Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster® Special

The Classic Player Jazzmaster Special guitar updates our famous Jazzmaster model with several thoroughly modern improvements, including hotter pickups, a new Adjusto-Matic™ bridge, a 9.5” fingerboard radius and a neck pocket with increased back-angle for improved stability and sustain.

Model: 0141600306
Price : $1,099.99

Fender Acoustasonic Tele® (New for 2010!)

Fender continues its long tradition of innovation with the January 2010 introduction of the Acoustasonic Tele guitar model. The Acoustasonic Tele guitar is like no other Telecaster model in Fender history in that it was designed specifically to produce lush, full and authentic acoustic guitar sounds. Listeners may do a double-take when they see and hear it – far from the model’s traditional twang and bright, biting electric tone, the Acoustasonic Tele produces sounds with all the resonance and complexity of a full-bodied acoustic guitar. This unusual sonic feat is completed using the digital audio genius of the Fishman Aurasystem, a innovative musical technology that allows a lot of uncannily genuine acoustic guitar tones to exhale from the iconic form of a Telecaster.

The Acoustasonic Tele’s unusual rosewood bridge, chambered body and Twisted Tele neck pickup conspire to produce a truly unique new take on Fender’s original and ever-versatile guitar. Fender identify the tones from the Acoustasonic are “Brilliant and authentic acoustic sounds”.

Fender Bronco

The Fender Bronco was an electric guitar model produced by the Fender company from mid 1967 until 1981. It used the body and neck from the Fender Mustang, but had only one pickup and a different tremolo arm mechanism. Unlike the other Mustang variants, it was offered only with a 24" scale length and a two-piece maple neck featuring a "round-lam" rosewood fingerboard with 22 frets and pearloid dot inlays. The Bronco, like the rest of the Mustang family, was designated as a student model. Its shorter scale length also suited players with smaller hands. It was initially sold as a "package" with the Fender Bronco Amp, a small amplifier also created for students. Its single pickup was mounted in the bridge position, unlike the Musicmaster which had a neck pickup only and the Mustang and Duo-Sonic, which both had two pickups. The unique tremolo arm was Leo Fender's fourth and least pop design, and looked only on the Bronco. It is sometimes unofficially known as the Fender steel vibrato, and informally as the Bronco trem. It has its adorers, but only few guitarists, such as Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys, use it as their main guitar. The Bronco was usually produced with a rosewood fingerboard and standard Dakota Red finish. Only a very small batch of late '70s Broncos featured an unusual maple fingerboard. The Bronco, like the Music Master and the Mustang, was discontinued in 1981 and replaced by the Fender Lead Series. The last colours available were Dakota Red, Black, Olympic White and Midnight Wine. Unlike its older and more popular cousin, the Mustang, as of 2008 it has not seen a re-issue. The Bronco name is continued only in the Squier-branded Bronco Bass.

Fender Duo-Sonic

The Fender Duo-Sonic guitar was set up by Fender as a “student” model guitar. The “Duo-Sonic” features two single-coil pick-ups and a vertical (as opposed to Fender's standard blade-style) switch on the lower horn of the body to select bridge, neck or both pickups in a humbucking style configuration. The Duo-Sonic features typical Fender construction techniques with a bolt-on neck, maple attached to a solid body. The bridge is fixed and the line has a shorter scale neck than standard models as a concession to younger, beginner guitarists and other players with smaller hands.

Original design (1956-1959)
The Fender Duo-Sonic was introduced in 1956. Like the Musicmaster introduced a few months earlier, it featured basic but effective construction and a 22.5 inch scale length (standard Fender guitars feature a 25.5 inch scale) and cost $149.50. The original model was only available in a light tan color called Desert Sand and had a maple fingerboard with 20 frets and a neck with a soft-V profile. The original model Duo-Sonics also sport a gold-colored, anodized scratch plate that helps in screening the single-coil pickups and electronics from interference.

Second version (1959-1964)
In 1959 the Duo-Sonic went through a face lift. The most significant change was a switch from a maple finger board to a rosewood one in keeping with changes to other Fender models at this time. These fret boards were originally in the slab-style but switched to the veneer style after around a year. The other important change was a switch from anodized aluminum to plastic pickguards. To begin with the second generation Duo-Sonic was still only available in Desert Sand, however, the tan color now used was significantly darker than that used on the 1956-59 models. In 1961 a new color, sunburst, was made available; this color is sometimes referred to as maroonburst for the way it looks today. In mid-1961 the Desert Sand color was dropped and then in mid-1963 Sunburst dropped and replaced by white.

Third Version - Duo-Sonic II (1964-1968)
In 1964 the Duo-Sonic was redesigned based on the Fender Mustang that had recently been added to the student model line but without the vibrato tail-piece. The student guitars now all featured larger and slightly offset bodies, necks with larger headstocks and rosewood fingerboards and plastic pickguards with the volume and tone controls mounted on a separate metal plate. Pick-up selection was moved above the pick-ups on both the Duo-Sonic and the Mustang and utilized two 3-position on-off-on switches that allowed for in and out-of-phase sounds. The pickups were also reverse-wound/reverse-polarity, which made them into a functional Humbucker when both pick-ups were used simultaneously. Also added in this redesign was the option of a 24 inch scale neck in addition to the 22.5 inch scale. This re-designed model was re-named Duo-Sonic II although decals with and without the II designation were used occasionally. In addition to white, Sonic Blue and Dakota Red colors added.
The Duo-Sonic lasted until 1969 when it was dropped most likely because the Mustang with its tremolo tail piece was far more popular.
The Duo-Sonic I and II are both considered rare and have displayed growing collector value. The Duo-Sonic II in particular is often seen as a desirable alternative to the more popular Mustang, since it lacks the difficult-to-maintain tremolo bridge.

Reissues
In 1993 Fender released a Mexican-made reissue Duo-Sonic in a 22.7" scale. It was available in black, torino red and arctic white and cost $259.99. It was dropped from the Fender line in 1997 but was then launched again as a Chinese made Squier Affinity model in 1998 only to be dropped in 1999.
In 2008, the Duo-Sonic was re-released by Fender's Squier brand in the Classic Vibe series of guitars. It is intended to be closely modeled after the model released in the 1950s and looks very similar with a maple fret-board, gold pick-guard and Desert Sand body. Difference include the material used for the body is now basswood, the neck is now a 24" scale and is C-shaped with more modern medium jumbo frets.

Fender Musicmaster

The Fender Musicmaster is an electric guitar by Fender, and was the first of their 3/4 scale guitars. With a single pickup and no tremolo arm, it was a basic but functional instrument.

Design process the Musicmaster and a two-pickup version the Duo-Sonic began in late 1955 following a request from Fender Sales. Prototypes were made in early 1956, followed by sales literature declaring 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 former anodized aluminum one, and a two-piece maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard.
Profiles of a 1956 Musicmaster (left) and a Mustang, both with 22.5" necks and Musicmaster headstocks.

In 1964, following the release of the Fender Mustang, both the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic were redesigned using the Mustang necks and body. This body was larger and slimly offset, and was fitted with a plastic pickguard but with the volume and tone controls mounted on an individual metal plate; The necks had larger headstocks. All three models were offered with the option of a 24 inch scale 22 fret neck or a 22.5 inch scale 21 fret neck with the choice of "round-lam," or veneered, rosewood or maple fingerboard. The 24 inch scale proved by far the most popular of these options. The redesigned Musicmaster was named the Musicmaster II and its stablemate the Duo-Sonic II, both using the Bronco body and pickguard shapes, while decals with and without the II designation were used without any real meaning.

Certain models of the Musicmaster, specially from between 1978 and 1980, were finished with a coat that reacted negatively with the base coat. This causes a lot of modern surviving Musicmasters from this period to suffer from their paint flaking off the body.

The Musicmaster was produced until 1982 when both it and the Mustang were dropped in favor of the newer Fender Lead models.

The Fender Swinger, another 22.5 inch scale guitar, was produced using the Musicmaster bridge, electrics and scratchplate but with a modified Fender Bass V body.

Fender Jag-Stang

The Fender Jag-Stang is an electric guitar designed by Kurt Cobain, of the band Nirvana, specified as a hybrid of two Fender electric guitars: the Jaguar and the Mustang. Cobain proposed his idea for an instrument to Fender, resulting in two left-handed prototypes built by former Custom Shop Master Builder Larry L. Brooks, only one of which was ever played by Cobain himself. It has been said that the instrument needed much tweaking before Cobain would have been satisfied with it, and it was sent back to Fender for repairs before Cobain brought it with him on the European leg of Nirvana's In Utero tour in 1994, where the guitar was rarely played live. Many believe that Cobain was ultimately unsatisfied with the result and hence never completed revisions for the instrument before his death in April 1994. Cobain's prototype Jag-Stang had a Fender Texas special pickup in the neck and a DiMarzio H-3 in the bridge. (The H-3 humbucker isn't available as an individual product but the closest sounding one is the DiMarzio DP158 Pickup.) The production Jag-Stang includes a "vintage style" single coil pickup and one "special design" humbucker, each with its own toggle switch which a player can use to switch from "on", "off", or "out-of-phase" settings. It applies the Mustang's "Dynamic Vibrato" bridge and like both of its predecessors, it has a 24" short scale neck (an exact replica of Cobain's favorite neck, from a Fender Mustang).

There has been some criticism over the quality of the pickups and the overall lack of craftsmanship of the Jag-Stang, but many owners argue that this makes the guitar even more unique and in a way epitomises the grunge mindset of its designer. Moreover, many have subsequently modified the guitar from stock level with noticeably impressive results.

Originally produced in the fall of 1995, after Kurt Cobain's death, Fender Japan reissued the Jag-Stang two years after its 2001 cancellation due to popular demand. Fender once again discontinued importing the Jag-Stang as of 2005.

Cobain's Sonic Blue Jag-Stang was given to R.E.M.'s Peter Buck by Courtney Love after Cobain died. He can be seen playing it on "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" music video. Mike Mills, also from R.E.M., plays this same guitar in concert during the song "Let Me In", which itself is a tribute to Kurt Cobain. An example of this can be seen on their Road Movie DVD.

Fender Cyclone

The Fender Cyclone and Fender Cyclone II were a series of electric guitars made by Fender. Presented in late 1997, the Cyclone body is likewise styled to the Mustang but with a importantly dissimilar specification. The body of the Cyclone is a quarter of an inch thicker than the body of a Mustang and is made of poplar, whereas present-day Mustang reissues were made of basswood. In July 2002, the Cyclone II was introduced as the replacement to the Fender Cyclone and featured decorative changes such as the Mustang racing stripe as well as 3 vintage single-coil pickups and switching adopted from the Fender Jaguar. As of 2006 the range included the original Cyclone, the Cyclone HH with two humbuckers, and the Fender Cyclone II with three MIA Jaguar pickups controlled by on-off switches in place of the selector switch.

As of January 2007, all Cyclone variants had been discontinued by Fender.