A Brief History of Fender Offsets
When Fender launched its offset guitars and basses over half a century ago, it couldn’t have anticipated its enormous impacts they would continue to have on music and music culture today. Read on to learn more about offsets, from their early days to the present.
1956: Fender introduces its first “student model” offset, the Duo-Sonic.
1958: Fender introduces its first professional offset, the Jazzmaster. The instrument was created as a solid body guitar for jazz guitarists, but it soon became enormously popular among rock musicians.
1960: Fender produces its first offset-bodied bass guitar. Like the Jazzmaster before it, the Jazz Bass was also designed for jazz players (particularly, upright bassists looking to electrify their sound) but also grew a following among rock musicians. A six-string offset bass, the Fender VI, was released the following year.
Early 1960s: Surf music springs off of California beaches into a national phenomenon. Due to their warm, clean tones and ease of playing at racing speeds, the Jazzmaster guitar and the Stratocaster guitar become the instruments of choice. The sounds from the whammy bar were thought to capture the vibe of ocean waves.
1962: Fender introduces the Jaguar, a new offset that featured stylish, space-agey chrome details. Built with an extra fret and a shorter scale (24”) than the Jazzmaster, it was designed to make playing even faster and easier.
1964: Offsets’ comfort factor and popularity with young musicians inspires Fender to create a short-scale model for student players, the Mustang. They also revamp the earlier student model guitars, the Duo-Sonic and Musicmaster, with new offset-style bodies.
1966: Why should guitar students have all the offset short scales? With a scale of 30” and offset body, Fender’s Mustang bass becomes the company’s first-ever student bass guitar.
1975: Due to changing music trends and declining sales, Fender begins to discontinue its offset models, finally halting production on the Mustang in 1982.
1975-1977: Youth culture once again has a surprise in store for the guitar industry; as punk emerges on both sides of the Atlantic, offsets’ ubiquity, ease of playing—and the fact that they could be found cheap—makes them a hit with a new set of musical rebels.
1980s: Fender Japan is opened for business, and launches a number of offset reissues as part of it’s instrument line.
Early-mid 1980s: Punk births new wave, post-punk, shoegaze, and other subgenres where individualism and experimentation are prized more than perfection. During the same period, there is a renewed interest in garage rock and surf music. Offsets become a gear cornerstone for yet another generation!
1990s: In response to the growing love of vintage instruments among grunge and alternative guitarists, Fender officially relaunches its offset models with updates to correct many of the perceived flaws of the original versions.
1992: In an interview with Guitar World Kurt Cobain names the Mustang as his favorite guitar in the world, listing its small size, price point, and its quirks and imperfections as his reasons for loving it.
1997: Courtney Love launches a new offset, the Squier Venus (or Fender Vista Venus), making her the second woman to have a signature line from Fender after Bonnie Raitt.
2003: Liz Phair poses with her trusty Duo-Sonic on the cover of her self-titled album.
2010s: Offsets continue to thrive in the indie music community. Their versatility and comfort makes them a perfect fit for a variety of music styles and players. They provide a dependable, cost-efficient staple for musicians who are more likely to buy a bunch of pedals than “trade up” for a more expensive guitar.
2016: Fender releases its Offset Series, featuring new models of Mustangs and Duo-Sonics. The instruments come in a variety of finishes; the Mustang comes in Arctic White, Capri Orange, and Torino Red, while the Duo-Sonic HS comes in Daphne Blue, Black, and Surf Green.
2017: The Fender Offset series releases a new set of vintage inspired colors for its revamped Mustang, Mustang90, Mustang Bass PJ and Duo-Sonic models including capri orange, surf green, shell pink, daphne blue, and canary diamond.
Comments
[…] While the Mustang’s body, weight, and neck scale resembled the earlier student model Duo-Sonic, its offset body and tremolo bridge system were modeled after the Jazzmaster—essentially taking the best of both worlds and making an inclusively versatile instrument. Shortly after, the two-pickup Duo-Sonic and single-pickup Musicmaster (another early student model) were upgraded with slightly bigger and offset bodies, and the company started offering them in small to medium-sized neck options. Following the success of these shorter scale guitars, Fender released what would be the last original bass designed by Leo Fender himself before the companies infamous shift to CBS—The Fender Mustang Bass. From there, the rest is history. […]
Pingback by How Fender Offsets Are Helping Shape Music (Again) on December 18, 2017 at 11:16 am[…] Developed in the late 50s and early 60s, Fender offsets were created for jazz guitarists and students; their offset waists were designed to be more comfortable to play while sitting than any other solid-body guitars on the market. Despite those rather conservative origins, offsets have since been adopted by generations of garage, surf, punk, indie musicians, and more—revolutionizing the culture and sound of modern music in the process. You can learn more about cultural impact of offsets here, and the evolution of the distinctively shaped instruments here. […]
Pingback by She Shreds Magazine - Win 'Em #3: Choose Your Own Fender Offset on December 21, 2017 at 12:04 pmHey! Where are the LEFTHANDED versions of jazzmasters, jaguars or these mustangs and duo-sonics??? Come on Fender! Give us lefthanded Jazzmaster/Jaguar with a 1000$ price tag!
Comment by Tyi on December 22, 2017 at 8:26 pmThe Mustang, Musicmaster, Duo-Sonic, etc. aren’t really offset guitars, although Fender has now decided to refer to them as offsets. The Jazzmaster and Jaguar are offsets, as well as the Jazz Bass, but not the others.
Comment by m g on January 26, 2018 at 2:35 pm[…] Actually, the bass I use when we’re in America is the bass that I got when I was 16. It’s a Fender Musicmaster 3/4 scale; a short-necked guy. I also have 70s Music Man StingRay that I mostly use for recording […]
Pingback by She Shreds Magazine - Insect Ark on Exploring Sound and Creative Vision Without Compromise on May 17, 2018 at 9:20 am#4 is incorrect. mustang IS offset. the offset body comes from the waist of the guitar. looking at the guitar standing straight up, strap pin on the ground, you can draw an angled line through the inner waist contours of a mustang. a guitar like a stratocaster and the early non-offset music master will NOT have as exaggerated an angle as the mustang, jazz bass, jazzmaster, and jaguar.
there is an entire forum of thousands of people dedicated to offset guitars with further diagrams and information.
Comment by m g m is wrong on November 4, 2020 at 8:27 am