Introduced in 1964 - Essentially a Duo Sonic with a Dynamic Fender Vibrato.
1965 Fender Mustang.
Offset asymmetrical double cutaway solid body. This 12 1/4 inch wide guitar weighs 7.80 lbs. and has a wide nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 24.00 inches. Solid alder 'slab' body, one-piece maple neck, Veneer rosewood fret-board with 22 original medium frets and pearloid dot position markers. Fender 'Transitional' headstock logo with "Fender" in gold with black trim followed by "Mustang" in black and and "Des. 186,826 Pat. 2,960,900 2,741,146 3,143,028 & Pat. Pending". Individual 'double-line' Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval white plastic buttons. Single 'butterfly' string guide with plastic spacer. Four-bolt Fender neck plate with serial number "L97452" stamped between the top two screws. Two black bakelite, slant mounted gray-bottom single-coil pickups with balanced outputs of 5.37k and 5.61k and with "9-7-65" written in black pencil on the undersides. Three-layer plastic (pearloid/black/white) pickguard with 12 screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) plus two three-way pickup selector switches. Black plastic control knobs with seven sides and white line markers. Fender Mustang Bridge with six adjustable saddles. Fender 'Dynamic Vibrato' tailpiece. The neck is stamped "8 AUG 65B", the potentiometers are stamped "304 6520" (Stackpole, May 1965). The Dakota Red finish is fresh and bright with no hint of age darkening. There is some minor finish checking and just one small surface chip on the lower bass edge of the body. This guitar is in near mint (9.25) condition and is complete with the original Fender Mustang tremolo arm and bridge cover. Housed in its original Fender gray hardshell case with black imitation leather ends and orange plush lining (9.00).
The Fender Mustang was introduced in August 1964 before the sale of Fender Electric Instruments to CBS. The idea was to create a mid-line model between the student grade DuoSonic, and the professional Telecaster. The Mustang was a very popular model, and was made until 1981. Originally designed with a 22.5 inch scale guitar, the Mustang is almost always found with a 24.25 inch scale. Early models had a slab alder body, but it was given the patented Fender contour body in early 1969.
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What Memories!
Seeing the photo on your website of the 1965 Fender Mustang, Dakota Red, is both mouth-watering and HEART-BREAKING. Mouth-watering because I would give anything to have one like the one pictured here. But absolutely heart-breaking because (1) I had this very guitar back in 1966-67 -- EXACTLY the one pictured on your website, and let it get away, and because: (2) I'll never be able to afford another one (it was $189.50 back in 1966 -- can you believe that?!). One of the DUMBEST, MOST REGRETFUL things I've ever done in my life (I was 18 years old... too young and dumb to realize what I was doing), was to trade my Fender Mustang and Fender Princeton amp for an off-brand bass guitar at a pawn shop in downtown Fort Worth (my hometown). I wanted a bass guitar but couldn't afford one, so I traded my Fender guitar & amp for one and have regretted it BEYOND UTTERANCE ever since. I learned to play my Mustang by listening to some great guitar instrumentals on the Beach Boys Surfin' USA album. It wasn't long till I was playing not only the rhythm parts, but also the lead guitar parts of "Misirlou," "Stoked," "Surf Jam," and others, virtually note for note with the songs on the album. So now you know why it's so difficult for me to see this incredibly beautiful Mustang on your website -- it reminds me of the one I had, and in a moment of insanity, let go of!! (Sorry I got carried away there.) By the way --- GREAT website and photos!! Thanks so much for putting it all together so people can see one of the greatest guitars ever made.