Short Scale Guitars » sunburst

Fender Jaguar

Frank — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:01:42 +0000

The Fender Jaguar was introduced in 1962 just as surf music was becoming popular. While surf essentially made the guitar popular it’s likely that the Fender design team was wanting to improve upon the Jazzmaster. To this end, the Jaguar had the same offset waist and dual circuit wiring that the Jazzmaster had. They did decide to go with a shorter scale length, 24 inches, for this guitar. The idea was to make the Jaguar the top of the Fender product line. However, it didn’t work out that way as the problematic bridge and changing musical tastes in the 1960′s caused many guitarists to stay away from it. It wasn’t until the 1990′s with the arrival of grunge music, most notably Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, brought this guitar back into the spotlight for a moment.

The two critical elements of the Jaguar were the unusual electronics and the Fender Dynamic Vibrato (aka tremolo) system with a rubber string mute.

One of the things that you’ll first notice with the Jaguar is the number of switches, 3 on/off switches on the lower bout and an on/off switch and two roller switches on the upper bout. The roller controls on the upper bout are a presets for the neck pickup only, primarily intended for jazz players to control the tone and volume separately. The switch is to choose between this special circuit or the main circuit on the lower bout. On the lower bout, there’s a selector switch for each pickup and the third one is a switch that has a high pass capacitor that thins out the sound somewhat. The Jaguar has master volume and tone pots and are 1meg pots rather than the usual 250K or 500K found on most other Fender guitars. While many Strat style single coil sized pickups can be shoehorned to fit into a Jaguar you’ll get the best results from a pickup specifically designed for this guitar.

The bridge, which has given unsuspecting guitarists and guitar techs headaches over the years, is the Fender Dynamic Vibrato paired with a rubber mute. The important thing to understand about these features is that they were specifically designed for use with heavy gauge, flatwound, strings. They weren’t intended for use with light gauge strings or for heavy whammy bar wanking out. If you try to rock out with a Jaguar, you should have a good guitar tech do a few simple mods to at least lock down the bridge. Otherwise, you’ll be knocking it out of tune a lot. Kurt Cobain ended up swapping his bridge out for a Gibson style Tune-O-Matic for this reason.

Another common problem with the Jaguar is string buzz. While using flatwounds can cure this, there’s also the option of using a buzz stop or doing more extensive modifications to the guitar. My recommendation is to know what you’re getting when you buy a vintage style Jaguar rather than hacking up the guitar with mods. If your goal is to rock and you like the style of the Jaguar, perhaps you should consider one of the alternative versions of the guitar that are better designed for rock.

Most vintage Jaguars were sunburst since there was an upcharge for other colors and most had to be special ordered. The colors that were available included: black, blonde, burgundy mist, candy apple red, charcoal frost, fiesta red, inca silver, lake placid blue, olympic white, shell pink, shoreline gold, sonic blue and surf green. Other fancy appointments such as binding and a painted headstock were common in different model years but the guitar failed to capture an audience after the initial interest in the early 1960′s.

The original Jaguar had a thirteen year production run from 1962 until 1975. It became popular with alternative musicians during the 1980′s because of its low price as compared to other, more popular, vintage Fender guitars. Groups like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers made the guitar popular in alternative rock circles. This led to reissues of the Jaguar and variations on the Jaguar design in the 1990′s and I’ll be cover them in other articles.

Gibson Melody Maker

Frank — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:37:25 +0000

The Gibson Melody Maker, which was introduced in 1959, was Gibson’s answer to the problem of competing against Fender and other guitar companies for the lower end, budget and student, guitar market. Gibson had been primarily known for making higher end guitars, such as the Les Paul and ES semi-hollows. They needed a cheap guitar to round out their product line, a Gibson guitar that just about anyone could afford.

Gibson produced a large number of these guitars and, as you might guess, they were cheap to make. The original body style was a lot like the Les Paul Junior, a single cutaway slab. However, the body used was slightly thinner at 1 3/8 inches. The guitar was front routed with a plastic pickguard holding the pickup and knobs (volume and tone). The common paint job was dark sunburst finish although there is some indications/rumors that custom colors were available during this time.

The original scale length was also like the LP Jr. and regular LP 24 3/4 inches. While this isn’t ‘short scale’ they did make a 3/4 scale model, intended primarily for kids, that was a very short 18.5 inches. Other than the scale length being shorter, the rest of the guitar was the same. The neck featured inexpensive dot inlays.

The original Melody Maker had one single coil pickup in the bridge position. This pickup wasn’t a P90, like on the LP Jr., but a cheaper, less powerful, single coil. During the second production year, 1960, a 2 pickup model was added while the pickups were made slightly smaller and less powerful.

Hardware-wise, the Melody Maker had a wraparound tailpiece and standard Gibson tuning pegs. The wraparound tailpiece is notorious for causing intonation problems and was often replaced by experienced players. Also, a version of the Vibrola vibrato/tremolo bridge was available as an extra cost option.

In 1962, when Gibson was revamping their product line, the Melody Maker was changed from the LP Jr. style body to the SG double cutaway style body. It remained available in both 1 and 2 pickup versions and the 3/4 short scale version was also made available in this new design. Also, a new cherry finish was added to the production models at this time, matching the new SG finish.

In 1966, the Melody Maker saw some attempts to upscale it some. The pickup covers and pickguard were switched to the more popular at the time white and fire engine red and pelham blue finishes were made available. Also, a 3 pickup version was introduced that was called the Melody Maker III. In 1967, a 12 string version was made as well. In 1970, a walnut finish was added.

In 1971, the original Melody Maker line ended, being replaced with new SG models.

Between 1977 and 1983, Gibson did a reissue of the SG style double cutaway version of the Melody Maker. This model featured updated hardware, such as the Tune-O-Matic bridge, and a slightly different pickup. A number of punk band guitarists of the day liked this guitar due to its brash tone and it not being like the typical MTV hair metal guitars of the day.

In 1986, Gibson did another Melody Maker reissue, this time with the classic single cutaway body. However, unlike the original, this guitar had a single humbucker, a P94, along with updated hardware. This reissue was discontinued two years later in 1988.

In the 1990′s and 2000′s there have been a couple of guitars based roughly on the Melody Maker although they’ve strayed somewhat from the original. These include the Gibson All American II, which was available in the mid-90′s and the very limited run Les Paul Melody Maker seen in the mid-00′s.

In 2007, we got an actual Melody Maker reissue with something close to the original smaller single coil pickup and the classic wraparound bridge/tailpiece. A 2 pickup version was available for about a year but was discontinued. As of this writing, the single bridge pickup version is available through retail channels.

In 2008, Gibson released a Joan Jett signature model of the Melody Maker. It has a Burstbucker 3 pickup, an ebony fretboard and a double cutaway style body. It has a kill switch in place of the pickup selector.

Other artists known to use the Melody Maker from time to time include Mick Jones of The Clash, Robby Krieger of The Doors, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. The attraction of the Melody Maker is that it has a comfortable feel and is a good way to get a single coil sound without having to switch to a longer scale Fender guitar.

While it’s not technically a short scale guitar, except for the long discontinued 3/4 model, I wanted to include the Melody Maker here for completeness sake. After all, 18.5 inches is one of the shortest production guitars made by one of the major manufacturers.

Pre-CBS Fender Duosonic

Frank — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:39:54 +0000

The period between the time Leo Fender started the Fender Electric Instrument Company around 1948 and the company’s sale to CBS in 1964 is known as the ‘pre-CBS’ period. The original Fender Duosonic was introduced during this time period, in the summer of 1956. Fender guitars made during this period are valued for their quality craftsmanship and have considerable collector value. While the Duo-sonic isn’t as highly valued as the Stratocaster or Telecaster from the same period they are recognized for their construction quality, especially as compared to other student guitars from the time period.

The collectible value of these guitars skyrocketed in the 1990′s when the vintage guitar market took off due to guitar players like Stevie Ray Vaughan popularizing vintage, pre-CBS, Fender guitars. This has made finding a pre-CBS Duo-sonic difficult because those that have not been purchased by speculators and collectors have been parted out by scam artists who use the vintage guitar parts to build a fake vintage Stratocaster or Telecaster.

Let’s take a look at the original, 1956, Fender Duosonic. This guitar had a Desert Sand brown finish painted on an ash slab 3/4 sized body. The body wood was switched to cheaper and more readily avaiable alder in late 1956. This production switch makes a 1956 ash Duosonic a rare find. The pickguard was made of anodized aluminum during this early time period. The neck was the 22.5 inch scale and was made from a single piece of maple. The nut was 1 5/8 inches. The serial number on these guitars is found on the neckplate and there are other identifying marks that distinguish these guitars although these sometimes are controversial.

In 1959, Fender began to phase out the desert sand finish in favor of the more popular sunburst popularized by Strat players like Buddy Holly. This era’s sunburst is often referred to as a ‘maroon burst’ because the center color was a peach shade and the outer fade was a maroon color rather than a dark reddish black found on newer guitars. Another common thing you’ll see in these guitars is that the original body color was painted over as a cost saving move. It isn’t uncommon to find a vintage sunburst Duosonic that has a desert sand paint job underneath. By 1961 the original desert sand color had been completely dropped from the Fender product line.

Another big change in 1959 at Fender was switching from the single piece maple neck to a rosewood slab fretboard glued onto a maple neck. The anodized aluminum Duosonic pickguard was also discontinued in favor of the less expensive single ply white plastic pickguard. In 1961, the nut on the Duosonic was made slighly smaller, dropping it down an 1/8th of a inch to 1 1/2 inches.

In 1963, Leo Fender began negotiations to sell the company to CBS due to health problems. During this time, there was one last pre-CBS purchase change to the Duosonic line. Once again, the public taste had changed and sunburst was out and white was in, probably due to the influence of surf music. During the final pre-CBS years the Duosonic was only available in white. Some production runs during this time featured light brown plastic pickguards rather than white ones.

After the sale of Fender, the Duosonic remained around for a few years and had more drastic changes. I’ll cover these in another article.

Fender Mustang

Frank — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:08:49 +0000

The Fender Mustang was introduced in 1964 as part of a redesign of Fender’s student guitar line. The basic idea was to add in things like a tremolo bridge and advanced pickup switching to the revamped Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic. The Mustang was perhaps the most successful of this line, staying in production from 1964 until 1982 and then being reissued early during Fender’s resurgence in the early 1990′s. Originally popular with 60′s surf bands, the guitar remained popular with punk and other alternative rock music styles for decades, reaching its pinnacle when Nirvana guitarist and singer Kurt Cobain selected it as his primary guitar. Also, collectors consider it the most valuable of the short scale Fender guitars.

The Mustang, like the Duosonic II and Musicmaster II, was available in both 22.5 inch and 24 inch scale length necks. Over time, the 24 inch neck became the more popular choice and is the length most commonly found today. The shorter length is considered somewhat of a collectors item.

The Mustang has been available in a wide range of colors over the years including: Sunburst, Candy Apple Red, Sonic Blue, Vintage White, Blonde, Black, Brown, Olympic White, Daphne Blue, Fiesta Red, Lake Placid Blue, Dakota Red, Surf Green, Competition Red, Competition Orange and Competition Blue. This is in contrast to other Fender student guitars that have been issued only with a few basic colors.

Like the Duo-sonic, the Mustang has two single coil pickups and master volume and tone knobs, typically 250K ones. However, the switching system is a bit different. Instead of a single switch, the Mustang has three way (on-off-on) switches for each pickup. The two different on positions select the phase of their pickup which allows the pickups to be either in phase or out of phase with each other. This allows for more tonal variety. Given the generous common body rout, many electronics savvy players opted to make other modifications to this guitars electronics.

The Mustang floating tremolo bridge, called the Fender Dynamic Vibrato, has been a problem child from its inception. Unlike the synchronized tremolo system used on the Stratocaster, the Mustang trem is more difficult to setup and more difficult to use while staying in tune. Some players prefer to lock the bridge down as best they can while others have attempted full replacements. For example, Kurt Cobain used a Gibson style tailpiece on his personal guitars, although Fender did not include this change on production models that are associated with him such as the Jagstang. Other players, however, have gotten used to this trem and, with the help of the short scale length, are able to pull off some really cool surf sounds with it.

In 1968 Fender released the Competition Mustang with a racing stripe paint job including a painted headstock. This modification has proven popular and has been reissued three times, twice in Japan, known as either Made in Japan (MIJ) or Crafted in Japan (CIJ) and once by Fender’s Mexican factory (MIM). According to various sources, very few, if any Competition Mustangs were made in the shorter 22.5 inch scale length. While the shorter length continued to be listed in the Fender catalog for several years, there weren’t any productions runs of it.

Regular Mustangs have also been reissued in various Fender and Squier product lines fairly often since the early 1990′s due to the popularity of the model with alternative rockers. If you’re considering purchasing one, make sure you know what you’re buying because the quality can vary and there are ‘frankenstein’ guitars out there that have been assembled from various parts.