The initial designs were not offset, but had an early body design reminiscent of the later offset design released in 64' by it's size and the shape of the body horns up top, with a more squared off bottom. The pickguards were based on the Stratocaster, made of anodized alluminum or later black bakelite in some cases, with plain-cover, white or black single coils. Most of these guitars were painted Desert Tan. They had a 3-saddle bridge, and a 22.5" Scale, 21 fret neck, and a pre-CBS strat type headstock with Kluson machine heads.

In 1964, the Mustang was released. The Mustang was the first one to get the offset-waist body, a new rounded pickguard design, chrome control plate for the volume/tone controls and output jack, and the new Dynamic Fender Vibrato unit. It featured the same pickups as the Duo-Sonic and Music Master, now both angled, and controled by 2 3-way slide switchs that allowed reverse polarity on the pickuips, giving it in and out of phase.

Around the same time the Duo-Sonic and MusicMaster were re released in the same form factor as the Mustang as theh Musicmaster II and Duo-Sonic II. These guitars featured Poplar/Alder/(rare)Mahogany bodies with either Sonic Blue, Dakota Red, or Olympic White paint, with either a white PEarloid (red/blue) with black pickups and switches, or a torishell (white) pickguard with white pickups and switches. These guitars were available in 2 scale lengths - the original 22.5" with 21 frets, or the Jaguar scale length of 24" scale with 22 Frets. Of course more 24" scales were made than 22.5", in one of four neck widths - A-D, with A being the thinnest, and D being the widest. The most popular necks on these were B and A width necks. There were also a 30" scale Musicmaster Bass (single guitar pickup in the middle), and a 30" scale Mustang Bass (Mustang-ified version of a P-Bass Pickup being the only difference besides the pickguard design).

In 1967, Fender, now owned by CBS, released the Bronco, which was a single pickup guitar with the same body as the other three, but with a new pickguard design, one pickup at the bridge, and a new vibrato unit with no whizz-bang marketing name tied to it. Unlike the Mustang, Duo-Sonic, or Musicmaster, it was not available in the shorter 22.5" scale, signifiying things to come. The new vibrato seemed to combine the fulcrum design of the Stratocaster with the single-spring "plunger-type" design of the Jaguar/Jazzmaster, and is unique to this model. It seems the Bronco was only ever made in red with a white pickguard and black bridge pickup.

In 1969, Fender had leftover bodies from their failed 5-string bass design, and due to poor sales were discontinuing the 22.5" scale necks (which were no longer offered). So to use up parts, Fender would reman the bodies for the V basses into a strange design for the time reminiscent of something B.C. Rich would do 10 years later....like a rounded off Warlock of sorts, attach a 22.5" scale Musicmaster neck with the headstock cut down to an "arrow" shape, and then put Musicmaster Electronics and bridge in it. The guitar had no logo for it on the headstock so it became unofficially known as the Fender Swinger/Musiclander/Arrow. A bit ahead of it's time by body design, a bit limited by electronics, and a bit short for a pro-player, this model was just a ruse ot use up extra parts. It was gone by 1971.

Meanwhile, in 1969, Fender discontinued the Duo-Sonic due to poor sales, since it really was nothing more than a Mustang with a Musicmaster 3 saddle bridge on it by that point anyway. 22.5" scale necks were no longer offered, and the Mustang was now released in the well known "Competition Stripe" colors. There was metallic blue with Sonic Blue stripes, metallic red with Olympic White Stripes, and a Mustard Yellow color that's a bit rare with red stripes.

As the 1970's went on, the competition Mustang colors were discontinued, and Fender went to a more traditional set of colors on the Mustang: Olympic White, Black, Sunburst, Midnight Wine Transparent, Natural Ash, and "Mocha" transparent were the new colors the Mustang would come in across the board of the 1970's. The Music Master III was redesigned with a pickuard that looked like the Bronco's and came in those colors. The Bronco was gone by 1973.

1979 Was the death knell for the original USA built Student models as the new Fender "LEAD" series came out. These new guitars were somewhat of a slightly smaller in stature Strat/Tele hybrid model with ash bodies, through body stringing bridges, somewhat more traditional pickup setups, no vibratos to go out of tune, and regular 25.5" scale necks. They also had celebrity players right out of the bat such as Elliot Easton of The Cars (who was said to have a hand in designing/road testing these for Fender at some sources I've read). So by 1981, the Mustang and Music Master were discontinued.....except one l little blerb...

In Japan, the Fender Mustang was still a huge success, thanks to a virtuoso guitarist named "Char B" who was really putting the guitar through it's paces at the time. Also some people at the time, such as Susumu Hirasawa of P-Model, were playing Mustang-derived designs (like the Fernandes ArtWave V5 he used on P-Model's Landsale 80' tour which was a 80's-ified Mustang in a way). So in 1984, now in the Dan Smith era, a limited run of Fender Mustangs were built in the USA plant for Japan, known as "Mustang 84'". These guitars were all vintage white, with a maple or rosewood fretboard neck, with white or black pickups and switches on a tortishell pickguard.

That's not to say the Mustang was fully ignored in the west. It just did not see a heck of a whole lot of use due to still holding the whole axe of a "Student Guitar" status hung over it's neck. It seems most of the American musicians using Mustangs were either Female or of a more petitie build, and usually indie, punk, new wave, or post-punk groups. Here's some videos below of Mustangs andn the other in use in the late-70's and eighties in the west.

In 1990, Fender reissued the Mustang as a 69' reissue made at their Fender Japan Fujigen Gakki building house as an MIJ model. These guitars had basswood bodies, came in Sonic Blue, Fiesta Red, or Competition Blue or Red with a white pearloid pickguard and black pickups/switches, or Vintage white with a tortishell pickguard and whitee pickups/switches. And just in time as a year later, the Mustang would see it's most successful years in decades...

In 1991, Nirvana made it huge, and frontman Kurt Cobain made it known that the Mustang was his favorite off-the-rack guitar at the time. The reasons were odd ("Cheap" "Small" "Inefficient" "Bridge Designed by a Dork" etc.), and thusly these guitars, which could be found used as cheap as $50 at the time, shot up in price overnight. In 1993, Kurt started using the new Japanese reissues on his In Utero tour modified with Seymour Duncan J.B. Humbuckers at the bridge, the switches cut off or recessed into the pickguard more, and Tune-O-Matic bridges. The Mustang also comprised much of his Jag-Stang design, released as it's own model after his death in late 1995. I have separated the Jag-Stang, despite sharing a lot with these designs, because I feel she deserves a little special "attention".

As the 90's went on, we saw the introduction of a new Musicmaster for a brief time in 1997 as a part of the same Vista series the Jagmaster was initially a part of. This guitar was more of a "punk machine" with a single humbucker in the bridge and a new six saddle through body bridge based on the original 3-saddle design from the sixties.

Another derivative came out at the samet ime known as the Fender Cyclone, a Gibson Scale Fender Duo-Sonic with a Stratocater vibrato, usually seen in compeittion red with white stripes and a white pickguard. The Cyclone was both a Fender and a Squier model, and later came in 2 versions, the original angled neck pickup, straight bridge humbucker version, and another version with 3 Jaguar pickups and a Jaguar switchplate that's quite rare.

The Musicmaster bass was Re-REleased as a bottom-line Squier Model sometime around 1999, in red or black, with a single Squier strat single coil pickup, short 28.5" scale, and 20 frets. These were surprisingly common back then as I used to see them in Music Stores a lot.

As the 2000's went on, we started to see more student variations show up. While the MG-69 Japanese Mustangs continued to be made, including some early 70's finish variants made of Sen ash with the 70' transparent finishes on them, the Mustang took awhile to get some updates. But by the end of the 2000's, we had a couple dual P-90 Mustangs in the lineup, a Classic Vibe Duo-Sonic from Squier that was a 24" scale version of the 1956' Duo-Sonic, with a later variation with a bridge humbucker being released. In 2013 the mustang had a dual Humbucker "Bullet" version released, as well as a VM (Vintage ModifieD) Version that came in the same colors as the sixtties but had a flatter fretboard radius and adjustable radius bridge as a result.

The worst equipped for metal/hard rock would be the single neck pickup models - mainley the Musicmaster/Music Master, and the Music Lander/Arrow/Swinger. The problem is that these would make EXCELLENT "blank canvass" for modification, but their vintage collectability status makes them a "no go" as the numbers of unmolested student models is much smaller than other guitars due to their lesser monetary value pre-Cobain/1990's. But if you pick up a modified example, they can make an excellent platform to build off of. My hacked up 1971 Fender Music Master is one such example of that sort of situation.

Fender Mustangs in their classic form are very "Blackmore" in their execution. What they have going for them is a short scale, and a nice out-of-phase tone that could sound pretty cool and biting when distorted - something similar to James Young's Yoshinerator preamp tone from his old Strat he used in STYX (think the rhythm guitars from Blue Collar Man). But with the right high-gain scenario they can get pretty heavy. The thing is the pickups are not that hot, they only stop at around 6.0K ohms on vintage examples, and around 6.4K on more modern variants. So they are always in that twangy, springy, Strat territory. So you'll want to really pour on the gain with something METAL oriented for high gain. Japanese reissues are much better for this since they have Strat regulation pickups in them (6.4K, Ceramic or Alnico V magnet) vs the older ones. Some older ones however, can be more mellow than others. Duo Sonics are just Hardtail Mustangs.

The bridge pickup only guitars are pretty formidable as well. A Bronco with a Hot Rail is a weapon indeed, but nothing to smirk at in stock form either. The reissue Vista series Musicmasters are pure Hard Rock/Metal machines because they have a high output humbucker in the bridge position, but no vibrato.

Let's talk Vibratos a little bit too, since this is the most maligned feature on the Mustang. The Mustang's vibrato is called the "Dynamic Fender vibrato", and it's an interesting beast. At first glance it looks like something similar to a Washburn Wonderbar or a Kahler - but you'd be quite mistaken.

This vibrato is really a 2-piece Fulcrum unit that pushes the "cigar tube" bar in the back forward to slacken the strings. It's basically just a bar that rocks on two fulcrum bars attached to two springs under the bridge plate. Spring tension is literally leveraged by raising or lowering the tailpiece/vibrato/bar "cigar tube" piece up or down. Further down gives MORE tension to the springs, leads the tailpiece back more, and allows for less upward travel (and increases sustain a little bit, and reduces any bridge noise - if any), while further up provides a straighter string path to the tailpiece, lighter spring tension, and about the same amount of pitch bend. These vibratos can go as low as an octave, and as high as a 5th! With 9's you are pretty much in Eddie Van-Halen frankenstrat circa 1978 territory when it comes to all the metal-esque bar dives, swoops, and all that. But the Dynamic Vibrato has one thing going for it the other's dont - behidn the bridge raking. So literally, with this vibrato, you can have your "Running with the Devil" and "Eruption" without switching guitars. The floating bridge rides WITH the string movement so it's not as hard on strings as a Strat vibrato is. The responsiveness is between the floating unit on the Jaguar and Jazzmaster and a Stratocaster six screw type, so landing on pitches is pretty easy with this unit.

The Fender Bronco vibrato unit is a metal cup that's screwed into the top of the guitar. A spring and plunger assembly are fed through the bottom of this metal "pan" of sorts and secured by a single screw to adjust spring tension, as are two fulcrum pivot points the whole entire string attachment assembly/bridge pivots on - like another Strat/Jag hybrid unit. The intonation is adjusted more like a Floyd Rose or Washburn wonder bar in that you have to loosen the screws, then slide the saddle, tighten the screw, retune, and check intonation - rinse and repeat - until it is set. The vibrato bar sticks out of the top pretty high, and it has less travel than the Mustang unit does because of a a lack of body depth and the resulting shallow spring required to fit into it.