Fender Bullet Owners Club

[gururyan]

Originally Posted by thenarwhal

Hi all,
I've had this guitar since I was about 12, was my first and is still my everyday guitar. A few years ago I did some 'slight' modifications to it. Refinished it like an old tele so you can see the grain (which turned out to be basswood when i got the inch thick cream paint off), new bridge (by the guy at Glendale Guitars), better internal parts, tele knobs, better humbuckers (an old dimarzio that I like the tone of and a newer gibson), and fabricated a pickguard and control panel to make it look like a cross between a tele and a jazzmaster, which I like. I figured I was never going to part with it and had been scheming the idea for some time. Didn't touch the neck though (of course).

Love it, great job!

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by gururyan

Am I going to be cursed when I get my hands on a 1st edition, then refinish it as a reliced orangey fiesta red, and drop in some new pups that will require a custom cut 'guard?

...because that's the plan.

I suppose it depends on how much you spend on a 1st edition Bullet ! They will always go up in value, prices for 1st edition Bullets on ebay have doubled over the last 6 years in the UK !
Fine if you are going to keep it, but if that's not the plan, you may lose out, the guitar will always be more valuable in original condition.

I believe that you could probably get a body & neck made for less than the cost of buying a 1st ed Bullet.

I would be interested to know where you would get the custom alloy guard made & would like to see the finished guitar, when is it likely to happen ?

[gururyan]

Originally Posted by yoreel

I suppose it depends on how much you spend on a 1st edition Bullet ! They will always go up in value, prices for 1st edition Bullets on ebay have doubled over the last 6 years in the UK !
Fine if you are going to keep it, but if that's not the plan, you may lose out, the guitar will always be more valuable in original condition.

I believe that you could probably get a body & neck made for less than the cost of buying a 1st ed Bullet.

I would be interested to know where you would get the custom alloy guard made & would like to see the finished guitar, when is it likely to happen ?

Just waiting for the right victim to come along. I keep going back and forth on if I want the 1st edition or the 2nd, more Strat like edition. At this moment, a 2nd edition deluxe with rosewood fretboard would be ideal.

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by gururyan

Just waiting for the right victim to come along. I keep going back and forth on if I want the 1st edition or the 2nd, more Strat like edition. At this moment, a 2nd edition deluxe with rosewood fretboard would be ideal.

The 2nd edition Bullet range did not really market a deluxe model, like the 1st edition that had "deluxe" on the headstock decal. The deluxe wording only appears in the 2nd ed promo catalogue & is applied to the S2, but obviously incorporates the S3 & H2. The word "Deluxe" is sometimes found stamped in the neck pocket of some Bullet guitars, but it is generally accepted that the S2,S3 & H2 are deluxe versions as opposed to the 2nd ed standard Bullet.

I have not seen very many 2nd ed USA Bullets with rosewood necks & believe those that I have seen, may have been custom orders. The 2nd edition range usually have one piece maple necks, with exactly the same slim profile. I think that this is due to keeping costs down - saving on the work involved in fitting the rosewood board, also by this stage in the early 80's Fender had moved to machine tooling of the neck profile, so the profiles are almost all identical, unlike the 1st edition, that have different profiles & some a different fretboard radius.

There are some bargains still to be had on ebay USA with the 2nd ed bullets, if you keep your eye out, keep us informed of the progress.
I think that the Bullet would also look & sound pretty good with P.90 soap bars, thats something for a future project.

[RichardWitt]

I got this Fender bullet a couple of days ago, I really like this guitar!



I've wanted one for a while now.

Originally Posted by jays0n

I checked for photos of that Phoenix group and yeah, hey, there they are with a Bullet, cool.

This is really weird because the whole reason I became interested in Bullets was because I was listening to the last few albums of Phoenix and I thought "What are these guys using?" and this was the first thing I came across to suggest that!

[elams1894]

Awesome thread - A couple of years ago I bought a beat up 82 fender bullet BASS short scale 30 inch with a broken neck - I have since restored it. Very cool little bass - real chunky sound out of those little single coil pups - well worth keeping. Don't know what it would be worth with a restored broken neck but it is way cool..

Hope it is ok I throw the bullet bass into this thread?

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by RichardWitt

I got this Fender bullet a couple of days ago, I really like this guitar!



I've wanted one for a while now.



This is really weird because the whole reason I became interested in Bullets was because I was listening to the last few albums of Phoenix and I thought "What are these guys using?" and this was the first thing I came across to suggest that!

Welcome, the black guard on ivory always looks cool, nice geetar.

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by elams1894

Awesome thread - A couple of years ago I bought a beat up 82 fender bullet BASS short scale 30 inch with a broken neck - I have since restored it. Very cool little bass - real chunky sound out of those little single coil pups - well worth keeping. Don't know what it would be worth with a restored broken neck but it is way cool..

Hope it is ok I throw the bullet bass into this thread?

Ok with me, its still a Bullet - Welcome to the club BTW, sounds interesting, give us the low down on the restoration & repair.

Iv'e always thought that us 6 stringers would find it easier to play the 30 inch shorter scale, but I have never played one. When I have some spare cash, I aim to add the bass models to my collection.

[elams1894]

Hi yoreel - thanks for the welcome!

The bass was in bad shape when I got it. The neck had been snapped clean in half at about the 10th fret and the truss rod had blown its skunk stripe and was at a crazy angle. The pickguard, as usual, had cracked through the jack mount.

I received it in its original case which wreeked of beer ha ha nice.

Big maple splice joint repair to reinstate the neck. Popped the rod back in with a nice NZ rimu skunk stripe and remarkably it is almost dead straight and it still has that Fender chunk sound. I made a new carbon fiber pickguard for it and it looks real nice even though it might as well have gone 12 rounds with David Tua. I like to think it has massive character now and truck loads of respectful mojo.

This was many years ago, my first attempt at surgery, so the finishing aint exactly top notch but I credit it with starting my ever growing guitar building interest and so it is quite a special piece to me. One day I will redo my work properly and restore it to its full glory.

Being 30 inch, the short strings are quite sloppy so I replaced the E string with a real fat short scale B string and wound it up hard to E. Replaced the A with the E string, the D with the A string and the G with the D string and tuned them all up hard to correct E,A,D,G tuning and the thing is a lethal tight thump slap machine now. I don't know how that neck is hanging in there really with that tension. I have no skin left on my fingers as a result but thats ok..

Although the Bullet bass was essentially a smaller student model it was fitted with its big brother P bass hardware which is real cool.

I will definately post photos of it when I get it back from a friend who is doing some recording with it.

Thanks for putting together this thread - the bullet range really is was a great Fender addition!! Great to see all your pieces.
Cheers... G

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by elams1894

Hi yoreel - thanks for the welcome!

Thanks for putting together this thread - the bullet range really is was a great Fender addition!! Great to see all your pieces.
Cheers... G

Thanks for the kind words, but this thread is all down to Jay & his hard work, I merely contribute A Big Up to the Jay man .

I must admit that I don't know a great deal about the Bullet Bass range, but it sounds like Fender were using the same stock components on the Bullet basses as the more expensive range, just like the six string Bullet.

What a great story, can't wait to see the pics.

[harper]

Originally Posted by yoreel

Here are some pics of the first Bullet I bought on ebay, the one that started me on the road collecting these little gems.
This is one of my favourites & it plays well, the neck has that lovely worn in mojo, it also sings acoustically which is always a good sign.
The only problem with the standard Bullet, is the rattle of the saddles on the metal pick guard, due the the all in one bridge design.
Although this guitar has an E1 (81) serial No, the pots are dated June 82 & the neck 83, most of these have E1 serials, I believe that fender had a job lot of these E1 serials & just used them up on the Bullet.

thats EXACTLY how mine looked...an amazing guitar...everyone who has played it in the last 20 years has just looked at me and said..'what the hell is this thing..its a dream!!'

ive still got it and its still my favorite guitar..ive had and sold US strats...mexican teles..voxes...epiphones...all have come and gone..only my first guitar has stayed...

says a lot...

ill post some photos of mine soon...

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by harper

thats EXACTLY how mine looked...an amazing guitar...everyone who has played it in the last 20 years has just looked at me and said..'what the hell is this thing..its a dream!!'

ive still got it and its still my favorite guitar..ive had and sold US strats...mexican teles..voxes...epiphones...all have come and gone..only my first guitar has stayed...

says a lot...

ill post some photos of mine soon...

Look forward to the pics, I do love my first bullet, it has that real mojo going on & when I pick it up I can't put it down, I have to take it out to gigs every now & then.
As I said in an earlier post, its the guitar that got me interested in the Bullet & started me collecting them, I'm glad it was a good one, otherwise things would have been very different .

[paulbaribeau]

My best friend from high school dug his bullet out of the closet this weekend. I've convinced him to let me strip the spray paint off of it and refinish it. It has been 12 years since anyone played it. Still feels great. He spray painted the pickguard a weird green color and the body a sort of wine color back in about 1994.
I'm pretty sure we are going to paint it Fiesta Red, but is the actual color more of a Dakota Red? We are not too worried about being period correct on this guitar. It saw a lot of abuse during our grunge years in early high school. The body is pretty beat up.
Glad to see this club here on TDPRI. It is not my guitar but it is the guitar that I learned to play on. The Bullet makes me feel nostalgic for 9th grade.

[harper]

does anyone know what the neck profile was on the the bullet teles?

im looking for a new tele and would love a neck that feels as good as my bullet does...it could be a tiny bit wider at the nut though..that would be THE perfect neck...

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by paulbaribeau

My best friend from high school dug his bullet out of the closet this weekend. I've convinced him to let me strip the spray paint off of it and refinish it. It has been 12 years since anyone played it. Still feels great. He spray painted the pickguard a weird green color and the body a sort of wine color back in about 1994.
I'm pretty sure we are going to paint it Fiesta Red, but is the actual color more of a Dakota Red? We are not too worried about being period correct on this guitar. It saw a lot of abuse during our grunge years in early high school. The body is pretty beat up.
Glad to see this club here on TDPRI. It is not my guitar but it is the guitar that I learned to play on. The Bullet makes me feel nostalgic for 9th grade.

Hello & welcome to the club.
Normally we would be moaning at you for respraying a USA Bullet, but as the crime has already been committed, it doesn't really matter & a refinish is well worth the effort if the guitar is a bit beat up, as the Bullet is a great geetar. You will find that some of us have all committed crimes against guitars during our mis-spent yoof !
The guitar was just marketed as "Red" I have heard it called Torino Red, but it was never marketed as such, but I pesonally believe that this is probably the closest red you will find - look at this link :
http://stratcollector.com/inventoryA...23400-red.html
It is definitely not Dakota, I have 2 Dakota Red Mustangs & they are a darker red, I think it would look great in Fiesta Red myself & you will find that available in cans.

I hope this helps.
Leeroy.

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by harper

does anyone know what the neck profile was on the the bullet teles?

im looking for a new tele and would love a neck that feels as good as my bullet does...it could be a tiny bit wider at the nut though..that would be THE perfect neck...

There is a post somewhere here, containing the precise measurements of a Bullet neck, I think this it it - scroll down to James Pauls posts :
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/guitar-ow...rs-club-9.html

Bearing in mind that the Bullet was an entry level / student model, the profile tended to be slim to suit small hands. But the 1st generation tele shaped Bullet neck profile did vary, I think there may have been a transistion period between hand finishing & machine finishing around that time - I would love to know for sure if anyone has any info ?

I have 5 of the tele shaped Bullets & they do vary slightly - but most were 7.25" vintage style radius with slim vintage style frets with a slim profile. Three of mine are standard Bullets with a 7.25" radius, the two maple necks are very similar with a slight variation to the profile - one being slightly thicker, the other is a rosewood slab board with no skunk stripe, but it has a thicker D shaped profile.
I have two tele shaped Bullet Deluxe guitars with totally different necks, both are rosewood slab boards & have no skunk stripe, one has a 9.25" radius & has a thicker D shaped profile with slim vintage frets, the other has a radical 14" radius with much thicker fretwire & a very chunky C shaped profile, it feels like a Gibson/Tele hybrid to play.
For info - the necks on the 2nd generation strat shaped bullets were all the same & maple one piece, I think by that time in late 82 machine finishing had become the norm.
I must admit that I would love to do a tele project with a Bullet neck, I have small hands so most really suit me, but I do like wrestling with the bigger necks - a P90 loaded tele with a Bullet neck is on the cards for me.

A lot of info to digest here, but I hope it helps.
Leeroy .

[Ploppy]

Chaps,
the only thing i'm not happy with on my tele shaped bullet is the bridge pup - the neck pup sounds fine but the bridge pup just doesn't appeal when i turn up the gain on my amp.
Anyone got any suggestions on a pup upgrade (straight swap) that won't involve any other modding- something to give it a nice bite when i turn up the gain - poss a mini humbucker?
Anyone got any suggestions.

[harper]

here are the photos of mine...it was bright red..then blue...then hand painted..then covered in chopped up cds...then i stripped it with the intention of covering it with gold leaf but when i saw it was a decent 3 piece wooded body i decided to just put some oil on it...

i stripped the scratch plate down to the metal too and its rusting nicely now...and added a GFS lipstick pickup in the neck and a fender (neck) snc singlecoil at the bridge position.

both pickups sound amazing on their own..the GFS is glassy and smooth as it should be....the SNC is biting and cutting....the mixed sound isnt very interesting however.

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by Ploppy

Chaps,
the only thing i'm not happy with on my tele shaped bullet is the bridge pup - the neck pup sounds fine but the bridge pup just doesn't appeal when i turn up the gain on my amp.
Anyone got any suggestions on a pup upgrade (straight swap) that won't involve any other modding- something to give it a nice bite when i turn up the gain - poss a mini humbucker?
Anyone got any suggestions.

I have a Seymour Duncan little 59 mini humbucker in a Fender Tele that I built, its coil tapped & sounds real good ( can be wired in humbucker mode only ). I also put a set of Fender Hot Noiseless in the S3 bullet I use live, they are very good, can't go wrong with Seymour's in my view.
There are loads of others manufactured & available for a straight swap, but you may get a change in volume between the two if you chose one thats too hot - best to ask loads of questions before buying, may be best to change both.
I also have a set of Kent Armstrongs in a vintage mustang, which are great pickups, I have heard that Lindy Fralin are good, but never used them.

[yoreel]

Originally Posted by harper

here are the photos of mine...it was bright red..then blue...then hand painted..then covered in chopped up cds...then i stripped it with the intention of covering it with gold leaf but when i saw it was a decent 3 piece wooded body i decided to just put some oil on it...

i stripped the scratch plate down to the metal too and its rusting nicely now...and added a GFS lipstick pickup in the neck and a fender (neck) snc singlecoil at the bridge position.

both pickups sound amazing on their own..the GFS is glassy and smooth as it should be....the SNC is biting and cutting....the mixed sound isnt very interesting however.

Sweet - looks like an old road worn tele, loadsa mojo !