An Original 1964 Mandocaster - It Looks Like A Mini Stratocaster…

This 10-inch-wide electric mandolin weighs just 3.40 lbs. and has a nut width of 1 1/8 inches and a scale length of 13 3/4 inches. Solid alder body, one-piece deep "V"-shape maple neck, and veneer rosewood fretboard with 24 frets and clay dot position markers. Single "butterfly" string tree on 1st and 2nd strings. Headstock decal with Fender "spaghetti" logo in gold with black trim. "Original Contour Body Pat. Pend." decal on the ball end of the headstock. Closed-back "single-line" Kluson Deluxe strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Four-bolt neck plate with serial number ("02714") between the top two screws. One oblong single-coil pickup with transparent reddish-brown plastic cover and four concealed polepieces with an output of 4.98k. Celluloid tortoiseshell over three-layer (white/black/white) plastic pickguard with nine screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) and jack socket, all on lower treble side of the pickguard. Telecaster-type chrome knobs with flat tops and knurled sides. Combined "micro-adjustable" (threaded) two-saddle bridge/tailpiece. With the original chrome bridge cover. The neck is stamped "JUL 64" and the pots are stamped "304 6422" (Stackpole June 1964). This instrument is in near mint (9.25) and totally original condition, with just a few barely noticeable surface marks on the body. Housed in the original Fender cream Tolex hardshell case with black leather ends and orange plush lining (9.00). Together with the two original case keys, in the original brown envelope, and the original black leather shoulder strap.

"First introduced in spring 1956, the Electric Mandolin looks like a mini Stratocaster. This is were it derives its value. As an instrument, it has limited usability because it has only four strings and a solid body instead of the usual eight strings for a mandolin. Oblong pickup with reddish brown cover, no visible poles, "Fender" decal with no other markings. These Mandocasters were probably made in batches, so often the body and neck dates can be up to a year or more apart. Also features like an Ash body can be seen as late as 1959, even Fender stopped using Ash on sunburst instruments in mid-1956. The first years of Fender Electric Mandolin production (1956, 1957) used a slab body style, much like a Telecaster. This changed in 1958 to a more Stratocaster style body with contours. Sunburst was the standard finish, though Blond is also seen. Custom color Fender Mandocasters also exist. The Mandocaster also used a metal anodized gold pickguard until mid-1959, like the pre-1959 Precision Bass. Usually they are strung with .008, .012, .019w and .028w strings, and tuned like a mandolin [G D A E]" (http://www.provide.net/~cfh/mando.html).

"Fender looked back to a traditional instrument for its other new model for 1956 [in addition to the Duo-Sonic and the Musicmaster]: the electric Fender Mandolin. It sold for $169.50, with a Fender-style double-cutaway solid body and four strings rather than the regular mandolin's eight (in four pairs). Perhaps surprisingly, the Mandolin lasted in the line until the mid 1970s" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of Fender, p. 22).

When introduced in 1956, Fender electric mandolins were used extensively by Western swing bands of the era, including Billy Gray's band who endorsed the instruments of Fender. By 1976 they were discontinued from the Fender product line. Today's collectors of Fenders endearingly refer to them as Mandocasters.