge pickup and a switch, as the body was used for a Duo-Sonic, too.1 proprietary single coil, offset variantĭesert Sand, Shaded Sunburst, Red-Mahogany, Olympic White, Daphne Blue, Dakota Red Early '56 would be ash, late '56 would be alder. Just for context that doesn't really matter, I paid $168 for mine in the mid-70s.Įdit: I'm trying to decide what wood this one is. The AVRIs can get surprisingly close to Custom Shop quality and replicate the vintage experience you're interested in. For your "vintage buck" in this range I'd skip true vintage and choose from a world of used AVRI Strats and Teles and have money left over. At that, IMO it's still too high, as these have more novelty interest than collectibility or even playability. $1,699 is absolute top dollar for a 100% original example. I think the price is very high for this one. The example you're considering looks original, including the filled nail holes on the back of the headstock, and unmolested other than the body being stripped. ![]() The flat top Telecaster knobs are corrrect. Don't clear coat it, as the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic weren't clear-coated, so they all still have the true, original color without a yellowed clear coat on top. Reranch sells this and a couple of cans will do the job. The original color was Desert Sand, the earliest version. Mine was the fattest, rawest, craziest stock Fender single coil I've ever heard. It could be full and fat, shrill and screechy, or somewhere in-between. The pickup can have the usual Fender 50s range of possible tones, as there was little consistency. Some really nice ones are out there, but only on examples that haven't been played vigorously or have been only fingerpicked. The anodized aluminum pickguard is pretty worn on this one, but that's what happens. The example you're looking at is missing the bridge cover, like most of them. I never got around to measuring the string spacing on mine. It uses Telecaster bridge hardware and the saddles are smooth steel. The bridge is a piece of heavy sheet metal bent into an L and drilled. It's a toploader bridge so you don't have the extra 1 3/4" of string-through factored into the string tension. 009-.042 set is nearly unplayable, as it's too easy to fret notes sharp with finger pressure. The 22 1/2" scale is pretty short and IMO a. I never measured the nut width on mine, but it felt narrow whether it actually was or not. Frets are slim, small, and vintage sized. It pays to have small hands and slim fingers if you do a lot of chording. The neck may have some depth to it, but the hard V can make it feel smaller in the hand, and these are small, short necks. These have a hard, hard, hard, V profile from just past the nut all the way to the heel. ![]() You absolutely need to play one of these before buying, if you've never played one. You can get replacement buttons from StewMac. Their freshness date expired long ago and many of them simply crumble, one day. Assume you'll need to replace the plastic tuner buttons eventually, if not now. I used to have a '57 Musicmaster and can say that 50s Musicmasters and Duo-Sonics are very different from the 25 1/2" scale Fenders.įrom headstock to strap pin, here's the rundown for a '56. If you're wanting to explore the 50s and 60s Fenders, you're pointing toward Teles and Strats unless you really like the shortest scales.
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