The Unique Guitar Blog: Fender Bullet Guitars

1981 Fender Bullet

The Fender Bullet guitar was designed in 1981 as a low cost student instrument to take the place of the Duo Sonic and Music Master.

1981 Ad For Bullet Guitar
with 20 watt Harvard amp

Fender designer John Page put the original instrument together. The first models were made in Asia and shipped un-assembeld to the US.

However Fender did not think the work was up to par and produced the original 1981 guitars in the US putting to use left over parts from other guitars.

1981 Bullet

The original bodies were designed to resemble a smaller and thinner version of the Telecaster. The necks were Telecaster necks. The dual pickups were Mustang pickups which were positioned like the Duo Sonic.

That is the neck pickup was angled on the treble side and the bridge pickup was parallel to the bridge. The switch was a three position Stratocaster Switchcraft version. The two potentiometer knobs for volume and tone were black Stratocaster knobs.

Advertisement for Fender Bullet

They came in two colors and two versions. The color was either red or cream. Pickguards were either white or black. The Bullet Standard had an anodized steel pickguard with the distal lip behind the bridge raised at a 90% angle to anchor the strings.

Fender Bullet Deluxe

The Bullet Deluxe had a plastic pickguard and the strings went through the body. The bridge assembly was a barrel type and was adjusted by a screw for intonation and an allen wrench for height. The headstock decal had a 5 point star with a number 1 in the center.

I've seen them with rosewood and maple necks.

In late 1981 and early 1982 the guitar was redesigned to look like a slightly smaller version of the Stratocaster. The guitar came in several versions. These were made in the U.S.A through 1983. Subsequent models were made by Fender Japan.

American Bullet S-3

The S-3 had 3 Mustang type pickups with white covers positioned in the normal Strat fashion and a five way blade switch. It had a single volume and a single tone control.

Bullet S-2

Fender also produced an American made S-2, which was very similar to the original Bullet, but this time with a Stratocaster style body. It had the anodized metal pickguard with the bridge/saddles attached to a lip at the end of the body. It had volume and tone controls and a three way selector switch. Fender came out with two other model Bullet guitars.

Bullet H-1

The H-1 featured a single Humbucking pickup in the bridge position. This guitar came with a volume and tone control and a pushbutton switch to change from humbucking to single coil mode. It too came with the anodized aircraft metal pickguard, with the lip on the end where the strings attached.

Bullet H-2

The H-2 had 2 Fender humbucker (that were actually Mustang pickups side to side. Alongside the 3 way blade switch were two pushbutton switches that enable coil tapping.

1982 Bullet Bass

A Bullet bass was also produced. It was a smaller bodied version of a Precision bass with Mustang bass pickups.

1982 Fender Bullet S-3

These guitars came in black, white, red or cream. The controls were volume and tone. The input was on the top where the second tone control would be found on a Stratocaster. These were hard tail instruments.

1981 Fender Bullet with case

The price for the instruments was $199 which included a molded Fender case. During this time there was also a set sold at a slightly higher price that included a Fender Bullet guitar and your choice of a Fender Champ tube amp or a Fender solid state amp.

Fender Squier Bullets - MIJ

By 1984 Fender Bullets were produced in Japan under the Squire Bullet label. These came in several versions including style similar to the late 1981- 83.

This change came at a time when Fender management was changing from CBS to FMIC. These instruments came with plastic pickguards, and chromed metal bridges. The anodized aluminum pickguard were no longer offered.

Although they were originally made as student instrument, in my opinion they are still great players. I owned one for a few years and I hated to part with it.