The Fender Bronco was an

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

model produced by the Fender company from mid 1967 until 1981. It used the body and neck from the

Fender Mustang The Fender Mustang is a solid body electric guitar produced by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. It was introduced in 1964 as the basis of a major redesign of Fender's student models, the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic. It was produced ...

, but had only one pickup and a different

tremolo arm A vibrato system on a guitar is a mechanical device used to temporarily change the pitch of the strings. Instruments without a vibrato have other bridge and tailpiece systems. They add vibrato to the sound by changing the tension of the string ...

mechanism. Unlike the other Mustang variants which had 22.5" scales, the Bronco was offered only with a 24" scale length and a maple neck featuring a "round-lam" rosewood fingerboard with 22 frets and pearl dot inlays. The Fender Bronco was introduced to the market as a student guitar. It had been worked on since 1964 and then produced in mid-1967. It was originally supposed to replace the Musicmaster. It was initially sold as a "package" with the Fender Bronco Amp, a small amplifier also created for students. Its single pickup was mounted in the bridge position, unlike the Musicmaster which had a neck pickup only and the Mustang and Duo-Sonic, which both had two pickups. The unique

was

Leo Fender Clarence Leonidas Fender (August 10, 1909 – March 21, 1991) was an American inventor known for designing the Fender Stratocaster. He also founded the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In January 1965, he sold Fender to CBS, and later foun ...

's fourth and least popular design, and appeared only on the Bronco. It is sometimes unofficially known as the ''Fender steel vibrato'', and colloquially as the ''Bronco trem''. The Bronco was usually produced with a rosewood fingerboard and standard fiesta Red finish, but later in the series Fender introduced black finish. The Bronco, like the Musicmaster and the Mustang, was discontinued in 1981 and replaced by the Fender Lead Series. The last colours available were Dakota Red, Black, Olympic White and Midnight Wine. Unlike its older and more popular cousin, the Mustang, it has not seen a re-issue, with the result that the ''Bronco trem'' is the only one of Fender's four tremolo arm designs not in current production. The Bronco name is continued only in the

Squier Squier is an American brand of electric guitars owned by Fender. The former manufacturing company, established as "V. C. Squier Company" was founded in 1890 by Victor Carroll Squier in Battle Creek, Michigan, producing strings for violins, ban ...

-branded Bronco Bass.

References

{{Fender guitars

Bronco A bucking horse is any breed or either gender of horse with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for rod ...