Fender Musicmaster (1959)

This early 1959 Fender Musicmaster is one of the finer student model electrics made during Fender's heyday. With its unique aesthetic of Desert Sand body finish, anodized aluminum gold pickguard, and Maple neck, it's just as attention-grabbing as its older siblings in our book. The short scale, slim neck, and lightness of build undoubtedly made it an easy option for the youth of yesteryear. For vintage electric fans, the Musicmaster has remained largely accessible and affordable, especially when compared to the likes of the Jazzmaster, Stratocaster, and Telecaster.

Like many Fender necks from 1959, the profile starts out quite slim and transitions quickly into a much meatier carve. This is a welcome feature on such a small, short-scale guitar, as it becomes a little more "adult friendly" up the neck. Still, it remains super quick playing with the tighter nut width and string spacing. While Musicmaster pickups share some DNA with the Stratocaster pickup, they generally have their own sound. The Bright and clear with a leaner bass response, they excel at providing a focused tone...even in the neck position! This original pickup measures just over 6k, which is nice and strong and provides slightly more fullness and output. It was once pulled in favor of a modern pickup, but remained with the guitar. It was an easy choice to reinstall it! The wiring harness is original, with original Stackpole pots that date from the 7th week of 1958.

The original frets remain, and although they measure on the lower side, the guitar is still playable without any true restriction. The original white button Kluson tuners still work great as well. The guitar is accompanied by its original brown hardshell case that is in great shape despite missing one of its original latches.

Compact and easy to play, this '59 Musicmaster is a wonderful vintage electric that provides more tone per scale length inch than most other student models out there.