The Fender Prodigy is a discontinued model of

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 gu ...

produced by Fender from 1991 to 1993. It is one of Fender's attempts to compete with the superstrat-style guitars produced by

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and

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. Since the Prodigy series was discontinued after about two and half years of production without a clear reason, it is considered one of Fender's rare models because of its limited production. Fender also produced a Prodigy Bass based on the Precision Bass Plus Deluxe featuring a P/J pickup layout (''P'' as in Fender Precision Bass and ''J'' as in Fender Jazz Bass), 2-band active circuitry and a "fine-tuner" Schaller Elite bridge assembly.

Design

The Prodigy series featured two single coil pickups and one

humbucker A humbucking pickup, humbucker, or double coil, is a type of guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out the noisy interference picked up by coil pickups. In addition to electric guitar pickups, humbucking coils are sometimes used in ...

at the bridge position (sometimes referred to as a ''Fat Strat'' configuration). The body shape was similar to that of the

Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...

; however, it featured an offset body with sharper body edges. The Prodigy was relatively different from the Fender HM Strat since it used

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 classic

Synchronized tremolo 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 strin ...

system. The Prodigy II was introduced in 1992 which reprised the Kahler locking tremolo and nut system from the HM Strat; this model also featured Fender/ Schaller tuners and black hardware. The prodigy neck featured 22 frets and a 12" radius maple or rosewood

fretboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The st ...

. Its headstock was strongly reminiscent of the Stratocaster headstock, but slightly taller and narrower. Prodigy electronics also differed from the Stratocaster in that the Prodigy featured a single volume and only a single tone control. Traditional Stratocasters have a single volume, but have one tone control for the neck and middle pickup and one tone control for the bridge pickup. Stratocasters also have a rout on the face of the guitar for a somewhat large, angled output jack; this is missing from the Prodigy. Instead, it uses a third hole in the

pickguard A pickguard (also known more correctly as scratchplate) is a piece of plastic or other (often laminated) material that is placed on the body of a guitar, mandolin or similar plucked string instrument. The main purpose of the pickguard is to pro ...

(which would be used for the second tone knob on a Stratocaster) as the mounting position for the output jack.

Origin

While Tony Bacon's book ''50 Years of Fender'' mentions the Prodigy as being "among the first Fender guitars to receive attention at the company's new factory in Ensenada, Mexico", the headstock is imprinted with "Made in U.S.A."
''50 years of Fender'' by Tony Bacon, Paul Day, page 100. Sources at Fender attribute the majority of manufacture to the Corona, California plant. prodigy1.jpg, A black 1992 Fender Prodigy.

References

{{Fender guitars Prodigy Musical instruments invented in the 1990s