Who could possibly resist a ‛69 Swinger? Fender hasn’t made a lot of odd-shaped guitars, leaving that to Gibson and those wacky Italians, but someone at the factory drew upon some serious kind of inspiration for the Swinger. The guitar is essentially a Musicmaster – short scale, single neck pickup and all the same hardware – with a distinctive body shape (actually a modified Bass VI), paired with an unusual triangular headstock. The Swinger came in the usual array of Fender custom colors; this one is a lovely Dakota Red, but they were apparently also available in Black, Candy Apple Red, Olympic White, Sonic Blue and Lake Placid Blue. It was marketed in much the same way as the Musicmaster and its ilk, as a student guitar, but even in those halcyon days of weird, they didn’t quite catch on and very few were made. Nevertheless, they certainly have a quality, enough so that there are even folks making copies…

This lovely example of the Swinger is at Thunder Road Guitars in West Seattle, where they’re asking for $3,149. It’s all original, in mighty fine condition for a 46-year old guitar, right down to its original hardshell case. It is a small guitar, still, and what with its quirks that probably means it’s not for everyone, particularly since its rarity bumps the price a bit (you can find Musicmasters for quite a bit less). Nevertheless, for the right person – any Tina Weymouth fans out there? – this thing could use a good home.

For more info, check out the listing on Reverb.