The Musicmaster featured just one single-coil slanted pickup in the neck position. Both instruments came with a single volume and tone control. The guitars double cutaway slab body was made of either an ash or alder and featured shorter horns than those on a Stratocaster. The tuning machines came with less costly plastic buttons instead of metal ones found on the strat and tele. Both guitars featured a 22 1/2” scale bolt on, soft V style maple neck with a maple fret board. The 3/4 sized Fender Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic guitar guitars were both offered in the spring of 1956. The introduction of this guitar coincided with the year Elvis Presley became popular, which caused an increased interest in the guitar.īy 1956 Leo Fender thought it might be a good idea to introduce a student model to the Fender line up, which would have a shorter scale for small hands and also had a reduced price point.ġ956 Fender Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic Guitars Moving forward to 1954, Fender introduced the Stratocaster. So the word 'Broadcaster' was cut off of subsequent headstock decals.īy the summer of 1951 the guitar was renamed the Telecaster.

In the fall of that year Fender added an additional pickup and called that guitar the Broadcaster, which didn’t last long as Gretsch had trademarked that name for their drum sets.

This 'Spanish-style' electric guitar was made in the style of Leo Fender’s lap steel guitars, with a single slanted pickup placed right next to the bridge and saddles. Fender introduced their solid body electric guitar, the Esquire, as early as 1950.

1959 fender musicmaster