FENDER MUSICLANDER/SWINGER/ARROW (U.S. MFG.) Description
- offset double cutaway asymmetrical alder body with cutaway on bottom bout, bolt-on maple neck, 21-fret rosewood fingerboard with pearl dot inlay, pointed peghead, six-on-one-side tuners, fixed bridge, pearloid pickguard, single coil covered pickup, volume/tone control, chrome hardware, available in White, Black, Blue, Green, or Red finish, mfg. 1969-1972.
Fender's Mustang model was initially offered in both the full-scale or 3/4-scale neck. While the Mustangs were in great demand, both necks were produced, but many of the 3/4-scale models were returned from the field due to lack of popularity as compared to the full-scale neck. To salvage leftover parts, Virgilio "Babe" Simoni then redesigned the headstock (which then began to resemble a spear) while another worker redesigned the body. These changes are purely cosmetic; the Musiclander model is basically a Mustang with the 3/4-scale neck and a single pickup. Simoni estimates that, all in all, perhaps 250 to 300 were built, and even some of these were renamed into the Arrow or Swinger.