Fender Mustang 1964 L Series Pre CBS Dakota Red

Fender

Fender Mustang 1964 L Series Pre CBS Dakota Red

£4,495.00

Additional information

Condition	Very Good

1 in stock

Fender Mustang 1964. Dakota Red. Pre CBS. Clay Dots, Rosewood Board. Very Good Original Condition 8/10.

It’s not often we see something like this, especially in the UK. This is likely to be one of the rarest Mustangs available, a rarely seen very early (pre-release date stamp) 1964 Fender Mustang likely from the first batch ever produced in completely original and unmodified condition aside from some expected playwear, the frets still have plenty of life and electrics are working perfectly as they should.

Neck Stamp: 8 JUL 64 A

Pot Codes: 26th Week of 1964 (6426)

Weight: 6.6lbs

This particular guitar has some pretty distinct features making it a very early, likely 1st batch 1964 model as below:

– A pre August 1964 release neck date stamp

– Headstock numbers (early ’64): DES. 186,826 PAT. 2,960,900 2,741,146 & PAT. PEND.

– Pot codes dating to June 22nd-28th 1964

– Brazilian Rosewood laminate fretboard with clay dot inlays.

– Black pickup baseplates.

The Fender Mustang was released in August 1964. Unveiled in 1964 at the tail end of Fender’s pre-CBS years in an effort to upgrade the company’s beginner and student lines. Previously, in 1956, Fender unveiled its scaled-down, single-pickup Musicmaster and dual-pickup Duo-Sonic models to capture the business of young players hot for this new rock and roll fad. The Mustang had a few distinct upgrades over the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic with the addition of a dynamic Fender Vibrato and slight re-working of the body contours.

These models quickly became gateway guitars to more grown-up Fenders. Each had a 22 1/2–inch scale length that was shorter than anything Fender had yet produced in a Spanish-electric. These short-scale models are sometimes referred to as “three-quarter-scale” guitars, but they’re closer to nine-tenths the size of a standard Fender model from the golden era of guitar making.

A slight reworking of the body style and electronics delivered both the hardtail Duo-Sonic II and vibrato-equipped Mustang in ’64, and although both were also still available in the shorter 22 1/2–inch scale length early on.

The body represented another slight departure for Fender, both in its more compact and streamlined size and shape and in the 2 pieces of poplar wood that was most often used for its construction. The neck was the standard bolt-on Fender configuration of one-piece maple with a brazilian rosewood fingerboard and generally feels superbly comfortable in the hand. This particular guitar features the “A” indicated neck width, a slim 1 7/16–inch width with rarely seen clay dots and original frets, it is very slim but super easy to play.

The Mustang vibrato was entirely new for 1964. New too were the electronics. The pickups were made similarly to the Stratocaster’s but were entirely covered, with no pole pieces showing. Each was wired through its own three-way slider switch, which provided not only “on” and “off” positions but also an out-of-phase setting in relation to the other pickup when both were on and the switches set in opposite directions. Original Mustangs of 1964 vintage were offered in white, blue and red finishes similar to Fender’s Olympic White, Daphne Blue and Dakota Red, although they were never officially named as such.

Specification below:

Poplar body

“Patriotic Colors” Red, White, and Blue

Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard

Two single coil pickups with black base plate

Small headstock with Transition Fender Logo

One string guide

Kluson tuners with plastic oval knobs

Clay dot finger board markers

Clay dot markers on the seam of maple and rosewood

Brass shielding plate in the pickup, slider switch, and control cavity

Two slider switch ON-OFF-PHASE for each of the two pickups