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Guitar Poll
What's your favourite stomp box?
- Delay (46.0%, 11 Votes)
- Distortion/Overdrive (33.0%, 8 Votes)
- Chorus (17.0%, 4 Votes)
- EQ (4.0%, 1 Votes)
- Flanger (0.0%, 0 Votes)
- Looper (0.0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 24
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1981 Fender Bullet Delxue review
Filed Under Guitar Gear
For starters if your knowledge of the Fender Bullet is limited to it’s current incarnation under Fender’s Squier brand you may want to acquaint yourself with our article on the Fender Bullet Guitar History.
As we discuss in our article the Bullet series has a long history spanning over 25 years with the original Bullet introduced in 1981. Since it’s introduction the guitar series has undergone a few changes and before we look at the guitar it’s interesting to take a quick look at the point in time when Fender first introduced the guitar. In the early Eighties Fender was coming under increasing pressure from foreign imports and cheaper copies of it’s Stratocaster and needed to react or suffer the financial consequences - Fender at the time was owned by CBS and was subject to cost cutting regimes and this period is not looked at as one of fantastic quality and craftsmanship.
The Bullet was introduced to counter the introduction of cheaper imitations and also to appeal to the beginners market as a “first guitar”. Rumor has it that that too keep costs low the first Bullet production was originally expected to be carried out in the far east (Korea) but after initial trials production was moved back to the USA due to quality control problems – The initial 1981 run of Bullets benefit from the higher craftsmanship and attention to detail that Fenders USA production facilities offered.
The original Bullet’s came in two styles a standard and a deluxe - The deluxe had a few extra features above the standard namely a white Stratocaster-style pickguard and Strat style bridge (“hard tail” without the traditional tremolo). The Bullet Deluxe features the Fender decals on the headstock coupled with a silver star – The serial number to look for has the prefix of E (for Eighties).
From the off the 1981 Bullet Deluxe comes across a little of a Hienz 57 a hybrid and seems to feature a little bit from a number of Fender’s popular lines such as the Telecaster, Stratocaster and Mustang. Colors on the early Bullet’s were limited and the Deluxe came in either cream or red. 25 years on the original paint job has suffered a little and a few dings and scratches are to be expected.
The body of the 1981 Bullet is reminiscent of the Fender telecaster although with slightly more of a countered shape - the guitar featured a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. The necks were identical to the Fender Telecaster necks of the period and the headstock came equipped with Kluson tuners. The guitar was originally aimed at the beginners market and as such the neck is quite comfortable (you can imagine it being targeted at smaller hands) – the Fretwork is nice and above all the instrument is quite playable and sturdy.
The volume and tone controls on the guitar are as you’d expect from a traditional Stratocaster layout although the bullet deluxe features only two controls (one tone and one volume). The jack socket is mounted where you’d expect to find the third control knob on a traditional Strat – for Fender users this may take a little getting use to and you do find yourself reaching for that other tone control from time to time.
The pickups are single coil – with the positioning again similar to the Telecasater placement (i.e. one bridge and one angled pickup at the neck). Rumour has it that the pickups were taken from the Fender Mustang line – and these add a nice difference to the sound.
The Bullet deluxe produces a nice trebley tone with plenty of warmth. The Bullet’s sound benefits from the guitar’s heavy body which produces and has a reasonable amount of sustain. You can imagine the guitar being a belter for great blues or country. 20 odd years on the pickups produce a nice warm vintage tone without a huge degree of noise (although you may want to give the electrics and connectors the once over to ensure everythings as tight as it should be.)
While there’s nothing new here, there is enough of a difference from today’s Fender’s to give the Bullet a unique voice – this is something to dwell on if your looking for a different sound and is a good selling point of any vintage instrument.
Plugged into a reasonable amp and the 80’s Bullet produces some good tones – you’ll probably want to avoid using it for metal or adding too much drive but in the right circumstances it produces a workmanlike performance in most genres – we think Jazzers would like it too. As we mentioned earlier, Strat players may miss the extra tone control but the 3 way pickup switch offers enough versatility for most.
The early Fender Bullet’s benefited from some nice craftsmanship and some 25 years later have become moderately sought after by collectors and reasonably priced models (around the $500 mark) crop up on Ebay from time to time. The original “tele” style Bullet was only around for a short period – in just one year Fender had modified the design to be more strat like and added humbucker pickups to the available options – this first “original” Bullet Deluxe had a very short run and while it’ll never garner the same adoration as a vintage Stratocaster – it’s an interesting guitar from an interesting period in Fender’s history.
As for problems, well as with any 25 year old instrument – pristine examples are rare so ensure that the electrics are sound and check the neck for any signs of warp – rust is a common problem on the tuners and bridge so take a good look here also. Expect the paintwork to have the odd mark. Above all – one of the benefits of a vintage instrument is that you can expect it to be warn in – as long as the 25 years haven’t added anything life threatening to the guitar – 25 years adds a certain character to the guitar.
In summary we can’t help but like the 1981 Bullet Deluxe – it offers something different, has an interesting history and enough tonal possibilities to suit most - given where the Bullet is today in Fenders squier line up the original seems a world away with the original Bullet Delxue – to paraphrase Star Trek – “it’s a Fender but not as we know it!”.
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15 Responses to “1981 Fender Bullet Delxue review”
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tengo una fender bullet deluxe made in usa y me gustaria saber si hay alguien interesado en comprarla por cambio de guiarra. esta en buenas condiciones
hello, its pretty hard to find any info related to the bullet, i recently changed a mexican tele and an amp for a bullet the stratocaster type with humbuckers and i was wondering how much does it worth now?
I have the ‘81 Fender Bullet Standard. I love this guitar, You can get nice clean, warm, blues, sound out of it. Or crack it up with some distortion and play hard rock to metal. It is a very flexible guitar.
i wanna know how much my 1981 squeir bullet 1 is worth, thinking of selling it?
SQUIER didn’t make Bullets until 1983 or ‘84. IN 1981-1982 FENDER Bullets were made in the USA. If yours is made in the USA you could fetch around $200-$350. If it’s a Squier then it’s not from the USA- maybe $50. You can easily obtain a Sqiuer Strat for under $50. Search with ebays advanced search and click ‘completed listings’ to see what people have recently paid for one. Just cause someone is selling something for $500 doesn’t mean they could get $100.
Hello, i”m German, for me Guitarist, it is one
great expierience to plsy now an 1982 Fender
Bullet Ser.No. E113858, made in USA. This guitar sound so good, and for my long finger
she is easy to play. The neck is wonderfull
and the body give the worm sound.
I thank Fender for create this BULLET.
Squier Strat’s and Bullet’s are two very different guitars. The 80’s Squier Bullet was made in Japan with a nice maple tele neck and was a well made guitar, personally I think better then the American Fenders at the time. By the 90’s production was moved to Korea and now China/Indonesia which is the 50.00 guitars you are talking about. Japan Bullets can go from 200-300 bucks depending on the condition Korean 100-200 depending on condition.
Hi, I have the 1981 Fender Bullet Deluxe and still use it in all my shows! Mine is snow white and plays and sounds better all the time! I’ve yet to see a pic of the identical guitar as mine…
¨tengo una fender bullet deluxe made in usa y me gustaria saber si hay alguien interesado en comprarla por cambio de guiarra. esta en buenas condiciones¨
Hola Jeronimo!
Todavia tienes la guitarra en venta?
si es asi, estoy muy interesado en comprarla.
Escribeme y me cuentas:
josecgar@gmail.com
Gracias y Saludos
Hello,
I am looking for a Fender Bullet Deluxe Guitar or Bass.
Somebody selling?
Please let me know on this mail
josecgar@gmail.com
Thanks.
i have a fender bullets made in u.s.give to my uncle.and i like it so much.it flexible guitar.nice clean.i like it.
I own an original Bullet Deluxe (cream) in near perfect condition and I absolutely love this guitar, more than most Strats I’ve played and it’s about equal to a Telecaster. It’s rare, very versatile and is my main axe. Great for blues and rock but there are a few things it doesn’t do, and due to the single wound pickups, it does tend to be a bit noisy. I’d love to get my hands on one with Humbuckers … and now that I know they existed …
I had an ‘81 Bullet, red with black pickguard and knobs. In the foolishness of youth (or artistic genius, see below), I oversprayed the whole body and guard in flat black. I also routed out a small part of the body to install an effect directly into it. Turns out the body is mahogany plywood. I made poor choices for collectibility when it comes to mods , but has not effected the playability or sound. Sadly, I also traded it away a few years later… Have been longing to have it back since. At least it was to a close friend and he loves it too.
It has one of the best necks I have ever played. Just fits me perfectly. Nice and thick but narrow. Can roll my thumb over no problem. And the sound is excellent. Classic Fender with a slight twist (most likely because of the mahogany plywood body, metal guard/pickup mount, and the rumored Mustang pickups).
Well, just yesterday I found another one for $350 at a local Daddy’s Junky Music! In GREAT shape too with original hard case! I am psyched, in case you couldn’t tell.
Just needs very little clean up & intonation adjustment and I will be rockin’!
BTW, the oversprayed flat black on glossy red was and is still AWESOME. When you get normal wear alone the body edges the glossy red shows through and looks very cool.
I was fortunate enough to pick up the “kit” from 1981, the Bullet 1 Deluxe, which was marketed in our area along with the Fender Harvard Reverb amplifier, a solid state amp that still packs a pretty hefty sound. Hard case, Amp and Bullet went for around a hundred bucks. I’ve owned Hagstrom Swedes from the early 70s, Gibson SGs and Melody Makers from the middle 60’s, at least one Aria Pro Niner - but the fat sound of the ‘81 Bullet is unique among them all. Picked it up just to lay down a couple electric tracks. Wound up becoming a permanent member of my arsenal, and my ONLY electric.
Thank you John Page!
i have an 82 model fender bullet deluxe how much is it worth u think
?????