The True History Of The Mickey Mouse "Mousegetar"

 

The Original Mousegetar

1950 Westinghouse
Television

In 1955 when I was three years old, my family had a Westinghouse console black and white television. I spent hours watching shows on that TV. Most of them were were kid's shows, but there were some locally produced shows that I enjoyed. The 1950's were an age when TV was a new medium and those creating the content were making it up as they went along to fill in air time.

The Mickey Mouse Club

My very favorite television show came on every afternoon. This was The Mickey Mouse Club. This  featured a crew of happy, talented children, that sang and danced and appeared to be having way too much fun. These were the Merry Mouseketeers. They were lead by a couple of adults.

The entire cast wore costumes with their names emblazoned on the front of their tops, and matching headgear with mouse ears caps. 

Vintage Mickey Mouse Cap

The show was a rousing success because at the time every kid in the country had to have a Mickey Mouse Club cap. I had one and my sister had one with a bow.  

As stated, the Mickey Mouse Club was comprised of very talented attractive children that were divided up into groups. 

The main group that was under contract consisted of nine girls and boys, while the other 30 or so kids were added as needed. 

Actor/Songwriter Jimmie Dodd acted as Master of Ceremonies. while artist and animator Roy Williams aka Big Roy acted as a side kick. 

Jimmie Dodd with his Martin

Jimmie sang and played Tenor guitar. For the unfamiliar, the tenor guitar is a four string instrument that was slightly smaller then a full sized guitar.  It was developed to allow tenor banjo players to double on guitar. It was generally tuned in fifths, C3−G3−D4−A4., although some players tune it to the first four strings on a guitar. 

Mousegetar

During the first episodes Dodd played his 1940s Martin 0-18T model which had a mahogany top and body. However early in one of the first season episodes of the show the “kids” presented Jimmie Dodd with a custom built Mousegetar. He used this instrument for the remainder of the four-year series.  

Jimmie wrote all of the songs used on the show including the opening Mickey Mouse March, and the slower closing theme. 

Jimmy Dodd also wrote songs for the show that were meant to inspire children to do the right thing or to learn a lesson, The cast referred to these homilies as "Doddisms". 

Though we fans dreamed of becoming Mouseketeers, it turns out the job involved a lot of hard work. Those children were on the show or practicing routines eight hours a day, six days a week. On Sunday they performed at Disneyland, or at concerts. The typical day also consisted of three hours of on set schooling, broken up in 20 minute intervals, in trailers that were set up on one of the sound stages.

1955 Mousegetar

Now the original custom made instrument had Mickey Mouse’s face on the guitar’s top and cutaway bouts on either side for Mickey’s large ears. Metallic lettering was glued on the lower portion of the body spelled out: Mousegetar. 

Candelario Delgado

The guitars were handmade at Candelas Guitar Shop by shop craftsman Candelario Delgado. This shop is still in existence and still run by surviving family member Tomas and his son. It is located at East Cesar Chavez Avenue in Los Angeles, California. 

Candelas Guitar Shop

This shop has a very interesting history. The craftsmen there have built custom made guitars for Jose Feliciano, Charo, Eric Wilson, Kim Deal and many others.

 

Whatever the cost Disney paid to build the Mousegetar it was certainly worth it because toy companies produced millions of plastic versions with Disney sharing the licensing revenue.

The Mousegetar

According to Disney, two guitars were built for the show. After the show concluded both guitars were given to Mr. Dodd. Dodd passed away at the young age of 54. His family had the guitars housed at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) University in Valencia, California for many years. 

In 2019 one Mousegetar was donated by the Dodd family to The Walt Disney Family Museum. 

Mattel Mousegetar

The Mousgetar spun off an industry of toymakers making plastic Mousgetars to sell to all the kids in TV land. One of the makers, Emenee Toys had a connection to the designer of the Maccaferri Selmer guitar. This one shown here was my first 'guitar'. It had nylon strings and a little crank on the side that would play The Mickey Mouse Theme on a music box mechanism inside the instrument. 

The Original Mousegetar

A few years before I started this blog, I wrote to Vintage Guitar Magazine asking if they would do a piece on this classic instrument that meant so much to Baby Boomers. They replied saying they were not interested. 

So I did a little research, found my own answers and history. This gave me the inspiration back in 2009 to start writing about guitars. On today's date I have 555 articles in my archive. Feel free to browse any of the articles.

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Mark Twain's $15 Million Dollar Martin Guitar

 

Mark Twain

Hands down, my favorite author is Mark Twain. 

In the early days of our marriage my wife joined a book club. She wanted to stock our bookcase with the classics. For years they just sat on the shelf looking respectable. I eventually made a goal of reading each book. 

A Few Mark Twain Books

About a dozen of the books were by Twain. They included Puddi'n head Wilson, Those Extraordinary Twins, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Roughing It, Innocents Abroad, The Guided Age, The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Life on The Mississippi, and of course Tom Sawyer, and Huckleberry Finn, as well as others.

Mark Twain's 
Other Woman

I also read Twain's autobiography, and a book by Laura Skandera Trombly called Mark Twain’s Other Woman. This was a book about Samuel Clements’ secretary, Isabel Van Kleek Lyon. The title sounds salacious, but it was a scholarly work, and was an interesting look into Twain’s everyday life. 

All of this to say that I have learned a lot about Samuel Clements, his family, and his life. 

But the one thing that I did not know was that Sam Clements enjoyed playing guitar and owned one of the very first C.F Martin guitars ever built. 

C.F. Martin

Christian Frederick Martin began building guitars In 1833. Martin apprenticed under the legendary Viennese master luthier Johann Stauffer. Martin then returned to Germany taking with him all that he had learned. In those days European trades operated under a strict guild system. Upon returning home he became embroiled in a dispute between the cabinet makers and violin makers guilds over who had the rights to make the then relatively new invention the ‘guitar’. 

Marker 196 Hudson St. NYC

This dispute inspired Martin to relocate to America. In 1833 he opened a shop on the lower West Side of New York City. Five years later, at the insistence of his wife, Martin moved to Nazareth Pennsylvania. 

In 1861, shortly after the Civil War started, Samuel Clements purchased a used Martin Size 2 ½ 17 parlor guitar reportedly costing him $10. He used this 1835 Martin extensively as a singer-guitarist, bringing it along to his many travels. 

Twain's 
Martin

In fact Mark Twain began his career by traveling and writing stories for a newspaper. Those serialized publications became his first popular book, Innocents Abroad. Twain continued to travel far and wide, often with only his 1835 Martin guitar, paper and ink to accompany him. 

Twain played his 1835 Martin guitar frequently for friends and fellow travelers. He entertained the miners of the infamous California’s Gold Rush and the newspaper men of the Nevada Territories. 

Illustration of Sam and his guitar
from St. Nicholas, January 1916

He also rocked the joint with the passengers aboard the steamship Quaker City, bound for Europe and The Holy Lands, and the clipper ship Ajax, bound for the Hawaiian Islands. Many guitarists of his day would approve saying, "Twain prefers to play his Martin guitar for the 'willing women of the West.' ” 

John Hancock III

Just before his death in 1910, the 1835 Martin guitar was entrusted to Colonel John Hancock III, who was the great grandson of American founding father John Hancock. Aside from being a U.S. Cavalryman and a horse breeder, he was a guitar collector. 

The guitar remained in the Hancock family for four generations until it was purchased by renowned guitar collector Hank Risan in the mid-nineteen nineties. 

Hank Risan

Risan then worked with UC Berkeley to authenticate the guitar and helped to create the Mark Twain Project. The guitar came with it’s original coffin case and had a genuine shipping label dated 1866, with “Mr. M. Twain, New York.” 

Twain's 1835 Martin

In today’s dollars and due to its provenance, it is valued at over $15 million dollars. In doing research on the instrument Risan also uncovered an unpublished poem by Twain called Genuis. The guitar’s original coffin case bears a shipping label dated 1866, with Mr. M. Twain, New York written on it in script that was penned in Mark Twain’s own hand. 

Twain's Martin

As of 2015 Risan went on to establish The Private Life of Mark Twain exhibit at the Museum of Musical Instruments, MoMI. This is where the guitar and poem currently reside.

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Micro Frets Guitars

 

Microfrets Orbiter

I used to read all the latest guitar magazines, Guitar Player, Guitarist, Vintage Guitar, and others. I can still remember the old advertisements in those publications. 

Micro Frets

One that stood out was from a company called Micro Frets. This was a guitar that appeared to be cross between a Gibson and a Fender. What stood out was the adjustable nut. The bridge on these guitars had six adjustable saddles that were like a Tune-O-Matic bridge, but the guitar nut also could be moved enabling fine tuning. This feature was known as the Micro-Nut. Although this may be a redundant feature, I found it impressive. 

Micro Frets
Orbiter
Wireless 
Guitar

In the late 1960’s one Micro Frets guitars was even designed with a built-in wireless transmitter that broadcast the signal on a standard FM frequency which was tunable via a variable capacitor. Of course similar technology is used exclusively today, but in 1967 this was an amazing feature.

The Micro Tech Company was started in 1967 by a guitar builder named Ralph Jones and his business partner Francis Marion Huggins. The partners set up a 15,000 square foot factory in Frederick, Maryland, where they were joined by a small group of guitar builders. Jones concentrated on innovation and creating parts while leaving the woodworking chores to the other craftsmen.

Micro Tech Nut

In the shop they were cutting the bodies and necks as well as machining the metallic components. Jones invented the unique parts, such as the Micro Tech nut, that set Micro Frets up as distinct from their competition.

The Calibrato Tremolo

The Calibrato tailpiece was a unique tremolo unit. This sophisticated design invented by Ralph Jones kept strings in tune better than existing units. 

Plainsman, Covington,
Huntington, Orbiter

The company was renamed Micro Frets.  Initially Micro-Frets offered four models – the Plainsman, the Covington, the Huntington, and the Orbiter. These instruments came to be known as Stage 1.

Construction

The instruments bodies were built by using two slabs of wood, usually poplar or maple, that were sandwiched together. On early models the bodies were secured by clips and held together by screws in the neck plate and bridge. (See the last video)

Spacetone with
Fabric F-Holes

A Masonite trim gasket surrounded the two body sections. This unique method allowed access and instillation of the guitar’s electronics. Some of the guitars had front facing “F” holes. This construction method also allowed instillation of grill cloth material that covered the sound hole from inside. 

Micro Frets Thumbwheels

Instead of the usual potentiometers, Jones fashioned thumbwheel controls on the edge of the guitars bi-level pickguards. This was eventually rejected as cumbersome for players and replaced by the usual volume and tone pots along with a pickup selector switch. 

Differences In Pickups

The pickups on the first Micro Frets guitars were initially made by DeArmond, but later models used a design created by Bill Lawrence. These pickups were wound and assembled in the plant by Jones’ wife Hazel and production manager Gary Free. 

 

The following year brought changes in production. The guitars in this group are known as Stage 2.

Micro Frets
Stage 2

The Masonite gasket was eliminated as were the thumbwheel controls in favor of a simple volume and tone control. This changed allowed the bi-level pickguards to be simplified. The grill cloth behind the sound holes was gone. 

1971 Spacetone - Stage 3

By the next year, 1971, the two body sections were glued together eliminating the need for metal clips and screw joining them.  The guitars made at this time are noted as Stage 3. 

Sadly in April of 1972 Ralph Jones died of a sudden heart attack. His widow, Hazel, and plant manager Gary Free kept the business in operation for the next four years allowing the company to continue employment of workers and utilize existing inventory. By 1975 the building and inventory were auctioned off. 

Approximately 3000 Micro Frets guitars were built and sold during the companies tenure. These guitars were truly unique creations and were ahead of their time. 

Will Meadors & Paul Rose

In 2004 Will Meadors and Paul Rose purchased the Micro Frets brand name and he built a limited run of about two dozen guitars based on Ralph Jones’ design. After that production ended.

The New Micro Frets

Then in 2017, 50 years after the company was created, Micro Frets went back into production, with an initial launch of three models: Signature, Spacetone, and Orbiter.

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Fender's Affordable American Made Guitars - Part Two - 1981 To 1983

 

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 together the original instrument design for these guitars. The first models were to be made in Korea and shipped un-assembled to the US.

But Fender did not think the Asian work was up to par, so Fender U.S.A. in Fullerton, California produced the original 1981 guitars by 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. In fact the necks on the first models were actual Telecaster necks. The dual pickups were left over Mustang pickups which were positioned like those on 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

The guitars came in two colors and two versions. The colors were either red or cream. Pickguards were either white or black. 

The Bullet Standard (see the  first picture) had an anodized steel pickguard with the distal lip behind the bridge raised at a 90% angle to anchor the strings. Page stated that he got the idea for the "star" on the logo from the record industry charts. "This song is #2 with a star" meant the record was moving up.  Fender management nixed the idea, but never changed the logo. The star remained on all of the Bullet series instruments.

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 screws 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 both rosewood and maple necks.

By 1982 through 1983 the American made Bullet 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 Fender Bullet S-3 had 3 Mustang 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. Fender now offered four colours; black, sunburst, red, and cream. The pickguard on these was plastic, and the bridge/saddle with nickel chrome. Strings went through the body and were anchored with ferrules on the back.

Bullet S-2

Fender also produced the American made S-2, which was very similar to the original Bullet, but this time with a Stratocaster style body. This guitar came with 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 Bullet 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 Bullet H-2 had 2 Fender humbuckers (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

An American made  Fender Bullet Bass was also produced from 1981 through 1983. It was a smaller bodied version of a Precision bass with Mustang bass pickups.

1982 Fender Bullet S-3

All of the original 1982-83 Bullet 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 in 1981 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 a Fender Harvard Reverb solid state amplifier.

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.  Fender contracted with the Fujigen company.

1984 Squier Bullet with tremolo 

Some of the key differences were these were no longer labeled as Fender guitars, but now known as Squier Bullet guitars. The pickups on most had enclosed covers, and most were bridge saddle assemblies were hardtails. However some came with tremolos. The MIJ Bullet Series maintained the Telecaster style headstock. Tuners were stamped "Fender Japan".

 

MIJ Squier Bullet Neckplate

The serial number on the Squier Bullet neck plate began with "SQ", though the first models were stamped "JV".  While the neckplates on the 1981 - 1983 American made Fender Bullet guitars were just stamped with the stylized Fender "F" and no serial number. Although they were originally made as student instruments, in my opinion they are still great players. I owned one for a few years and I hated to part with it. The resale prices for these guitars are skyrocketing.

Junior Brown's Guit Steel

Junior Brown had his original Guit-Steel made from Fender Bullet parts.

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