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Fender Mustang Club
- Thread starter FlyingPigSound
- Start date
so, how'd you guys end up with your mustangs?
i wanted to try one in person, and when i ran across one at pasadena guitar center, i ended up playing it for an hour. i didn't buy it, but a few days later i tried a couple at wla GC, and they were as good as the first one, which had been sold. i really wanted red with rosewood, so ordered one from GC, and i gotta say that it's one VERY nice bass. great tone, great feel - that smaller body is so comfortable - and perfect fit and finish
i wanted to try one in person, and when i ran across one at pasadena guitar center, i ended up playing it for an hour. i didn't buy it, but a few days later i tried a couple at wla GC, and they were as good as the first one, which had been sold. i really wanted red with rosewood, so ordered one from GC, and i gotta say that it's one VERY nice bass. great tone, great feel - that smaller body is so comfortable - and perfect fit and finish
I was gassing for one bad. One day I saw an ad pop up on Craigslist for one. Went and checked it out. He was the 2nd owner and it looked and sounded great. That was about 9-10 years ago. Recently got some replacement pups to see how they might sound, but I have not dropped them in yet. Mine is a CIJ model and I do love it.
OK, story time! I started playing bass not too long ago, when a local Beatles acoustic group needed a bass player. I learned how to play bass by McCartney basslines and started on a short-scale Hofner violin bass. I ran across a funky looking mint green Hofner Galaxy short-scale solid-body bass online, and figured that it would be perfect to keep in my classroom (8th grade History teacher) as it's cheap ($250) and would be able to handle the rigors of having the air and heat turned on and off often. It wasn't long before this cheap Galaxy became my favorite to play...it just felt....right. Easy to play, well-balanced, light weight, sounded good, and so reliable you could pound nails with it.so, how'd you guys end up with your mustangs?
i wanted to try one in person, and when i ran across one at pasadena guitar center, i ended up playing it for an hour. i didn't buy it, but a few days later i tried a couple at wla GC, and they were as good as the first one, which had been sold. i really wanted red with rosewood, so ordered one from GC, and i gotta say that it's one VERY nice bass. great tone, great feel - that smaller body is so comfortable - and perfect fit and finish
Years passed, the acoustic Beatles group broke up (our own Yoko issue), and I found myself running sound for other friends' bands. Last month, a group of friends fired their douche bass player and asked me to play with them....even though I hadn't touched a bass in over a year. I figured, new project = new bass, right? I knew I wanted short-scale. I also wanted solid-body. I was thinking I could just go with my Hofner Galaxy, but wanted a bass with stronger pups and better tuners. That got me thinking Fender Mustang or Jaguar. As soon as I saw the JMJ Mustang, I was smitten. Finding out that it was a Road Worn model and came with flats, was icing on the cake! I really like the Road Worn series. I think they look cool so long as they aren't over-done, and feel great to play, without any of the possible issues of an older vintage instruments.
The Hofner Galaxy that got me into short-scale, solid-body bass guitars....and led me to a Fender Mustang
I was able to talk a guy I know out of his parted out orange p/j body and neck in exchange for some parts I have he's been trying to get out of me.We found something he wanted to trade this for!
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My PJ Mustang:
Lightly modded! The bridge is a Fender Badass II taken from a Starcaster bass. I've replaced the switch tip with an 'ivory' coloured example, and I cut a white pearloid pickguard for it. I'm not entirely happy with the horn on the pickguard, or with the bevel, so I'm going to get WD Music to cut me a proper one in a wee while.
To answer the question of how I got it, mine is strung with flats, but I've no idea what they are. They have black silks and the string windings are quite gappy like Fender flats (you can feel the grain in them). They are a shortscale set, and are well balanced both tonally and in feel. The reason behind the mystery is that I didn't install the strings myself. I bought the bass used from a pawnbroker. The bass is totally unused, so I have no idea what the story is. Somebody bought it, installed some flats on it, then hocked it. I've owned it for two weeks and I've been playing the legs off it. Usually I change the strings the second I buy a used instrument, but I've made a one-time exception here.
Lightly modded! The bridge is a Fender Badass II taken from a Starcaster bass. I've replaced the switch tip with an 'ivory' coloured example, and I cut a white pearloid pickguard for it. I'm not entirely happy with the horn on the pickguard, or with the bevel, so I'm going to get WD Music to cut me a proper one in a wee while.
To answer the question of how I got it, mine is strung with flats, but I've no idea what they are. They have black silks and the string windings are quite gappy like Fender flats (you can feel the grain in them). They are a shortscale set, and are well balanced both tonally and in feel. The reason behind the mystery is that I didn't install the strings myself. I bought the bass used from a pawnbroker. The bass is totally unused, so I have no idea what the story is. Somebody bought it, installed some flats on it, then hocked it. I've owned it for two weeks and I've been playing the legs off it. Usually I change the strings the second I buy a used instrument, but I've made a one-time exception here.
Here's my CIJ. Back in October 2012 I came across it at the local mom & pop music store. I was playing only short scales at the time. I had a Squier Jag and a Squier Musicmaster Vista, and I wanted a short scale Fender, so I bought it.
My dream bass is a '72 (my birth year) Mustang in competition red turned orange. A matching Headstock would be the icing on the cake.
Dang. I had a ‘73 Mustang bass (natural w/ black pickguard) back in the day (like, in the year 1999) that I decided to trade for an ‘83 Precision.
I don’t own the P anymore but this new JMJ’s got me GASing fiercely!
Would it be insane to sell my Ruby 4003 to fund this purchase? I’ve got some soul searching to do.
I don’t own the P anymore but this new JMJ’s got me GASing fiercely!
Would it be insane to sell my Ruby 4003 to fund this purchase? I’ve got some soul searching to do.
Nice idea for a club. I'd like to join!
I have 2 Mustangs : a mid-2000s CIJ Fender, and the Squier VM version as well. They're both really nice basses. I modded the CIJ a little w/Hipshot ultralights, a different pickguard & Nordstrand NM4 pickups.
Here's an older picture:
GT
I have 2 Mustangs : a mid-2000s CIJ Fender, and the Squier VM version as well. They're both really nice basses. I modded the CIJ a little w/Hipshot ultralights, a different pickguard & Nordstrand NM4 pickups.
Here's an older picture:
GT
I went on a short scale kick after developing arthritis about 12 years ago. I had tried the CIJ models in store & found them a bit expensive, so I scoured CL & Kijiji until the right one came along a few months later. Got a great deal on it too.
GT
It seems that shortscales are slowly being more accepted. I wonder if the rise of better balanced strings has helped? When I started out on a Squier Bronco I basically bought whatever strings I could find, and then cut them down to fit. This always resulted in a weaker E string response.
