"Under the Bed for 46 Years"

This 12-inch three-quarter-size "student" guitar weighs just 6.60 lbs. and has a nut width of just under 1 9/16 inches and a scale length of 22 1/2 inches. Solid ash body, one-piece maple neck with 21 frets and black dot position markers. Individual Kluson Deluxe tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Two plain-top Bakelite pickups with balanced outputs of 5.51k and 5.78k. Eight-screw gold anodized aluminum pickguard. Two controls (one volume, one tone) plus three-way selector switch and jack socket, all on the pickguard. Chrome knobs with knurled sides and flat tops. Combined bridge/tailpiece with three adjustable saddles. The pots are dated "137825" (CTS, June 1958) and the neck is dated "8/58." This guitar is in mint condition. Housed in its original Fender dark red vinyl-covered hardshell case with red felt lining (9.25). With the original strap, the original price tag showing that this guitar was priced $139.50 in 1958, the original tag showing that this guitar was purchased on September 15th 1958, the original instruction leaflet, and the original little brown bag with the case key.

"Fender's new 'student' guitars, the Duo-Sonic and Musicmaster, first appeared in 1956. They had smaller, lighter bodies, shorter necks and basic appointments...Despite their budget status, the student models were still playable instruments: Fender seemed to have cut the right corners" (Tony Bacon and Paul Day, The Fender Book, p. 29). Although Fender used the term "three-quarter size" in publicizing the new student models, only the neck and the resulting scale-length were smaller, designed for younger hands that were just starting to play guitar.

"These two new instruments -- the Duo-Sonic and the Musicmaster -- had a shorter 22 1/2" (571mm) scale-length as opposed to Fender's customary 25" (635mm) scale. The 'three-quarter size' one-pickup Musicmaster and two-pickup Duo-Sonic were described in the company's ads and catalogs as being 'ideal for students and adults with small hands.' They were clearly designed for players on a tight budget, for those starting out on electric guitars who flocked to the retailers' schools...One apparently attractive feature of the Duo-Sonic and Musicmaster...was what Fender called 'gold-finished pickguards.' These 'guards were in fact made from a gold-colored anodized aluminum. The metal provided excellent electrical shielding, meaning less extraneous noise. However, the electrolytic anodized 'skin' soon wore through to the aluminum below as the player strummed and picked, leaving unsightly gray patches. The anodized 'guards did not last much beyond the 19502" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of Fender, p. 22).