Fender Deluxe 6 and 8 info wanted

[Denny Turner]

Note: all short scale.

Stephen,

Thank You for noticing and pointing out that all of the Deluxe models we've all found are short scale. I forgot / failed to mention it; ...and scale lengths for trap pickup Deluxes is what led me to find this SGF discussion in the first place; Go figure!

I am searching for a medium (24.5") or long (26") scale trap pickup Deluxe for a close Friend and well known Steeler; And am holding out hopes there might be one / some floating around in obscurity. Leo Fender was motivated to produce one-offs and special orders for well known professional Steelers; Which made / makes good sense ...kinda like today's Beta Testing. But all major guitar manufacturers had been (and continued) with similar R&D and marketing, ...applying famous guitarists names to models they helped develop or "simply" approved of. Good for the brand and good for the Guitarists. Although, Fender didn't jump into the famous Guitarist models & endorsements pool until the 1980s, ...which is a bit perplexing since many famous Steelers and Guitarists were known for the Fender guitars and amps they played.

"Trivia" maybe deserving mention, is that Leo's "late" 1946 new Deluxe design has an optical illusion of being longer than it's predecessor K&F & Fender Princeton, inferring (eyes / brain trick) a longer scale ...until closer attention is paid to why. In my photos 5 & 6 we can see that Leo didn't stretch the whole guitar but stretched only the body portion, extending the body shoulders where they join the neck ...up from the 17th fret (XVII) to the 12th fret (XII). Leo had a very keen eye & brain for aesthetic Steel and Spanish guitar design that in only 10 years (1945-1955) became evermore and remain iconic.

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Well, morning coffee is kicking in, and backlogged / bottle-necked matters are screeching in the background.

Very Best Wishes,

[Denny Turner]

Well, i guess i got one of those then, just didn't know its name. I was thinking of the later style wedge shaped bodies.

Glenn,

Now that's a rare bird indeed, lucky dog! It's an early (first half of) 1946 K&F Princeton, only made and branded K&F for the first several (unknown to me) months of 1946.

[Glenn Wilde]

Well, i guess i got one of those then, just didn't know its name. I was thinking of the later style wedge shaped bodies.

Glenn,

Now that's a rare bird indeed, lucky dog! It's an early (first half of) 1946 K&F Princeton, only made and branded K&F for the first several (unknown to me) months of 1946.

Cool, it's actually badged for Bronson Music, an Oahu type outfit.

[Stephen Cowell]

Note: all short scale.

...
I am searching for a medium (24.5") or long (26") scale trap pickup Deluxe for a close Friend and well known Steeler; And am holding out hopes there might be one / some floating around in obscurity.

Your best bet is to build one... I have the parts in my junkbox to build a D8 now.

[Russ Swanson]

In the 1956 catalog there is a single neck stringmaster. In 57 it’s relabeled a deluxe.

ALL FACTORY Fender Stringmasters are multi-neck guitars with eight strings per neck...

A double-neck with six strings per neck and 22.5" scale was made with Stringmaster features, in the catalogs and price lists it is called the "Dual Six Steel Guitar".

Wow... I didn't know that. So George Gruhn is wrong when he says in his book the Stringmaster came in "6-string necks optional". And Vintage Guitar Magazine says the same thing. Maybe they should have read the original catalogs more closely! I always assumed that there was a 6-string Stringmaster because it looks exactly like a Stringmaster in every way except the number of strings. I guess we'll have to defer to the Fender catalogs. It's hard to argue with that.

There are NO long or medium scale single neck Fender steels from the FACTORY that were ever cataloged, listed, or available to the general public at retail stores.

...in the earlier version of the Fender steels.

All good info Michael, and much appreciated. Your source material is original catalogs and price lists, and that's as good as it gets. Unfortunately there is a lot of revisionism going on today. And the more it is repeated, especially by guitar "experts", the more it is accepted as truth.

[Stephen Cowell]

In the 1956 catalog there is a single neck stringmaster. In 57 it’s relabeled a deluxe.

Indeed! The years before was the trap Deluxe...the '56 exactly resembles the later SM Deluxes... I can't tell from the picture if the tuner pan is transitional like the first SM's or if it's like all the later ones... interesting.

One year of Stringmaster Single-Neck guitar.

https://guitar-compare.com/wp-content/u ... atalog.pdf