Blueburst Fender FM-62SCE

We've come across a little treasure, a little slice of mandolin history. Of course what caught the eye at first was its magnificent blueburst finish, but there's more to the story than that. This Fender FM-62SCE when introduced in the early 2000's sparked a bit of controversy; from what we understand, it almost ended up in a fistfight at a the Winter NAMM show. Note the imposing similarity between this and a Rigel G-110, a fact not overlooked by the good folks at Rigel. Since company progenitor Pete Langdell had registered extensive trademark designs before Fender had introduced these, he really had the upper hand, though a long and protracted legal battle with a corporate giant would have surely sapped major financial resources out of the small manufacturer. The good news is Fender ultimately backed down, and next years FM-62 series featured the cosmetic distinctions of a less radiused body profile and larger, more rounded horn.

In essence, we (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) refer to this instrument as a "Pre-lawsuit" Fender mandolin, and knowing so few were made, consider it a rare "vintage" instrument. This one is already nicely yellowing on the MOT pickguard and trussrod cover. It also packs a respectable amplified tone (factory transducer) with classic fender knobs for additional cosmetic appeal, performing plugged-in as well as it does acoustically. And the color! Marvelous!

In its day, it was offered in Crimson Red, Vintage Sunburst, and black. Considered one of Fender's higher end mandolins, the offset double cutaway body sported a solid spruce top with F holes, body with maple neck, back and sides. The white-bound 29-fret rosewood fingerboard use dot inlays and treble extension, 1-3/32" nut width on a 14" scale neck, adjustable rosewood bridge, and gold hardware. The already mentioned pearloid pickguard and truss rod cover, nicely complemented the w/b/w bound headstock with its fancy pearl cross accent and "Fender" inlays.

The model was made in Korea about the time import instrument building was leaving the more expensive factories in Japan, but before the major push for quality outsourcing was established in China. In other words, that the mandolin boasts better quality should be no surprise.

More about Fender mandolins from Martin Stillion at the highly popular electric mandolin website, Emando.com who backs up our speculation: "For a few of the early years of the 21st century, the company imported electrics from Korea: the hollow, 8-string FM-52E; the semihollow FM-60E and FM-61SE (5 and 8 strings, respectively); and the piezo-sporting FM-62SE, whose resemblance to a certain other (and, in my opinion, superior) brand of acoustic/electric mandolins has been well noted and may or may not be more than purely coincidental. In fact, the FM-62SE was discontinued early on and replaced with the slightly different FM-62SCE. The acoustic/electric FM-60S was sold only in Japan."

Nice to own a piece of electric mandolin history! We're considering putting this up for adoption; many of its more common peers have been fetching around $400,which is likely what this one will sell for.

Fender FM62SCE: Click picture for closeup

Interested? Let us know: JazzMando Contact

Posted by Ted at July 31, 2009 5:25 AM