Fender Musicmaster II 1966 Gold customised

Fender Musicmaster II guitar 1966 - ultra-customised

On sale here is a genuine 1966 American-built Fender Musicmaster guitar. It's a brilliant instrument to play - and sounds great - but probably not one for Fender historians, because it's been extensively customised.

But here's why you'd want to own it:

The most visible difference between a stock Fender Musicmaster and this one is the ornate carving to the body and the gold finish. It's a cool job and you'll never see another one.

But look a little closer and you see that the pickups have been replaced with vintage Fender Stratocaster pickups. This guitar delivers serious tone. The Gibson-style switching system is not original, and it sits where the tone control (that almost no-one ever used) used to be. Likewise, the bridge plate has been adapted so that there is a saddle for each string, for better intonation. The tuners are Schallers and the string tree is a later addition. Also the Schallers have been mounted on a slim mahogany strip so that the posts sit lower - an old trick for getting better string-to-nut contact.

But the big deal is the neck! It's superb. The profile in your hand is perfect and the feel is fantastic - especially with that ageing nitro finish. The frets are bigger than the original Fenders and it helps to make the whole guitar feel bluesy and expressive. In some ways, it feels more like a fast Gibson than a Fender.

Included with the guitar is one of those typical British cardboardy 'hard' cases from the 1960s that looks like something you'd have turned up with to Butlins Skegness! Still, it does its job...

Any questions, please feel free to ask.