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.