Fender Mustang Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1966), made in Fullerton, California, serial # 179277, Daphne Blue lacquer finish, alder body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, original grey hard shell case.
This is a lightly played in 1966 Fender Mustang, all original and showing just some minor cosmetic wear. It was made just about two years after the model's debut in the second half of 1964 and shows no changes from the first examples except for pearloid dots on the fingerboard in place of the "clay" versions.
The Mustang was Fender's classiest student guitar, basically the same as the Duo-Sonic II with the addition of the new "Dynamic vibrato" tailpiece and floating bridge. Light, easy to handle and quite versatile with its in/out of phase pickup options the model was instantly hugely successful. While never promoted as a professional guitar it has proved a timeless favorite of countless garage bands and even many pro players through the 1960s and '70s right until today.
The body on this example sports a lovely Daphne Blue lacquer finish with virtually no yellowing or fade, since the clear lacquer overcoat used on the higher-grade Fenders was not sprayed over the color coat. This is our favorite of the three color options offered for the Mustang in 1964-8, and somewhat rarer than the red. The pickguard is laminated plastic with a snazzy pearloid top layer. The rosewood-fingerboard maple neck has a 24" scale length, the same as the Jaguar and longer than the earlier 1950s Fender student models. The neck heel is stamped May 1966, The original black-bobbin pickups have no legible date markings and both pots are coded to the 42nd week of that year.
At that time the Fender Mustang was the most popular electric guitar in the world. Sales peaked with a staggering nearly 18,000 units shipped in 1966 alone, many thousands more than any other competitive instrument. This is a lovely original example, played in just a bit but functionally unaltered and still a great little guitar. Like its contemporary automotive namesake the early Mustang remains an American classic and still represents the best deal in an original 1960s Fender instrument.
Length is 39 1/2 in. (100.3 cm.), 12 1/4 in. (31.1 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 in. (610 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This guitar shows some wear but remains all original it left Fullerton in 1966. The all-original finish is relatively clean on the face with just very small dings, scuffs and dents and an armwear rub along the top edge. The sides and back have similarly light wear with what looks like and area of "strap burn" along the bottom edge of the back. The back of the neck has a decent amount of wear down to the wood and feels nicely played in. There is some minor checking to the headstock and the fender logo decal has lost much of the gold in "Fender" as is often the case with '65-66s.
The all-original hardware is complete has only fairly light wear; even the bridge cover is still intact. The frets are original, crowned down a bit some time some light wear still visible in the lower positions with attendant minor divoting to the fingerboard. This is a good player with two strong pickups that blend well together for the typical phased Mustang tones. Even if not the absolute cleanest we have had this is still a nice ready-to-gig original 60 year old Fender with a cool vibe. The original case is still intact with some external wear; the center latch is broken but the original key and Allen wrench set are still in the small envelope. Overall Excellent - Condition.
