A Fine and Original "Slab Board" Musicmaster

This 12-inch three-quarter size "student" guitar weighs just 5.80 lbs. and has a nut width of just under 1 9/16 inches and a short scale length of 22 1/2 inches. Solid alder body, maple neck, and slab rosewood fretboard with 21 frets and clay dot position markers. Decal headstock logo with "Fender" in silver with black outline and "'Musicmaster'" in black below it. Single butterfly string tree. Individual Kluson Deluxe tuners with white oval plastic buttons. Four-bolt neck plate with serial number ("60041") at top. One plain-top Bakelite Musicmaster pickup, angled at neck, with an output of 5.18k, plus two controls (one volume, one tone) and jack socket, all on the white plastic pickguard. Telecaster-style chrome knobs with knurled sides and flat tops. Combined bridge/tailpiece with three adjustable saddles. The neck is dated: "3-61." The pots are dated: "137 60 47." This guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. Housed in the original light tan hardshell case with tan leather ends and orange plush lining (9.00).

"Fender's new 'student' guitars, the Duo-Sonic and Musicmaster, first appeared in 1956. They had smaller, lighter bodies, shorter necks and basic appointments. The Musicmaster was the single-pickup version...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.