Fender Mustang Club

[2cooltoolz]

I think the Urban line are excellent bags. I've owned a couple. Nicely padded, solid construction. Good match! I bought the SS model for a Squier Bass VI I bought used from GC. I ended up returning the bass (several issues) before the gig bag arrived and sold the gig bag here.

I think you'll be pleased!!

 

[Greywoulf]

I think the Urban line are excellent bags. I've owned a couple. Nicely padded, solid construction. Good match! I bought the SS model for a Squier Bass VI I bought used from GC. I ended up returning the bass (several issues) before the gig bag arrived and sold the gig bag here.

I think you'll be pleased!!

Thanks. Got it "lightly used" fr Reverb for $25; -should work out nicely..

 

[2cooltoolz]

Thanks. Got it "lightly used" fr Reverb for $25; -should work out nicely..

I wish I'd seen it first, now that I have a Mustang!!

 

[Adee]

The Fender Urban Short Short Scale Bass bag is a dust proof carry bag at best, I have the older version which is ok to transport your bass to rehearsal or gig if you are careful but offers little real 'protection'.

 

[2cooltoolz]

The Fender Urban Short Short Scale Bass bag is a dust proof carry bag at best, I have the older version which is ok to transport your bass to rehearsal or gig if you are careful but offers little real 'protection'.

Yep. That's what he said earlier he was looking for. Not what I carry to gigs, either.

 

[Greywoulf]

Yep. That's what he said earlier he was looking for. Not what I carry to gigs, either.

Fender Urban short scale bass bag review: Padding not too bad around body, neck padding thin, but none by the upper headstock area! Nice sturdy zipper and bag handle tho makes it OK for me to carry short distance in car to my teacher's house, but one needs to be very careful with upper end when going thru doors! However there is a nice 2'nd handle in the back by the upper neck, which makes it easy to carry the bass in a safer upright position when needed.
And no, I wouldn't want to travel long distances or gig regularly with this bag, but for $25 it will serve my purposes, and it folds up and stores away easily too.

 

[shoulderpet]

And heres some pics of my Mustang P/J that I got recently, I owned a Mustang a few years ago and ended up passing it on and regretting it bitterly so glad to be reacquainted.
Such a great tone from this bass, stock pickups are really nice and even with the stock pickups this has a nicer tone than any of my other basses, definitely not the el cheapo pickups that Fender used to put in there MIM basses

 

[shoulderpet]

Am wondering about the possibility of putting one of the small Mustang pickups (like the original Mustang pickups rather than P pickup) in my PJ bass, I am happy with the way my Mustang sounds but I am curious about the smaller Mustang pickups and as they are smaller than a P pickup no additional routing required and easily reversible.

The only thing that is stopping me from trying this is that I vaguely remember hearing reports that one half of the pickup will be out of phase if you combine it with a bridge pickup, is anyone able to confirm if this is the case?
I am assuming that if this is the case the American Mustangs with the bridge pickup must have some pickup voodoo done by Fender to make it work

 

[RocknRay]

No voodoo that I know of. The stock J pickup is single coil so it will be out of phase with one or the other half of any split-coil P pickup. Not sure which in the stock configuration. Try both ways.

 

[mongo2]

No voodoo that I know of. The stock J pickup is single coil so it will be out of phase with one or the other half of any split-coil P pickup. Not sure which in the stock configuration. Try both ways.

Don't know if this helps but I just checked with a magnet on my PJ. The bass side P pickup is the opposite magnetic polarity to that of the treble side P pickup and J pickup.

 

[DavesnothereCA]

Am wondering about the possibility of putting one of the small Mustang pickups (like the original Mustang pickups rather than P pickup) in my PJ bass, I am happy with the way my Mustang sounds but I am curious about the smaller Mustang pickups and as they are smaller than a P pickup no additional routing required and easily reversible. - The only thing that is stopping me from trying this is that I vaguely remember hearing reports that one half of the pickup will be out of phase if you combine it with a bridge pickup, is anyone able to confirm if this is the case? - I am assuming that if this is the case the American Mustangs with the bridge pickup must have some pickup voodoo done by Fender to make it work

~
I do not have the links for the other threads handy ATM, but yes, the conclusion recently reached by several of us was that [unlike most of the Mustangs which only have the small split pickup] the American Performer Mustang has the two halves of the small split pickup externally wired IN PHASE with each other and with the bridge pickup [no voodoo, really], AND, like most other small pickup Mustangs, the magnets are pointing in the same direction in both halves, and the coils of both halves are wound also in the same direction.

So in essence, electrically speaking, the American Performer Mustang bass has a single coil neck pickup like a standard passive wired Jazz bass, but constructed in two pieces to maintain the look, which ironically yields a cheap performance from Fender's most expensive currently produced Mustang bass.

As a consequence, same as with a standard passive wired Jazz, an American Performer Mustang also can suffer from hum when each pickup is soloed, and can cancel the hum if both pickups are set to a similar volume.

One noteworthy exception to things apparently are the small split pickup Mustangs which were made in Japan, which have a small split pickup wired like a typical Precision bass, where the winding direction of one half is reversed, and the magnet pole direction of one half is also reversed, thus cancelling hum while keeping the signal of all strings in phase with one another, and as a result having no issues if a non-split bridge pickup gets added, externally wired in correct phase with the split pickup, same as on a typical PJ bass.

If you managed to snag a small split pickup from a Japanese Mustang, your experiment might be successful, but bear in mind that your current Jazz type bridge pickup could still have hum, just like on most PJ basses.

Someone might have posted, but I forget without searching, what internal pickup construction is in play with any Squier Mustang CV or VM basses which only have a small split Mustang style pickup.

I hope that the above partial summary helps.
~

 

[DavesnothereCA]

Don't know if this helps but I just checked with a magnet on my PJ.

The bass side P pickup is the opposite magnetic polarity to that of the treble side P pickup and the J pickup.

~
That is to be expected, and if you were to [disassemble and] check the direction of the winding of the coil of each half of the P pup, you would also observe that the turns of wire go in the opposite direction on one of them as on the other.

Therefive, for the signal, two 'wrongs' make a 'right', and all strings are output in phase with one another [more details in my last post].

However for the hum, the direction of the magnets' poles does not come into play, so it cancels.
~

 

[shoulderpet]

~
I do not have the links for the other threads handy ATM, but yes, the conclusion recently reached by several of us was that [unlike most of the Mustangs which only have the small split pickup] the American Performer Mustang has the two halves of the small split pickup externally wired IN PHASE with each other and with the bridge pickup [no voodoo, really], AND, like most other small pickup Mustangs, the magnets are pointing in the same direction in both halves, and the coils of both halves are wound also in the same direction.

So in essence, electrically speaking, the American Performer Mustang bass has a single coil neck pickup like a standard passive wired Jazz bass, but constructed in two pieces to maintain the look, which ironically yields a cheap performance from Fender's most expensive currently produced Mustang bass.

As a consequence, same as with a standard passive wired Jazz, an American Performer Mustang also can suffer from hum when each pickup is soloed, and can cancel the hum if both pickups are set to a similar volume.

One noteworthy exception to things apparently are the small split pickup Mustangs which were made in Japan, which have a small split pickup wired like a typical Precision bass, where the winding direction of one half is reversed, and the magnet pole direction of one half is also reversed, thus cancelling hum while keeping the signal of all strings in phase with one another, and as a result having no issues if a non-split bridge pickup gets added, externally wired in correct phase with the split pickup, same as on a typical PJ bass.

If you managed to snag a small split pickup from a Japanese Mustang, your experiment might be successful, but bear in mind that your current Jazz type bridge pickup could still have hum, just like on most PJ basses.

Someone might have posted, but I forget without searching, what internal pickup construction is in play with any Squier Mustang CV or VM basses which only have a small split Mustang style pickup.

I hope that the above partial summary helps.
~

Thanks, i'm not that concerned about hum cancelling but I have accidently wired pickups out of phase on a P/J bass once and it sounded awful and trying to avoid the same situation

 

[DavesnothereCA]

Thanks, i'm not that concerned about hum cancelling but I have accidently wired pickups out of phase on a P/J bass once and it sounded awful and trying to avoid the same situation

~
Ah yes, and if that was what happened, then it was most likely that the whole new pickup was out of phase with the whole other pickup.

In such a scenario, things are much simpler than what I covered above.

If you encounter it again, all that needs to be done is to exchange the two wires coming from the new pickup with each other - IOW, swap the one which was live with the one which was going to ground - or, you could do that with the other pickup instead, if it was physically easier.

- - -

But if you try to add a Mustang smaller split pickup to a bass which has any other pickup in it, you run the risk of the more complex stuff which about which I posted earlier, since there seem to be 3 overall different ways in which the two halves of a Mustang smaller split pickup might have been constructed and/or externally wired, even when not considering what other pickups might be there or could get added later.

Precision sized split pickups seem to have stuck with only one way of manufacture and hookup of the two halves, so do not generally encounter what the smaller ones from Mustangs might.
~

 

[Greywoulf]

I have a Squier CV60's Mustang and have no idea how the small split pups are wound. (And won't take them apart to find out either...) But there's absolutely no discernable hum whatsoever! They do however seem less powerful at first, but that's easily fixed by raising the height of the pups.

 

[Real Soon]

Re: gig bags, just musing... I've come to really appreciate a hefty, robust zipper. The couple of cheapy bags I've had in the past that ended up getting tossed... they had small zipper teeth and flimsy stitch linings, and those zippers failed or got fiddly. The Gator ProGo and the Harvest Leather bag I splurged on for my refinished '60 P both have robust, durable stitch linings and big ol, precision, heavy-duty zippers. Arguably that's as important as the padding for most engagements, though I do love good padding when carpooling with extra gear in the back.

 

[Greywoulf]

I really appreciate the second sturdy handle the Fender Urban gig bag has up on the neck, about a foot below the headstock. For me this makes a big difference in carrying, especially thru doorways, as it's extra easy to hoist in the vertical position. I've never had a bag before with this feature and now I think all gig backs should have it! Bag also has a VG zipper and good stitching, but no real padding to speak of except in the lower body area. It's a great 'local carry' bag for me tho...

 

[DavesnothereCA]

I really appreciate the second sturdy handle the Fender Urban gig bag has up on the neck, about a foot below the headstock. For me this makes a big difference in carrying, especially thru doorways, as it's extra easy to hoist in the vertical position. I've never had a bag before with this feature and now I think all gig backs should have it! Bag also has a VG zipper and good stitching, but no real padding to speak of except in the lower body area. It's a great 'local carry' bag for me tho...

~
You've praised these bags quite effectively.

It makes me wish that I could find a retailer which still sells them.

Unfortunately, they seem to be disco'd.
~

 

[Greywoulf]

~
You've praised these bags quite effectively.

It makes me wish that I could find a retailer which still sells them.

Unfortunately, they seem to be disco'd.
~

Yes... But you might check Reverb (or other used gear sellers). Got my short scale Urban bag from Reverb for $25!

 

[Greywoulf]

Actually bonded!!
Always considered my main instruments to be djembe or congas. Basses were just a lovely hobby, just icing onna cake for me to 'collect' and enjoy doodling on... But I finally decided to take bass more seriously and went back into music lessons again, this time with a lovely bass guitar.

And last night, after an afternoon's lesson, I was sitting in front of my desk with the only light being a small lamp shining onto a desktop music stand. I'd been seriously practicing scales and learning various fret positions, and as I looked down at the darkened neck of my Squier Mustang I realized it felt so good, so natural in my hands, that even tho I'd advanced far enough into percussion to be a teacher and drum choir director, the bass guitar would now be my principal instrument!

Honestly, it felt like I got married or something......
Silly, right?