Fender Bullet Owners Club

[yoreel]

Heres one of those red bobbin pickups that are installed in some USA Bullets, they were found in Dan Smith era strats in the 80's & are the same as the stock strat pups that have the black plastic bobbin.
I do not want to encourage parting out guitars but, this one sold for £88 GBP on ebay UK in late Dec 09.
They are quite rare in the BUllet & I know that many ebay sellers are taking them out of USA Bullets & selling them as Dan Smith Strat pickups, which they are really - just being economical with the truth I suppose !

I don't know what the attraction is apart from the colour,maybe there were not many made, as far as I am aware they are the same output, if anyone has any other info, I would love to know ?

[NJjoanjettfan]

If anyone on this thread is interested I have an extra Bullet "1" neck with "Silver Star" it has a Stratocaster headstock and a Telecaster style heel. Neck is in almost mint condition with original tuning machines and neck plate. Frets are in excellent shape and have NEVER been dressed. Pictures are available upon request. I'll give someone here a chance to purchase it before I put it on ebay. I am willing to ship to Europe, England, Scandanavia and Canada. Message me through this board. I prefer this neck to go to someone who can put it good use which to me is those posting on this thread.

[mr newhaven]

yogi is that a monteray strat hiding back there in your rack??

[emitch]

Originally Posted by yoreel

I was tracking that guitar on the bay, thats a good price you got it for, you don't see so many of them with the black guards. I am looking forward to finding out a bit more about your guitar.

I watched 2 ivory mark one tele Bullets on ebay UK late last year, one sold for £360 GBP & the other £499 GBP, I'll leave it to you to do the conversions, but they are very good prices & the 360 one was only what I would call reasonable nick - rusted pickguard etc. The bargains seem to be in the USA, I think you will get one soon.
I have posted this before, but I keep an eye on prices for my own ref & the average price for the mark one tele shaped Bullet in 2009 was around £308 GBP, with quite a few around the £400 GBP mark.

There was a red one with black guard on ebay Australia that sold for £473 GBP in December 09, it was in very good condition - did you bid on that ?

I didn't bid on that one actually - I've only really been looking since the beginning of January. The one in picture is the only one I've bid on - I think as long as the neck is original and it plays / sounds good, it will be a great find and I'll be happy (just a bit wary about that headstock decal) - if you look closely it looks like it's been chopped into a few pieces, and they don't quite line up properly. I'll be pretty disappointed if the neck isn't original... Is it possible to transfer a decal from one guitar to another? Also, just looking at the pics, the decal is in a slightly different position to the usual decals on bullets, it's closer to the nut or something...

It comes with the original case, although the seller's communication wasn't very good and he didn't write back when I asked him what condition the case was in. The item description was pretty vague with spelling errors... Ahhh the joys of ebay.

There was an ivory mark 1 tele shaped bullet that was sold earlier this week on ebay USA - it was only listed for about 7 hours as a buy it now for US$375 and got snapped up. It was missing the serial on the headstock though, which seemed odd... And it only came in a soft case.

I'm only going to be interested in picking up one in excellent condition, ideally with original case, E-Serial etc. I'd probably prefer a rosewood fretboard but I wouldn't mind if it was maple. I'm sure one will turn up eventually.

I'll keep you updated with regards to the bullet arriving soon :)

[emitch]

Did you see this one Leeroy?







The seller said he'd ship to Australia - I considered bidding but the pictures were small and impossible to really tell what condition the guitar was in. Some guy had painted the pickguard, and then sanded off part of it - why on earth would anyone do that?! It ended up going very cheap - US$316... could have potentially been a great buy, but I didn't want to risk it...

[EllenGtrGrl]

Originally Posted by yoreel

Welcome EllenGtrGrl

If you don't like the 3 pickups, you should try a USA Fender Bullet or the USA Bullet S2. All early Squier Bullets had 3 pickups apart from the H2 which had 2 humbuckers.

Originally Posted by yoreel

EllenGtrGrl

Sorry about the short post, I got called away I was going to say about the Bullet & the S2 sounding similar to a telecaster, the bridge pickup on both the S2 & S3 are quite close to the bridge in comparison to the tele & strat, so give a slightly toppier tone when that pickup is selected.

There have been a few bargains to be had on ebay USA lately.

Yeah, they are cool guitars. Hmmm, maybe I should add a Fender Bullet into the equation for my next guitar purchase (I've been debating with myself about either getting an Esquire, or a Tele Thinline). They're not your typical run-of-the mill Fenders (which is cool), and don't cost a bundle to boot. It's not that my old Squier Bullet sounded bad (it actually sounded really cool - it had lots of high end zing to its tone, without sounding shrill), it's just that I really don't get into middle postion 3-pickup Fender sounds (mine spent most of it's playing time on the bridge pickup), which makes the middle pickup a waste, for me.

I actually bought back my old Bullet, after I re-sold it to Music Go Round. But, I had another unpleasant money surprise (flat tire on my car, courtesy of a pothole), that forced me to sell it again, only days after buying it back! The last Squier Bullet I saw, looked like mine, but I could tell it was different. It was in rattier shape than my old Bullet, and whoever had owned it, had tried to lower the action, by bottoming out the bridge barrels, on the bridgeplate!! Go figure!.

BTW, is there any truth to the claim that the Bullet pickups, are basically Musicmaster/Duo Sonic Pickups? Also, is it true, that they'll an Epiphone Les Paul case?

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by emitch

Did you see this one Leeroy?

The seller said he'd ship to Australia - I considered bidding but the pictures were small and impossible to really tell what condition the guitar was in. Some guy had painted the pickguard, and then sanded off part of it - why on earth would anyone do that?! It ended up going very cheap - US$316... could have potentially been a great buy, but I didn't want to risk it...

Yep - I asked a few quections as well, he told me the painted plate was an attempt at a relic job.
I'm a bit miffed I didn't put in a bid now, as it went for a low price, but like you I didn't want to risk it. I have got quite a few Bullet parts laying around, including 3 alloy pickguards, so even with the shipping & import duty it would have been worth doing.

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by EllenGtrGrl

BTW, is there any truth to the claim that the Bullet pickups, are basically Musicmaster/Duo Sonic Pickups? Also, is it true, that they'll an Epiphone Les Paul case?

The USA Fender Bullet pickups are the same as what Fender were using in the mustang, they were also used in the strats of the same era. The Squier pickups are different & have an oblong magnet on the bottom.
All of the hardware on the USA Bullet is the same as the strats & other Fender guitars from that era & the necks are telecaster necks. The Bullet was made in the Fullerton factory by the same people using the same machines etc, things only changed when production went to Japan in 84 under the Squier name.
The stock Bullet case is the injection molded type with big Fender logo on the side, others were probably available as extra cost options.

You should also try the Korean Squier Bullet, it has a strat headstock & the standard 3 pickups, but the necks are very slim profile & great to play, they are not usually as expensive as the early Bullets & some are superb to play, only let down by thin sounding pickups.

[emitch]

Originally Posted by yoreel

Yep - I asked a few quections as well, he told me the painted plate was an attempt at a relic job.
I'm a bit miffed I didn't put in a bid now, as it went for a low price, but like you I didn't want to risk it. I have got quite a few Bullet parts laying around, including 3 alloy pickguards, so even with the shipping & import duty it would have been worth doing.

Yeah I'm a bit miffed too... If the guitar was in good nick and he put up better photos he probably would have got a lot more for it. I guess we'll never know!

[EllenGtrGrl]

Originally Posted by yoreel

The USA Fender Bullet pickups are the same as what Fender were using in the mustang, they were also used in the strats of the same era. The Squier pickups are different & have an oblong magnet on the bottom.
All of the hardware on the USA Bullet is the same as the strats & other Fender guitars from that era & the necks are telecaster necks. The Bullet was made in the Fullerton factory by the same people using the same machines etc, things only changed when production went to Japan in 84 under the Squier name.
The stock Bullet case is the injection molded type with big Fender logo on the side, others were probably available as extra cost options.

You should also try the Korean Squier Bullet, it has a strat headstock & the standard 3 pickups, but the necks are very slim profile & great to play, they are not usually as expensive as the early Bullets & some are superb to play, only let down by thin sounding pickups.

I knew about that. I remember when they came out in the early 80s (I used to see the ads in Guitar Player Magazine back then). One of the guitarists in a band of a little note called Yikes, used to play a Bullet.

I'm considering a couple of them at the present time. A sunburst version of my old one:



I'm also "sort of" considering a Korean, 1986, Florentine Bullet (I say "sort of", because I really don't want another humbucker equipped guitar, I already have one [a Schecter 7-string]):



Frankly I'd prefer to get my hands on the single cutaway version, with 2, single coils. But the the 3, single coil one is going for $250, and seems to be in good shape. It's just that I'm getting sick of strat bodied guitars.

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by EllenGtrGrl

Frankly I'd prefer to get my hands on the single cutaway version, with 2, single coils. But the the 3, single coil one is going for $250, and seems to be in good shape. It's just that I'm getting sick of strat bodied guitars.

Have you seen these ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lag-Jet-Electr...item1c0f7deab8

Lag guitars do an affordable version of their guitars, I have seen a few around on ebay,for really reasonable prices, they are a bit different, I would get one myself, but it would not go down too well at home

[EllenGtrGrl]

I've heard of them, but I don't recall ever seeing one before. It looks kind of interesting. I'll have to think about it.

[jays0n]

Well made a little progress, got the body taken apart and amd cleaning up the rusted hardware. I also got some tuners for the neck, and I had a tree. Inside the body things look real nice, no issues in there at all. The pickup selector switch was very tight but some contact cleaner took care of it. I cleaned up the pickguard and all the parts inside while I was at it.

Here are some photos of the insides just as I opened it. The dates on the pots say what looks like the 12th week of 1981 and everything looks original. The wire and soldering work looks real nice too. Anyone know what those numbers in white marker on the pickups are?

[jays0n]

BTW when looking for tuners I took a chance and bought these that in the photos looked to be Gotohs from the 80s (They were listed as Made in Japan from the 80s but for Arai (Known as Aria also). However they ended up being just a little different. If anyone has a neck that has no screw holes drilled yet though and want some old tuners I have these extra. I am not going to sell em otherwise, just mention to yall. I am sure they will come in handy.

Here is a photo of them along side the new Gotohs I had to get (from Warmoth). The one circled in red is the non-Gotoh



They seem real nice otherwise. Wish they would have worked but the new Gotohs are real nice too.

Photos of the neck tomorrow maybe if I get it all together. I am building this at lunch break etc in the office so it is taking time.

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by jays0n

Here are some photos of the insides just as I opened it. The dates on the pots say what looks like the 12th week of 1981 and everything looks original. The wire and soldering work looks real nice too. Anyone know what those numbers in white marker on the pickups are?

That is coming along Jay, good to see the electrics are ok.

I think the numbers on the pickups are dates, maybe prefixed with the initials of either the pickup maker or installer, although the first part is hard to make out. The 81 ties in with the pots, but I can't work out if its 11/4/81 or 11/1/681 or if the first part is initials, maybe a Fender employee wrote down a telephone number as a reminder to call someone, who know's

I haven't seen any Bullet pickups with dates so far, so this is a first, some of my mustangs have dates pencilled in or stamped in ink.

[jays0n]

Thanks Leeroy and it is slowly slowly coming. Hope to get more photos up tomorrow, maybe showing the cleaned parts and completed neck, just need to put in the tree.

The writing on the pickups is all numbers and different on each one. The neck pickup is

144681
and the bridge seems to be
104781

but both are hard to read though.
016730

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by jays0n

Thanks Leeroy and it is slowly slowly coming. Hope to get more photos up tomorrow, maybe showing the cleaned parts and completed neck, just need to put in the tree.

The writing on the pickups is all numbers and different on each one. The neck pickup is

144681
and the bridge seems to be
104781

but both are hard to read though.
016730

I love life's little mysteries - they must relate to something maybe its like the pot code ie 46th & 47th week of 81, but that doesn't explain the other numbers.

[yoreel]

Catch up tomorrow, its 00:25 here ......

[jays0n]

Okay its tomorrow (06:45 and I just got through mail in the office) where are ya :)

I forgot to mention what that other number at the bottom, 016730, is. That is raised lettering in the plastic bottom of both pickups. But yeah that writing could be date related as they both end with 81. No biggie really just thought it might be interesting to show. This guitar is far from collectible but I am really excited about getting it done and playing it; it is like a new Road Worn Bullet.

@Jim (njjoanjettfan), BTW thanks for the recommendation for all the cleaners etc. I decided to not get so detailed with that cleanup and go for the exotic stuff but did use the WD40 idea and did as you said, working the parts and soaking intermittently. Now the bridge that was all frozen up is working great. I used some contact cleaner on the switch and pots and all smooth now. I am going to leave the scars of the rust about that is left after the first cleaning up, on the visible parts, for that real road worn look, but there is no more rust flaking off etc now.

[sacizob]

My USA Fender Bullet Deluxe S-3 S/N E127xxx has the number 016730 on the p/ups also, but no writing. However in the neck pocket someone wrote GOMZA. Anyone know what that is?