Monday, August 25, 2025

Fender Banjos, Mandolins, Jazz Guitars, And Other Off-The-Wall Fender Creations

 

The Fender Guitar Company
In 1965 CBS purchased the Fender Guitar Company. At the time it seemed that everybody and their brother wanted to be a rock star. CBS was there to cash in on the craze.  It did not take long after the acquisition for the company to begin making changes. 

In my opinion some of the changes were just a little odd. For instance, CBS/Fender decided it was a great idea to go into the banjo business. To accomplish this the company acquired the Stafstrom Banjo Company, which was a manufacturer based in Oregon, Illinois. 

Fender Banjos 1969

This venture into banjo production was relatively short-lived.  However the original 1960 models were  high-quality instruments, particularly the early, American-made "Concert Tone" models. 


In later years Fender also produced banjos in Japan during the 1980s. However, I mostly recall those models from 1967 and 1968. 

Fender Concert Tone
The Concert Tone Banjo was Fender's top-of-the line. It was an exquisite instrument with a carved back and neck heel. After that came the Artist model, which was essentially the same instrument but with different inlay and no gold plating. 

The next model was the Encore. The workmanship on all of these models was high quality. The neck is slender; the wood is walnut. Most of them came from the California factory with sliding 5th string capo and Keith D-tuners . 


The least expensive model offered was called the Allegro which featured maple frame and neck with  simple round wire tone ring. Within two years Fender dropped the USA made banjo line.






1956 Fender Mandocaster
Fender began making its version of a mandolin early on.  The Fender Electric Mandolin looked like a miniature Stratocaster. It was introduced in 1956 and was offered until 1976. As Leo Fender was very fond of Country and Country Swing music I can bet this was an instrument that he believed would be popular and it came to be known as The Fender Mandocaster. 

Unlike traditional mandolins which have four courses of double strings (8 strings), to create their distinctive sound,  The Mandocaster only had four strings giving it a sound more like a guitar than a mandolin. As an instrument, it had limited usability due to the limitations of four strings and a solid body. 

This tiny instrument came with a single oblong pickup that had a reddish brown cover and no visible poles, "Fender" decal with no other markings. 

The Mandocaster were probably made in small batches, so often the body and neck dates can be up to a year or more apart. Initially it featured like an Ash body can be seen as late as 1959, though in 1958 Fender stopped using Ash and switched to Alder wood.

1960 Fender Mandocaster

The first years of Fender Electric Mandolin production (1956 and 1957) used a slab body style, much like a Telecaster. This changed in 1958 to a more Stratocaster style body with contours. Sunburst was the standard finish, though Blond is also seen. Custom color Fender Mandocasters also exist. 



The initial Mandocaster also used a metal anodized gold pickguard until mid-1959, like the pre-1959 Precision Bass. Usually they are strung with .008, .012, .019w and .028w strings, and tuned like a mandolin. 

The 1956 models had a slab body. This was changed the following year to a contoured Stratocaster type body.  By this year a 3-color sunburst finish was offered. In 1959 a tortoise shell style celluloid pickguard was added. 

By 1976 the Mandocaster was removed from production. In later years an eight string Fender Mandolin was offered but was manufactured offshore. 

Fender Bass V
From 1965 through 1971 Fender offered a short scale five string bass guitar known as The Bass V. This instrument had only 15 frets. The modern five string bass has a low b string. The first string on the Bass V was a high C. This was supposed to allow bass players to reach high notes on the instrument more easily. So the top note on the instrument is still the same E♭ as on a standard 20-fret 4 string Jazz or Precision Bass, 

These basses did not sell well. Whether it was their smaller nature, only having 15 frets, narrow string spacing, or the oddity of a five string bass in the 60s, they were discontinued in 1971. Only about 200 instruments were produced. The surplus bodies were used in the construction of the Fender Swinger. 


I recall going to a guitar show and someone thrusting a guitar in my hand and said, "Check this out. You really need to buy this."  It was a sweet instrument, but at the time I did not have the money or the need for another guitar. The guitar put into my hands was a Fender D'Aquisto Deluxe or Standard model. This guitar was designed by John D’Aquisto (the successor to James D’Angelico). 


Jimmy D'Aquisto
Jimmy was a first class luthier. He had inked a deal with Fender to design three models of these Jazz style guitars. To accomplish this D'Aquisto trained luthier Stephen Stern of the Fender Custom Shop in Corona California on the build. He inurn coordinated the 3 models: Ultra, Elite & Deluxe. 


Ultra models were made in very few numbers. These guitars all had a carved solid spruce top, with solid flame maple solid back and sides. This guitar came in sunburst and natural finishes. All were built under the direction of the Fender Custom Shop. 



Fender D'Aquisto Elite

The D'Aquisto Elite models were also built under the direction of the custom shop. The tops were laminate maple, normally using 2-piece book matched laminates for the front and back.  

Some of the Deluxe/Standard models were signed by Stephen Stern and were made with a one piece laminate tops and backs but solid sides denoting that these guitars are master built. 


There were 2 production runs of the Deluxe guitars.  The first was made in Japan (1984-1990) and the second run was made at the Corona USA factory. 





By far the most beautiful Fender ever offered for sale was Fender’s LTD.  These guitars  were limited production models which were briefly offered for a couple of years. Each guitar was hand-crafted by Fender’s Research & Development Head, Roger Rossmeisl, assisted by Phil Kubicki. 

Just 36 LTDs were ever made, completed in batches of 6 at a time. Though a Natural finish was offered in the catalog, none were ever created. 


The LTD's top is custom hand-carved spruce, with curly maple on the back and sides. The top and back carving was uniquely Rossmeisl’s and done in the German style. 


The detachable maple neck matches the body and is topped with an ebony fingerboard. The highest quality European wood possible was used to build these guitars, allowing for a better sound and lighter grain color. 

Fender LTD
A custom ebony bridge was hand-fitted to the body, feeding into a gold-plated tailpiece with two ebony inserts. One proudly wears Fender’s signature “F.” This highly flamed pickguard is made of celluloid imported from Italy, carefully cut and bound by Rossmeisl.  The custom ebony bridge was hand-fitted to the body, feeding into a gold-plated tailpiece with two ebony inserts. 

The tailpiece proudly wears Fender’s signature “F.” The highly flamed pickguard is made of celluloid imported from Italy, carefully cut and bound by Rossmeisl. 

The LTD came with multiple binding layers around the body, neck, and headstock. All of the gold plating on this model was 24-karat. The single pickup was a specialty humbucker, completely shielded and grounded, designed with a jazz sound in mind. It was designed by Fender great, Freddie Tavares. The pickup is fitted with 6 individually adjustable pole pieces and, of course, 24 karat gold plating. 

Fender LTD
Mounted just under the neck for the best possible jazz tone, this humbucker is accompanied by Master volume and Master tone controls in the form of two small, black knobs mounted to the pickguard. The ¼” jack sits just below the knobs underneath the pickguard. 


During the same time period Fender also offered two other Jazz style guitars designed by Rossmeisl. These were the Fender Montego I and II. 

The Montego guitars were a step below the LTD. Both were built with a pressed spruce top and chrome hardware. 




The Montego I came with a single humbucking pickup and controls mounted on the guitar's body. 







 
Randy Bachman's
Montego II

The Montego II was a similar instrument with two humbucking pickups.  Only a small number of these guitars were made between 1968 and 1972 which numbered less than 100. 

Text from the 1972 catalog states, “the Montego’s specs included an “elegantly contoured spruce top, specially designed pickups with hand wound hum-cancelling coils— totally shielded from outside interference, genuine hand-cut Australian mother-of-pearl decorative inlays, and the finest materials and workmanship employed throughout.” 

The Montego’s detachable neck is made of hard-rock maple topped with a curved ebony fretboard, and its body boasts an arched spruce top with flamed maple back and sides. The 1972 Fender price list shows a Montego II Sunburst at $850, plus $95 .

It was in 1966 that I recall receiving a Fender catalog and marveling at their latest guitar: The Fender Marauder. The model 1 was a prototype created in 1963. The body shape resembled a Fender Jaguar but with a Stratocaster tremolo and no visible pickups.  Looking closely, one of the prototypes is a hardtail.  

I have read that Fender produced only 8 Marauder prototypes and all were given away to shops around Fullerton California. The four pickup design was apparently too costly to license.

The text in the catalog stated that it had four pickups that were hidden under the pickguard. Wow! 

Fender Marauder 2
Later on I read about the Marauder 2, a second version, which now had a slightly different offset body, three single coils ala a Strat, and a plethora of switches with chrome covers ala a Jaguar. 

Unlike the short scale Jaguar, the Marauder had a 25 1/4 scale neck, unlike a Strat which is 25 1/2 inches. I have read that in 1967 four Marauders were made with slanted frets. 

Marauder 2 Controls

The electronics layout is complicated. Neither version was ever put into production. Over the years hobbyists and folks at The Fender Custom Shop have created Marauders. 

2011 Modern
Player Marauder
In 2011 Fender finally created the Fender Marauder Pawn Shop Prize guitar. This unusual instrument came with an offset body .

It had a large headstock and a rosewood fretboard. A Jazzmaster pickup was in the neck position, while the bridge pickup was a Fender Triplebucker. The Marauder and the entire Modern Player series were made in China.

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