THE INITIAL Guitar Blog: November 2020

Fender had been purchased by CBS in 1967 and the companies factory was filled with leftover parts that included bodies, pickups and equipment. The business was looking to turn a profit on their investment. For this reason, in 1969, Fender came up with two guitars that were made of additional guitar necks and bodies. This surplus of materials included many 1965 Fender Electric XII and Fender Bass V bodies and necks. They were excellent ideas in writing, but they didn't sell many devices. Fender/CBS executives decided it could be more lucrative to build than to create off. 1969 both guitars that resulted had been dubbed The Fender Custom guitar and The Fender Swinger guitar. And even though these guitars had been just a flash in the pan of Fender history, they are among a few of Fender’s even more unique guitars. Word originated from the top right down to make something out from the excessive components and the job fell to supervisor Babe Simoni.

George Fullerton employed Virgilio “Babe” Simoni to work at Fender when he was just an adolescent in 1953. Fast forwared twelve years and he rose through the ranks to become the companies stringed instruments product supervisor. When CBS got over, Simoni stayed on. When informed by his new bosses to “discover something profitable to do with all of the leftover parts seated around, Simoni duly produced both of these exclusive Fender guitar model. The to begin which was known as the Swinger, but also marketed as the Musiclander and the Arrow. The next guitar was called The Custom, but also referred to as the Maverick. Unfortunately neither instrument was a success, although Babe Simoni did what was asked of him. In fact he did something unusual in all of Fender’s background. All models, past or present were thoroughly researched and created before offered to the public. This was a trend Leo Fender had began by offering guitar and amplifiers to well-known artists and getting their feedback.

But the Swinger and the Custom were improvised right on the spot; on the factory ground. At Simonis' path bodies, necks and pickguards had been altered to build something brand-new out of something old. Oddly, the Swinger/Musiclander was by no means listed in virtually any Fender catalog of sales brochure. These were probably suggested to Fender product sales reps as bargain instruments to sell right to dealers. The Swinger was fashioned from leftover Musicmaster short-level necks and Bass V bodies. The Bass V was presented in 1965 as bass guitar that could accomplish the full range of an extended throat bass but with just 15 frets. This was achieved by adding a top C string offering the device a compliment of 5 strings. Amazingly, click the next webpage remained in the firms product listing until 1971, although around 200 devices were all which were sold. Bass players complained that the string spacing was too narrow. Simoni got Musicmaster and Bass V bodies and slice an eliptical curve in the bottom and sawed off some of the guitars top horn. The headstock of the brief scale necks were sawn right into a point form.

The guitar had only a single pickup. The bridge/saddle assembly was salvaged from the Musicmaster assemblies. These models were provided in Daphne Blue, Dakota Red, Dark, Lake Placid Blue, Candy Apple Red and Olympic White. A few of these guitar were produced with just the Fender logo written in black script, while some included a smaller clear decal having said that Swinger. I’m going to speculate that the guitars that used Musicmaster bodies had been specified as Musiclanders or Arrows, while the ones that utilized the elongated Bass V bodies were offered as Swingers. It had been essentially students instrument that commanded an inexpensive price. Nevertheless if you find one these day, be prepared to pay thousands for this as its was short-lived available and the supply is bound. The Custom also called The Maverick was created from the bodies and necks of Fender Electric powered XII’s. Simioni utilized a bandsaw to configure a point in the bottom advantage of the instruments body and also took a small slice off the upper horn. The Electric XII necks acquired an elongated headtock to accomodate the 12 tuning devices.