The Fender Bullet was a short-lived electric guitar designed by John Page[1] and manufactured and marketed by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Fender Musical Instruments Corporation of Quincy Illinois is a manufacturer of stringed instruments such as solid-body Electric guitars including the Manufactured in the USA in from 1981 to 1984. Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) It was first introduced as a line of "student" guitars to replace the outgoing Mustangs and Musicmasters. The Fender Mustang is an Electric guitar by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, introduced in 1964 as the basis of a major redesign of Fender's The Fender Musicmaster is an Electric guitar by Fender, and was the first of their 3/4 scale guitars [2]
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Original version (1981)
Fender marketed two original models made in the U. S. A. - the Bullet Deluxe and a standard Bullet. The original version of the Fender Bullet was based on the Fender Telecaster and originally sold for $199. The Fender Telecaster, also known as the Tele (pronounced Telly is typically a dual-pickup solid-body Electric guitar made by Fender. 00. It comprised a single cutaway Telecaster-shaped body with a 21 fret rosewood neck and Telecaster-style headstock. The Bullet Deluxe had a plastic pickguard with a separate, traditional hardtail bridge while the standard model featured a metal pickguard-bridge combo painted white, with separate saddles for each string. Both models had 2 single coil pickups with a three-way selector switch. The pickups were covered with a white plastic sheathing. The original Fender Bullet was only available in red and off-white (cream).
Second version (1982)
In 1982, Fender introduced a second version of the Bullet, including two bass models. The Fender Bullet Bass is an electric Bass guitar model produced by Fender. This version featured a double cutaway Fender Stratocaster-shaped body with a smaller, maple neck. Headstocks retained the version one (Telecaster) profile. Five models were marketed -the Bullet, Bullet Deluxe (S-2), S-3, H-1, and H-2 in addition to the two new bass models (a regular scale "B-34" and short scale "B-30"). The standard Bullet had the previous style metal pickguard-bridge combination with two single coils and three-way switch. The Deluxe (S-2) had a plastic pickguard and separate hardtail bridge with the same pickup configuration. The new S-3 had a separate plastic guard, traditional hardtail bridge, and three single coils with a five-way switch. The H-1 sported the metal pickguard-bridge combination with one humbucker. It also had a coil tapping button. The H-2 had a plastic guard, traditional hardtail bridge, and two humbuckers each with their own coil tapping button. The basses each had plastic guards and traditional bridges. They had the old Mustang bass style pickups. They differed only in scale. The second version Bullets were available in standard colors of red, cream, sunburst or translucent brown[2], as well as in custom colors[1].
Squier Bullet (from 1984)
From 1984 the Bullet has been manufactured in Japan and other countries and is marketed under the Squier trademark as the Squier Bullet. Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) Squier is a second-line brand of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. The Squier Bullet is an Electric guitar that emulates the aesthetics of the Fender Stratocaster, but with modifications to reduce cost The move was one of several strategies by Fender to reclaim market share from companies who manufacture and sell Fender Stratocaster imitations to beginning guitarists. Market share, in Strategic management and Marketing, is the percentage or proportion of the total available Market or Market segment that is The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as the Strat, is a model of Electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton and Freddie Tavares
References
- ^ a b Chevne, Steven and Fjestad, Zachary R. (Editor), The Blue Book of Electric Guitars, (5th Edition), 1998
- ^ a b The Original USA Fender Bullet Appreciation Page
External links
- The Vintage Guitar Cast Blogspot - Fender Bullet 1st Series
*The Vintage Guitar Cast Blogspot - Fender Bullet 2nd Series
* 1981 Fender Bullet Deluxe review
Further reading
Fjestad, Zachary R. (Editor), The Blue Book of Electric Guitars, (9th Edition), 2005
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