Fender Mustang Club

[Axstar]

Posted this on Basses but maybe it should have gone here...

Mustang PJ Neck-dive Solutions???

I have a white PJ Mustang coming next week, which is bone-stock and factory fresh. I will compare it to my modded sonic blue (sonic white, really) PJ. My blue PJ has a Fender Badass II on it, so I can see if the balance is better with the slightly heavier bridge.

 

[BlueP]

Greetings. I have a Mustang PJ on its way. Please help me out with Strings. My first short scale bass.
What is the correct/best length strings used on the Mustang PJ ? I've been researching .. there is a lot of choices.
*This bass only strings though the back of the bridge, unlike the older or different model Mustangs that allows stringing through the body also.

I usually use DR LoRiders SS on my Sadowsky Jazz and like the SS and the Nickel but DR doesn't seem to make a short set that are Hex Core... I like the stiffer feel of the hex.
Also, I sorta like Flats but almost always go back to round wounds. The Mustang PJ is supposed to have a deeper fatter bottom maybe do to the scale making the strings feel looser?

I got the Sonic Blue which isn't my fav but the other colors don't trip my trigger .. so .. I would like to change the pick guard to maybe a Tort or Black .. let me know whatcha think. Any pictures would be nice if you have any with the Sonic Blue and different pg beside the Mint. I've read the Mint throughs off the blue quite a bit.

Thank you if care to reply.

I put flat wound short scale chromes on mine ...

 

[Axstar]

My white PJ Mustang just arrived! I'm doubly in this club now!

 

[JIO]

Thanks for the tip. I've never really thought about that and just start at the top and wind downwards, and how far down it goes just depends on how long the strings are. Can see how that could reduce any stress on the tuning post as well.

It looks like you had the following winds correct (stacked on top of the first wind) so it was just a matter of the whole stack of coils needing to shift down.

 

[Axstar]

Here's my new white PJ with my sonic blue PJ. I'm pretty sure the white one has a pau ferro fretboard, but it has a satin mist coat on it, so it might just be very dry rosewood! I will do what I did to the blue one, and tidy up the crowns on the frets and polish them out. I will also scrape the satin coat off and properly oil the fretboard.

The pickguard on the white PJ is the pickguard I originally cut for the blue one. The blue one has a WD Music pickguard, so I don't think I did too bad a job! The snot-green factory pickguard is going into storage. It has a big sticker on it saying "Free online lessons". Tempting!

I'm going to cut a tortoise shell pickguard for the white one, as well as three-ply red/black/red pickguard, just to see which I prefer. Both basses are getting a shortscale set of GHS Precision flats, and the white one is also getting a Fender Badass II fitted as I love these bridges.

 

[SoulReflection]

Here's my new white PJ with my sonic blue PJ. I'm pretty sure the white one has a pau ferro fretboard, but it has a satin mist coat on it, so it might just be very dry rosewood! I will do what I did to the blue one, and tidy up the crowns on the frets and polish them out. I will also scrape the satin coat off and properly oil the fretboard.

The pickguard on the white PJ is the pickguard I originally cut for the blue one. The blue one has a WD Music pickguard, so I don't think I did too bad a job! The snot-green factory pickguard is going into storage. It has a big sticker on it saying "Free online lessons". Tempting!

View attachment 3013604

I'm going to cut a tortoise shell pickguard for the white one, as well as three-ply red/black/red pickguard, just to see which I prefer. Both basses are getting a shortscale set of GHS Precision flats, and the white one is also getting a Fender Badass II fitted as I love these bridges.

I'd go for the tort on the white one. I like the one I put on my burst PJ!

How can you tell if the fret board has satin mist on it and what do you use to take it off?

Did your sonic blue come with a rose wood fret board? I thought all PJ's had pau ferro.

Last question (s), do you have any neck dive on your two and how much weight do you think the Badass II adds?. My PJ weighs 8.0lbs and I am looking for neck dive solutions.

Thanks!

 

[Axstar]

How can you tell if the fret board has satin mist on it and what do you use to take it off?

I can feel it, and the wood looks dull. You can tell you aren't looking right down onto the wood itself, as if you aren't properly seeing the grain and the figuring. I imagine you can play it away eventually, but I scrape it off with a safety razor blade. I tape off the upper blade, and use the lower blade. I don't push it down into the surface, simply play it backwards and forwards between the two frets I'm scraping. These blades can chatter up the surface of the frets if they get onto them, so I work carefully and slowly and assess exactly what I'm removing.

I think the blue bass has rosewood as the fretboard surface had a cigar smoke smell to it when I scraped it. I associate this with some types of rosewood.

I'm not noticing any real change in balance. Neither my girlfriend or I can work out which of the two basses is heavier either!

 

[SoulReflection]

I can feel it, and the wood looks dull. You can tell you aren't looking right down onto the wood itself, as if you aren't properly seeing the grain and the figuring. I imagine you can play it away eventually, but I scrape it off with a safety razor blade. I tape off the upper blade, and use the lower blade. I don't push it down into the surface, simply play it backwards and forwards between the two frets I'm scraping. These blades can chatter up the surface of the frets if they get onto them, so I work carefully and slowly and assess exactly what I'm removing.

I think the blue bass has rosewood as the fretboard surface had a cigar smoke smell to it when I scraped it. I associate this with some types of rosewood.

I'm not noticing any real change in balance. Neither my girlfriend or I can work out which of the two basses is heavier either!

Thanks for the input. I wanted to darken the fretboard on mine, so I put some F1 oil on and it did darken somewhat. I was planning on using Old English (dark) but the coat of F1 and your post got me thinking that I should remove the old stuff first.

 

[Axstar]

Thanks for the input. I wanted to darken the fretboard on mine, so I put some F1 oil on and it did darken somewhat. I was planning on using Old English (dark) but the coat of F1 and your post got me thinking that I should remove the old stuff first.

Yeah I wager the satin coat will repel the oil to some degree. It will probably soak into the stuff a wee bit, but not get into the wood itself. I've use a mix of boiled linseed oil and either acetone or naptha (if I'm using it on an instrument with nitro lacquer). I sometimes tint the oil darker, or more red or amber if the wood is pale. I'm after a discrete, low-maintenance finish though, so this won't be the best oil mix for everybody.

 

[dmt]

What is this "satin mist" you guys speak of?

Some pau ferro thing?

 

[OllyW]

What is this "satin mist" you guys speak of?

Some pau ferro thing?

There’s nothing like that on my Mustang’s pau ferro fretboard. It soaks up the oil just the same as my other rosewood fretboards.

 

[Axstar]

What is this "satin mist" you guys speak of?

Some pau ferro thing?

It’s a really fine coat of lacquer or similar dusted onto the fretboard. I guess it prevents the loss or gain of moisture to some degree. It is really light on the Mustang but still apparent under my fingers.

 

[mesaplayer83]

There’s nothing like that on my Mustang’s pau ferro fretboard. It soaks up the oil just the same as my other rosewood fretboards.

Yeah, that didn't sound right to me, either...

 

[cattrax]

What is this "satin mist" you guys speak of?

Some pau ferro thing?

I think I know what you're talking about. The pau ferro on my Mustang PJ's fretboard feels very dry and not smooth to the touch. There's a roughness to the wood, but I'm not sure what it is. The rosewood fretboard on my other bass has a smooth "polished feel" to it. I did use some woodwind bore oil on the pau ferro it and it soaked it right up.

 

[thunderstation]

Haven't done anything to mine. a master control would be cool instead of a toggle switch - toying with the idea of racing strpes like the old Mustangs used to have

 

[Modder]

My cromulent plan seems to have worked okay. The washers look better than the cracks I think. View attachment 3006792 View attachment 3006793

Fitted my HB10s today together with some Gotoh saddles. I also found the bushings were a bit loose: I went down the route of tin foil: a double layer on each bushing seems to have got them in snug, so looks like we’re good to go....

 

[SoulReflection]

Has anyone accurately weighed the stock tuners that come with the Mustang PJ?

I am trying to figure out how much weight savings there would be by converting to Hipshot HB6 Ultra-lites. If not, I might have to take a stock tuner to the Post Office .

 

[Axstar]

What is this "satin mist" you guys speak of?

There’s nothing like that on my Mustang’s pau ferro fretboard. It soaks up the oil just the same as my other rosewood fretboards.

It might just be a thing they do for basses they intend to ship? I snapped some photos in the sunlight:

You can see that white dustiness, especially against the darker grain of the wood.

And here I scratched up the lacquer slightly with my thumbnail:

By contrast here is the oiled, gigged, played in rosewood board of my blue Mustang:

On the blue Mustang you can see that we're actually looking at the wood, not a transparent dust coat on top.

 

[Root 5]

The Mustang PJ is not on the Fender site. Did they discontinue it??? Now it only shows the Justin Meldal Johnsen sig. model.

 

[SoulReflection]

The Mustang PJ is not on the Fender site. Did they discontinue it??? Now it only shows the Justin Meldal Johnsen sig. model.

This, from the Fender site:

Invalid Link Removed

Just now.