The Fender Swinger (also known as the Fender Musiclander and Fender Arrow – as the "Swinger" emblem is usually missing from the

headstock A headstock or peghead is part of a guitar or similar stringed instruments such as a lute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and others of the lute lineage. The main function of a headstock is to house the tuning pegs or other mechanism that holds the s ...

) was an electric guitar model released by Fender in 1969 and reissued by

Fender Japan Fender Japan, Ltd. was a joint venture between Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, , and Fujigen Gakki of Matsumoto, Nagano Japan to produce and sell Fender-branded instruments for the Japanese market. The collaboration began in 1982 and ende ...

in 2019 as a limited edition run in single and dual pickup versions. Estimates of the model's total production number range from 250 to 600 made. The Swinger was an attempt by CBS (which had bought the company in 1965) to extract cash from inventory by combining unused bodies from the Duo-Sonic II and the failed Fender Bass V with parts from the

Fender Musicmaster The Fender Musicmaster is a solid body electric guitar produced by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, Fender. It was the first 3/4 scale length (string instruments), scale student-model guitar Fender produced. A Fender Musicmaster Bass, Musi ...

. The routing beneath the pickguard differs between instruments made from a Duo-Sonic II or Bass V. Bodies made from the Duo-Sonic II have no comfort cuts and a shorter bottom horn. Like the Fender Custom (a.k.a. Fender Maverick), the model was an effort to liquidate excess parts and inventory. The Swinger was marketed as another cheaper, short-scale 'student' guitar, but never seriously promoted, with resulting low popularity.

Development and design

The Swinger and its cousin, the Custom, were both developed under the supervision of Virgilio 'Babe' Simoni, without the help or even involvement of Fender's R&D Department. Simoni had begun work at Fender in 1953 at the age of 16. He had risen to Product Manager by the mid 1960s, and was both skilled and well-liked within the company. The Swinger used excess parts from the Fender Bass V and

, with the Bass V pickup routing hidden under the pickguard. Between 300 and 600 Swingers were produced. The model never appeared in any Fender promotional literature.

Dating

As the Swinger was built using parts that were surplus, the individual components may be older than the guitar. For example, the neck may be date-stamped 1966. All Swingers were assembled in 1969. Records of Swinger production and sales are poor and it is unclear exactly how many were produced or which parts were used on each instrument.

Users

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used a Swinger in live performances, as seen in the concert movie ''

Stop Making Sense ''Stop Making Sense'' is a 1984 American concert film featuring a live performance by the American rock band Talking Heads. The film was directed by Jonathan Demme and executive produced by Gary Kurfirst, the band’s longtime manager. The fi ...

''.

Ben Kweller Benjamin Lev Kweller (born June 16, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. A former member of Radish, Kweller has released six solo albums and appeared on several collaborations. Early life Ben Kweller was born in S ...

used a Swinger to record most of his self-titled album and has used it in concert. Lydia Night of

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uses a Swinger live and in the band's Seashore music video. Zac Pennington used a modified version of the guitar on tours with his project

Parenthetical Girls Parenthetical Girls was an experimental pop band formed in Everett, Washington in 2002, and disbanded in 2013. History Begun by lead singer Zac Pennington, the band originally known as Swastika Girls in 2003. Pennington released ''(((GRRRLS) ...

References

Swinger {{electric-guitar-stub