What’s your favorite story about the gear? The replacement pickup by Wizard Pickups is made specifically for these basses, and it makes this bass sound absolutely amazing. I obtained a new pickguard from a seller on eBay, the pickup is a custom handmade replacement made by Wizard Pickups in the UK, and the all-new electronics are two CTS 250k pots, a Switchcraft jack, vintage style cloth wire and a Sprague orange drop capacitor. Stock or customized? Give us all the specs!Īll stock, with the exception of the pickguard and electronics. The bass came to me as a box of parts which had to be reassembled. It was given to me by a friend who ran a studio in Orlando, Florida. Guitar technician and custom instrument builder Graham Drew shares his 1978 Fender Musicmaster Bass in this installment of Old School, and the story that goes with it. Squier reintroduced the Musicmaster briefly in 1997, replacing it a year later with the Bronco bass. Fender later offered many of the finishes offered on their other instruments as well.įender’s line of budget instruments was discontinued in 1981, when the company introduced the Squier brand. The bass was introduced with three finishes: black, white and red, with a few early issues painted in daphne blue and sporting pearl pickguards. This was also a 30″ short-scale bass, the shortest production scale of any Fender bass. All of the electronics were mounted on a single piece of plastic. The bodies were from the Mustang production line, and 6-pole guitar pickups were used instead of the standard 4-pole pickups used in basses. The Musicmaster was Fender’s budget-priced bass at the time, made from surplus parts from other Fender models.

1978 fender musicmaster bass