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In recent years, Death Cab for Cutie singer, songwriter, and guitarist Ben Gibbard has become synonymous with the Fender Mustang – he's even got his own signature model.
He wasn't a day 1 Mustang adherent, though. In fact, it was only around a decade ago that he fell in love with a Mustang he got in a trade with a friend, and moved the model to the top of his guitar pecking order.
During Death Cab's early days, Gibbard was actually partial to smaller-scale, beginner-friendly Fender Bullets – not to be confused with Fender's entry-level imports of a few years back.
First launched as an alternative to the Mustang in 1981, the Bullet featured a downsized Tele-inspired single-cutaway shape, but with a Strat-style scratchplate and two single coils.
It was initially produced by Fender in the US, but production later moved to Japan and Korea, the body morphed into a more traditional Strat-style and the headstock was subsequently rebranded Squier. Latter-day versions featured a trio of single coils – and that is what Gibbard has been spotted playing over the years.
His relationship with the Bullet began with a gift that he thought at the time was an act of pure, unprompted generosity. He didn't quite know the whole story...
“In 1997 or 1998, [former Death Cab lead guitarist] Chris Walla showed up at a show we were playing in Bellingham [Washington] and he had a Fender Bullet in his hand,” Gibbard told Guitar World in a recent interview. “He said, ‘Hey, I bought you this guitar today.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, you bought me a guitar.’
“I mean, we were broke. The idea that any of us would buy anybody anything, let alone a guitar, was unheard of. And he was like, ‘No, it was only, like, 100 bucks. I thought you might like it.’
“Oh my God, what an amazing gift,” he continued. “I'd never experienced that kind of generosity from somebody. Only years later did I realize he had dropped my SG and put a crack in the neck, and was terrified to tell me about it, so he just figured he’d go buy a new guitar for me!”
That first Bullet would remain Gibbard's six-string of choice through the band's first three albums and their accompanying tours. To this day, it holds pride of place in his collection.
“I still have it upstairs in my studio. It’s my most prized possession, next to my dad's Gibson LG-1 that his grandfather gave him,” he told Guitar World. “There are two things [I’d] grab when the house is on fire. One is the Bullet, the other is the LG-1.”
Though he'd move on to other models – Teles, G&Ls, and, of course, Mustangs – as Death Cab rocketed to alt-rock royalty status, then subsequently settled comfortably into life as veteran indie statesmen, Gibbard found the perfect opportunity to pick up the Bullet again a few years ago.
The occasion was the tour the band undertook in celebration of the 20th anniversary of their breakthrough 2003 masterpiece, Transatlanticism. Gibbard played Bullets when the band toured the album originally, so, he reasoned, why not be faithful to that period?
“I brought out the original Bullet, which is the one with the Barsuk [Records] sticker that Chris gave me in ’97 or ’98, and I bought a few more, and was playing those,” he told GW. “I think as we move forward I'm going to continue playing the Bullets, but augment them on this next tour with the Pro Jaguar [he played on much of their new album, I Built You a Tower].”
Sometimes accidents do have happy endings, after all.
