1982 Fender Bullet Tele-Style Electric Guitar Made in the USA

By Dennis David

Fender Musical Instruments, to compete with the oversea markets, planned on producing the Bullet 1 Guitars outside the United States to lower production cost, but the foreign made parts were below John Page's standards, and production was moved back to the United States: causing the early 1981 to 1983 Bullet 1 Guitars to be made and assembled with Fender USA craftsmanship in Fullerton, California.

The History of the Fender Bullet 1 spans over 35 years, beginning in the early 80's when Fender Musical Instruments was looking to produce inexpensive guitars, to counter the cheap, foreign, starter guitars. The Original Fender Bullet 1's were hybrids of the Fender Telecaster, Stratocaster, and the Mustang guitars; John Page cut cost by capitalizing on readymade, unused Fender Guitar parts, the guitar was designed to reduce manufacturing cost.

In the Early 80's, the thin C-Profile, maple necks on the first Bullets were Fender Telecaster necks, and in 1981 were only offered with a rosewood fretboard; and in 1982, and onwards, offered either in rosewood or solid maple fretboards.

The Fender Bullet 1 was John Page's first Fender Guitar design in 1981, and the Bullet's unique one-piece alloy bridge-pickguard combination was John's first US patent; the bridge-pickguard cut cost by combining the bridge, pickguard, and providing electronic shielding in a single component. The components of the original Bullet 1 are now hard to find because it was produced for a limited time.

The 1981 Fender Bullet 1 bodies were smaller, highly contoured, Telecaster bodies, which were produced for one year, but utilized in guitar production for both 1981 and 1982. And in 1982 a smaller, highly contoured Stratocaster Bullet 1 body replaced the Telecaster Bullet 1 body in production. The first Bullet 1 bodies were limited to a cream (ivory) or red color. In 1982 sunburst and walnut were added to the color line up on the new Bullet Stratocasters.

In early 1983 the Fender Bullet line was moved to Japan and marketed under the Squire label utilizing a laminated Stratocaster-like body and housing Stratocaster-like three single-coil pickups. In 1984 John Page started designing and building instruments with Michael Stevens in the Fender Custom Shop, Corona, California.

The Original Fender Bullets were partly made from leftover Fender Telecaster, Stratocaster, and Mustang parts, and fashioned after the Duo Sonic, and Musicmaster to save on cost. John Page initially planned to save costs by making Bullet guitar parts overseas and assembling them in the U.S. However, due to poor craftsmanship, he opted to use available parts from the Fullerton, California Plant instead.

There is No Set Order in the serial numbered early Fender Bullet 1 body or neck productions; to keep cost down, the parts used were the parts available at the time of build. A sunburst 1983 Bullet 1 with a Strat-style body, pickguard, and pickups was offered in the showroom in early 1983, with a blond-maple 1982 production year neck.

Because Original Fender Bullets were partly put together with leftover Telecaster, Stratocaster, and Mustang parts, in different chronological sequences, it makes it difficult to date the 1981 to 1983 Fender Bullets. A Fender Bullet 1, Telecaster-style body, can be marked 1981, and the Volume and Tone Pots can be marked 1982, and the neck can be marked 1983. The oldest date mark can be either 1981, 1982, or 1983. The production dates are typically stamped or written on the body, neck, pots, and sometimes the pickups.

The Main Bullet 1 Design differences in 1981 a Telecaster-style body, Kluson tuners, and a rosewood fretboard were the only options offered, and in 1982 a Stratocaster-style body, and blond maple fretboard was introduced, alongside a Bullet 1 with a Telecaster-style body and one-piece solid maple fretboard. In 1982 Fender used the remaining supply of Fender F style tuners on their Bullet 1 guitars, and in 1983 Fender replaced the F tuners on the Strat-style Bullets (the only Bullet 1 body style remaining in production after 1982) with sealed Fender tuners, which are still used on high-end instruments today; and in early 1983 Fender closed up shop in Fullerton after the run of supplies came to an end.

Identifying Fender Bullet 1 Guitars made in the USA can be tricky. The serial number prefixes E000000 through E199999 designates 1979 to 1982, and the prefixes E110000 through E129999 designates 1980 to 1983, producing overlapping years. However, the first Fender Bullets were not produced until 1981, therefore even with an E0xxxxx serial number, the Bullet 1 wasn't produced before 1981, and for serial number E1xxxxx, the Bullet 1 wasn't produced after 1983.

Fender Bullet guitars were crafted in the USA by the following well-known, highly regarded Luthiers: I. Barra, G. Garcia, H. Gastelum, D. Hilliker, J. Moreno, J. Serna, and J. Torres.

All Bullet Headstock decals show the words Fender Bullet and have a silver star with the number 1 inside the star. The serial numbers located on the headstock typically begin with E0 or E1, (E designating the 1980's) but sometimes the serial number does not start with a letter prefix. Some decals indicate Made in U.S.A., while others do not.

The 1981 Bullets had Kluson tuners, which were changed in 1982 to the 1970's style Fender F tuners when Kluson Manufacturing went out of business in '81, and finally replaced in 1983 by sealed Fender tuners, once the supply of F-style tuners ran out. This was a transitional time at Fender Instruments, cost was being scrutinized, and waste circumvented when possible.

The First Bullet 1 Pickups were single coil, Fender Mustang Pickups with the pickup positioning the same as the Fender Duo Sonic, with one bridge pickup parallel to the bridge, and one neck pickup positioned at an angle to the neck.

The First Bullets had a 3-way pickup switch for tone control, and a single volume and a single tone pot. The Stratocaster Switchcraft jack socket is positioned on the front plate like the Telecaster.

Guitar potentiometers are often used, in addition to the neck and body stamps, to date a guitar's manufacture date. This potentiometer has the code: R1378206, which tells us the potentiometer, was made by CTS Corporation (Chicago Telephone Supply) in the sixth week of 1982.

Dating Fender Guitars can be difficult when the parts are often produced over a span of time. Fender was able to capture the music market in a brief time, due to their guitars being of high quality, and the various parts being constructed at the same time, on an assembly line. The necks, bodies, and electronics could all be built by different Luthiers, at the same time, increasing productivity, and lowering cost.

The First Bullets are sought after by collectors, and reasonably priced 1981-1983 Bullets can be seen in 2018 from $650 USD to $750 USD on E bay. The sound is often compared as a mixture of the Telecaster Treble sound produced from the bridge pickup, and the depth and power of the Stratocaster sound from the neck pickup.

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1982 Fender Bullet Tele-Style Electric Guitar Made in the USA

By Dennis David

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Today's Issue		Friday 18th April 2025