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Sales manager Don Randall chose the name because he thought it “sounded kind of cute” and fit with the existing master-model monikers (i.e. Production began in April on the single-pickup Musicmaster. Here’s a year-by-year look at the history of the these entry-level axes. But today, veteran and neophyte vintage guitar collectors alike are intrigued by these little guitars, in part because they were made with the same care as their more costly siblings even if, compared to the Stratocaster, they were an evolutionary step backward. Leo responded, and the first run of single-pickup Musicmasters was ready in early May of 1956.ĭubbed “¾ instruments,” Musicmasters had much shorter scale lengths and other features intended to make them attractive to a younger, more frugal student player. Often forgotten amongst Fender’s classic line of vintage electric guitars, the definitive (and diminutive) Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic student-grade models were conceived to capitalize on the fact teenagers were taking up the guitar in droves as Bill Haley and the Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock” rode the Billboard charts for 10 weeks in the summer of 1955.įender’s Sales division was acutely aware at the time that nobody would be using a Champion lap steel to try and emulate Danny Cedrone’s guitar solo, so it asked company president Leo Fender – known for his ability to devise a new product in as little as three months – to round out their Spanish-guitar offering with the two beginner models.
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1957 Musicmaster with custom black finish.
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