Back in the Sixties, Fender guitars were the holy grail of electric guitars. I knew two people in the valley that had Jazzmasters. But, being a sixteen year old kid, owning a Fender was out of the question. For us, it was the Sears or Eaton’s catalogue and a cheap, poorly built guitar from another land. My first electric guitar was so poorly built it could not be tuned properly, and every time you switched pickups, you got a shock. It soon went back to the catalogue company. I settled for an Italian acoustic and played folk music, but the thought of an electric guitar was never far from my mind. Playing Ventures music on an acoustic just didn’t cut it. After a long and hot summer, I earned enough money working at a chicken farm to head off to the city and see if I could buy some sort of electric guitar.

One sunny morning, I swung my acoustic across my back, stuck out my thumb and headed for the city, about 2 ½ hours away. Pretty soon an old beat up Hudson pulled up, driven by a longed haired hippie, with wife, baby, and sister. Strapped to the roof were their worldly possessions, as they were from California, heading north to the gold fields in Alaska. I got in the back with the sister, guitar across my knees as there was barely room with all the boxes and clothes. We got to talking about their adventure, life, sixties politics, and eventually music. I mentioned that I was headed to the city to see if I could trade my acoustic in on an electric guitar. After a while I learned that he had a Fender electric in the trunk. Of course, I was pretty excited that I met another Fender owner, and we talked different models etc. After a couple hours, he eyed my acoustic and told me that they were a bit short on cash and he would consider selling his Fender, taking my acoustic as part of the deal.

Deep in my heart, I was thinking, “I’ll never be able to afford it, but what the heck, at least find out how much he wanted for his guitar”. He scratched his beard for a few seconds, and said “tell you what…your acoustic and ninety bucks, and you got yourself a deal”. Well, you could have peeled me off the roof of the car. I was in heaven – I was going to buy a Fender! My summer’s work had put $130 bucks in my pocket, so I said I might be interested. Yeah right, I would have given him every cent I had. I wanted that Fender, and I am sure he could tell I was pretty excited. He would get the guitar out of the trunk so I could look at it when we got to where he needed to turn off and go north.

Finally we reached the turn-off, he pulled the car off the highway, and I proceeded to help him unload a well packed trunk. It took a few minutes and finally, laying across the bottom was a beat up old brown fender guitar case. I was so excited, it didn’t matter what was in that case…it was a Fender and that was all that mattered. He slid the case out and onto the ground. He popped the case open and there it was. This beautiful, beat up, old, scratched and chipped, beige colored, ¾-sized, one pick-up, maple neck Musicmaster:

I picked it out of the case, strummed a couple of chords, stood up, shook his hand, and said, I’ll take it!” I pulled the cash out of my wallet, helped him put everything back in the trunk, and then watched as they headed north, the sister smiling in the back seat as she strummed my acoustic.

I crossed the highway, stuck out my thumb and headed back the way I came. I didn’t need to go any farther. I was the proud owner of a Fender.

Written by: Andrew Marr, Coldstream B.C.

My First Fender from MyRareGuitars.com

So, what could possibly take the place of an overview of the 5 major periods of collectible and not-so-collectible Maggie amps? Why something from Fender, of course.

Fender?…I can hear you say: Oddball? Fender is the Ward Cleever of the guitar world. The Mr. Suit and Tie, super reliable but nothing odd at all about them company in guitar manufacturing. Well, that’s true, if you’re taking your Tele reissue and your Silverface Twin out for a weekend ride at a club. Great stuff, but hardly oddball. But Fender did have some very cool misses along with their many hits over the years and some of these are under-appreciated gems. Some are crap—like those toxic oil tank effects units that can poison you if you open them up for maintenance, but some of the products are great vintage pieces that aren’t catching “Fender” money on the vintage market.

1967 Fender Wildwood Acoustic Guitar Ad

Case in point? This 1967 Fender Wildwood acoustic guitar. In the mid 60’s, with Roger Rossmeisl (who had earlier done some great designs for Rickenbacker) at the head of design, Fender tried to break in to Gibson and Martin territory with their Coronado models (aims at Gibson’s 335 and other hollow and semi hollow guitars) and their acoustic line (aimed at both industry standards in those fields: Gibson and Martin). The models included The Kingman, the Concert, the Malibu, Newporter, Palimino, Redondo, Shenandoah and the 12 string Villager. The Wildwood VI was essentially a top of the line Kingman with the Wildwood added.

They were both pretty much flops from the get-go. The electrics used (for the first time in Fender’s history) out-sourced pickups from DeArmond. And no matter how sweet these may sound on your Harmony hollows, they squealed up a feedback storm in the late 60’s. Remember, this was the time when amps were getting bigger and bigger…put any DeArmond-loaded guitar in front of a 100 watt stack and you’re in for trouble. But, remember, too, most people are using 40 watts and below these days, so the Coronado’s reputation as a feedback monster isn’t so cut and dried as it might seem.

But, again, they weren’t right for the market—or maybe people just weren’t ready to accept Fender as a hollow body or acoustic guitar maker. No matter what the reasons, they flopped, badly. In a last gasp attempt to keep the lines moving, Fender introduced the “Wildwood” series. These were trees that fender injected dyes into, and then used the wood in various wild and wacky colors in the guitars. Why they couldn’t have just stained spruce and mahogany is beyond me, but, hey, if they wanted to inject their own Fender Forest full of dye, what’s it to me.

All of this made for some pretty radical looking guitars. Acoustic guitars with bolt-on necks, six on a side tuners and “wild” wood on the back and sides? Very oddball. But how do they play and sound?

Well, first of all, they are the best playing acoustic I’ve ever played. Anyone who’s primarily an electric guitar player should fall in love immediately with these acoustics. The necks are pretty much the same necks off the 1966 Jazzmasters (with the block inlays). They play like…well, they play like electric guitars. Thin, fast necks, great action and responsiveness. A true joy to play.

And how do they sound? It may be an acquired taste, but I love their sound. Much brighter than, say, a Gibson Hummingbird (but, then again, the Wildwood IV is the only acoustic I’ve ever played that plays easier than a Hummingbird). And, if it’s brighter than a Gibson, it’s probably a lot brighter and not as booming as a Martin dreadnaught, right? But these Fender acoustics occupy their own sonic space very well. They cut through a mix and they have a very nicely balanced top and bottom (not a ton of mid).

So, if you’re an electric player looking for a really cool looking, sounding and great playing vintage made in the USA acoustic, you could do a LOT worse than picking up one of these oddball Fender Wildwoods. In great shape, they’ll still run you from $400-1,000, depending on the model. They aren’t your standard Fender fare—but try one out—you won’t be disappointed.

1967 Fender Wildwood Acoustic Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com