Fender Mustang

History

In August of 1964 Fender released a new guitar called the Mustang. It had a Fender Dynamic Vibrato bridge and the rest of it was the same as a Duo-Sonic; simply put, the Mustang was a budget model with a tremolo arm. Originally it was put on the market as a so called student guitar. One of the most distinctive features of the Mustang (and the Duo-Sonic, Bronco and Musicmaster, which are basically the same) is that it has a short scale neck (24" scale length; a 22.5" scale Mustang was also offered in the '60s, but is very rare). The short scale neck makes this guitar perfect for people with small hands.

In 1969 Fender released the "Competition" Mustang with the "racing stripe" paint and painted headstocks. After mid '71 matching headstocks were no longer applied.

In 1982 Fender discontinued the Mustang.

In 1990 Fender re-issued the Mustang, largely as a result of the vintage movement prevalent at the time. Among grunge and punk rock guitarists, Fender's discontinued models (budget models such as the Duo-Sonic and high-end models such as the Jazzmaster and Jaguar) had become extremely popular; such models had Fender quality, but were less expensive secondhand than vintage Stratocasters and Telecasters. (Musicians that led movements against materialism could hardly afford to be seen with expensive guitars, at least in theory).