Fender have been purchased by CBS in 1967 and the companies factory was full of leftover parts that included bodies, pickups and equipment. The company was looking to turn a profit on their investment. Because of this, in 1969, Fender developed two guitars that were made of other guitar necks and bodies. This surplus of components included many 1965 Fender Electric powered XII and Fender Bass V bodies and necks. They were excellent ideas in writing, but they did not sell many models. Fender/CBS executives decided it will be more rewarding to build than to write off. 1969 both guitars that resulted were dubbed The Fender Custom made guitar and The Fender Swinger guitar. And though these guitars had been just a flash in the pan of Fender background, they are among a few of Fender’s even more unique guitars. Word originated from the top down to make something from the excessive components and the job fell to manager Babe Simoni.

George Fullerton hired Virgilio “Babe” Simoni to just work at Fender when he was only an adolescent in 1953. Fast forwared a dozen years and he rose through the ranks to become the companies stringed instruments product supervisor. When CBS required over, Simoni stayed on. When informed by his brand-new bosses to “discover something profitable related to all the leftover parts seated around, Simoni duly produced these two unique Fender guitar model. The first of which was called the Swinger, but also marketed as the Musiclander and the Arrow. The second guitar was called The Custom, but also called the Maverick. Sadly neither instrument was successful, although Babe Simoni do that which was asked of him. Actually he did something unusual in all of Fender’s history. All models, recent or present were carefully researched and developed before presented to the public. This was a pattern Leo Fender had began by offering guitar and amplifiers to popular performers and getting their feedback.

But the Swinger and the Custom had been improvised right on the spot; on the factory flooring. At Simonis' path bodies, necks and pickguards were modified to build something new out of something previous. Oddly, the Swinger/Musiclander was by no means listed in any Fender catalog of sales brochure. These were most likely suggested to Fender sales reps as bargain instruments to sell right to dealers. The Swinger was fashioned from leftover Musicmaster short-level necks and Bass V bodies. The Bass V was presented in 1965 as bass guitar that could accomplish the full range of a long throat bass but with just 15 frets. This was accomplished by adding a high C string providing the device a compliment of 5 strings. Amazingly, it remained in the firms product listing until 1971, although around 200 models were all which were offered. Modern Jazz videos complained that the string spacing was as well narrow. Simoni had taken Musicmaster and Bass V bodies and lower an eliptical curve in the bottom and sawed off a portion of the guitars top horn. The headstock of the short level necks were sawn into a point form.

The guitar had only a single pickup. The bridge/saddle assembly was salvaged from the Musicmaster assemblies. These versions were provided in Daphne Blue, Dakota Red, Black, Lake Placid Blue, Candy Apple Red and Olympic White. Some of these guitar had been produced with just the Fender logo design written in dark script, while some included a smaller clear decal having said that Swinger. I’m likely to speculate that the guitars that used Musicmaster bodies were specified as Musiclanders or Arrows, while those that used the elongated Bass V bodies had been offered as Swingers. It had been essentially students instrument that commanded a cheap price. Nevertheless if you discover one these day, be prepared to pay thousands of dollars for this as its was short-lived in the marketplace and the source is limited. The Custom also called The Maverick was made from the bodies and necks of Fender Electric XII’s. Simioni utilized a bandsaw to configure a point in the bottom advantage of the instruments body and also took a little slice off the higher horn. The Electric powered XII necks had an elongated headtock to accomodate the 12 tuning machines.