Fender Bullet

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The Fender Bullet was a short-lived electric guitar designed by John Page^[1] and manufactured and marketed by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Manufactured in the USA in from 1981 to 1984. It was first introduced as a line of "student" guitars to replace the outgoing Mustangs and Musicmasters.^[2]

1 Original version (1981)
2 Second version (1982)
3 Squier Bullet (from 1984)
4 References
5 External links
6 Further reading

[edit] Original version (1981)

Fender marketed two original models made in the U.S.A.- the Bullet Deluxe and a standard Bullet. The original version of the Fender Bullet was based on the Fender Telecaster and originally sold for $199.00. It comprised a single cutaway Telecaster-shaped body with a 21 fret rosewood neck and Telecaster-style headstock. The Bullet Deluxe had a plastic pickguard with a separate, traditional hardtail bridge while the standard model featured a metal pickguard-bridge combo painted white, with separate saddles for each string. Both models had 2 single coil pickups with a three-way selector switch. The pickups were covered with a white plastic sheathing. The original Fender Bullet was only available in red and off-white (cream).

[edit] Second version (1982)

In 1982, Fender introduced a second version of the Bullet, including two bass models. This version featured a double cutaway Fender Stratocaster-shaped body with a smaller, maple neck. Headstocks retained the version one (Telecaster) profile. Five models were marketed -the Bullet, Bullet Deluxe (S-2), S-3, H-1, and H-2 in addition to the two new bass models (a regular scale "B-34" and short scale "B-30"). The standard Bullet had the previous style metal pickguard-bridge combination with two single coils and three-way switch. The Deluxe (S-2) had a plastic pickguard and separate hardtail bridge with the same pickup configuration. The new S-3 had a separate plastic guard, traditional hardtail bridge, and three single coils with a five-way switch. The H-1 sported the metal pickguard-bridge combination with one humbucker. It also had a coil tapping button. The H-2 had a plastic guard, traditional hardtail bridge, and two humbuckers each with their own coil tapping button. The basses each had plastic guards and traditional bridges. They had the old Mustang bass style pickups. They differed only in scale. The second version Bullets were available in standard colors of red, cream, sunburst or translucent brown^[2], as well as in custom colors^[1].

[edit] Squier Bullet (from 1984)

From 1984 the Bullet has been manufactured in Japan and other countries and is marketed under the Squier trademark as the Squier Bullet. The move was one of several strategies by Fender to reclaim market share from companies who manufacture and sell Fender Stratocaster imitations to beginning guitarists.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Chevne, Steven and Fjestad, Zachary R. (Editor), The Blue Book of Electric Guitars, (5th Edition), 1998
^ ^a ^b The Original USA Fender Bullet Appreciation Page