The Steel Guitar Forum

I came across an old thread about Fender Stringmasters last week, and it started me thinking. Who owns a Fender Stringmaster, and are they as popular today as they were years ago. I think that "Leo Got It Right"...let's see 'em guys & gals...Single, Double, Triple & Quad Necks...
I have a D-6 Blond, 4 legs, around a 69/70s, and I love it.

...and do the new players today think they are as great as in years past???

I've been hooked on the Stringmaster sound for many years. Nothing cuts through like a Stringmaster!

The Dual-6 is not actually a Stringmaster. Stringmasters have 8 strings, either a D-8, T-8, or Quad. Nowadays owners and sellers call single neck 8-string Fenders and D-6 Fenders "Stringmasters" because they have Stringmaster features. But the original Fender catalogs didn't list them that way.

Here's my current Stringmaster, 1956, short scale. Below that are pictures of a mint triple-8 I used to own.

Doug, love the dark triple Stringmaster.
...22&1/2" or 24&1/2" scale?

I know Doug, mine is a Duel 6, but the old catalogs call it the Six String Version of the Famous Stringmaster...and it makes me happy to call it a Stringmaster...LOL.



Beautiful instruments you have there by the way...

Terry, thanks for posting that Dual-6 ad... Fender's "6 string version" of the Stringmaster. I never noticed that before!

Rick, the T-8 is 24 1/2" scale length. You can determine scale length by looking at the fret markers. 3 fret markers after the 24th fret = 22 1/2" scale length.

-----------------------------------------

2 "dots" past the 24th fret = 22 1/2" scale

3 "dots" past the 24th fret = 24 1/2" scale

4 "dots" past the 24th fret = 26" scale

I have......

3 - Quads - 24 1/2"
2 - Dual 6's
1 - T8 221/2"
1 - T-8 24 1/2"
3 - D8's.....22 1/2"....24 1/2".....26"
1 - Deluxe (S8 Stringmaster)......22 1/2"

Here's one of the Quads......

Heres my "53"


Love it!

'53 D8, 26" scale. Bought from the original owner about 6 months ago. Wonderful guitar with a great tone.

Howard... 3 Quads? You must send me one! You have my shipping address. I'll take good care of it.

I had a walnut Quad a few years ago and I regret selling it.

How come Fender didn't make a triple or quad in six strings?

ron

I love my D8 Stringmaster - blond, late 50's or early 60's. It is my main gigging steel. It fits nicely into an overhead compartment on Boeing aircraft, so I can carry it on when I go to Hawaii. I have aC6/Bb with a G on the top on my lower neck, and Jules Ah See's B11 on the top neck. Of course, I also love my Rick B6 for its tone.

Ron Victoria wrote:How come Fender didn't make a triple or quad in six strings?

ron

You mean like this one ?

I had a Fender triple 8 stringmaster years ago, and sold it. When I got the urge to play again recently, I went looking for steels. I found that prices had gone up a lot, and I was going to have to pay way more for a double 8, than I had sold my triple 8 for. So somebody must still want them pretty badly.

I sat around moping about the prices, and started looking at the modern counterparts of those old steels, The good ones were higher priced, than I could buy an original vintage model for! I'm sure that Mr Herb Remington's new steels are super, but I never had any complaints about my old Fender. That made the decision about what to buy, pretty easy for me.

I've been in the music biz as both salesman, and as a repairman for the last 40 years. I know what vintage guitars sell for. A 1950's Fender Telecaster, or Stratocaster would cost 10 to 15 times more, than the same vintage Fender steel.

Once I realized that, it didn't take me long to pull the trigger on a real clean, white, double 8, 1956 short scale. It sounds every bit as good as I remember. I am primarily interested in playing the vintage music, so what could I have bought that would do the job any better, than what was originally used.

Sorry no picture. Keeping up with the technology boom is tough for some of us real old guys. I'm proud I'm able to use one of these computers at all.
Gene Warner
repairman

Stan got Photoshop for Christmas!!!

That 6-string Quad reminds me of the 18 pedal Emmons that was posted here years ago!

Early 70's Ebony ...

Hugh Holstein wrote:Stan got Photoshop for Christmas!!!

I actually made that 'shop a few months ago for another thread that I started asking if anyone had ever seen one. I could SWEAR that my best friends Dad had one, but we can't find any proof, or even a picture where we could count the keys.

I have a great sounding '55 D-8, blonde, short scale, pushbutton selectors. Can't post photos right now.

A question for all of you D-8 Stringmaster owners about Fender cases - were there different sized cases made specifically for short-scale, medium-scale, and long-scale guitars? I've seen more than a few short-scale guitars (like mine) in slightly longer (medium-scale) sized cases.

Just curious, great steel guitars!
LC

Larry,
Fender made cases to fit the guitars.

This 1955 D-8 is actually a Frankenstein. The body on the original had been stripped and stained orange, which I didn't like, and I was going to repaint it, when a friend offered to trade a Freddie Taveres body and case for the orange one and tweed case. Apparently, the wood body of the '55 is supposed to be the best that you can get, but this one sounds pretty good, to me.


A 1953 Fender quad, serial #0237. I got this one from Norman's Rare Guitars, a couple decades ago. Mick Mars, from Motley Crue, had it strung up with 6 strings on the bottom neck and someone told him it looked stupid, so he took it over to Normans and traded it for something. I walked in 15 minutes later, picked it up and took it home. It's a long scale.

Circa 1960... 24 1/2 inch scale... May have been refinished...

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