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NBD 1966 Mustang

ped

User
Commercial User
Aug 30, 2006
1,208
1,315
York, England
www.basschat.co.uk
Thought you might like to see my new 1966 Mustang, which was modified in the 70s with PJ pickups. It sounds fantastic. The body, neck, hardware are all original as far as I know, and working perfectly. The neck is straight, the fretwork is lovely and the feel of the thing is spot on. Broken in but looked after, I'd say. The tuners are the lollipop style found for a short time around '66 when Fender made them in house to cut costs, I believe.

The pickups are (we think) dimarzio (neck) and Fender (bridge) but I'll confirm at some stage. They sound great together, giving a nice 60s jazz growl together and individually the P sounds fantastic, like a mid heavy slightly more rubbery P sound with lots of articulation. The Jazz soloed is burpy and tight and not lacking in guts. Playing over the back pickup is more comfortable for me than on a regular sized jazz (not that full scale basses are difficult for me, I just wanted a mini P bass really)

The slab body, as with my Stingray, to my eyes looks amazing (on the Squier, too) and really suits the narrower body. Super comfortable to rest your arm on, allowing the hand to naturally fall over the back of the P pickup.

The controls are vol/vol - I am tempted to have them changed to balance/tone but I'm playing this bass 99% at home through my studio/headphone/bassboard setup where I can roll off the top end, although with flats and a custom foam insert (which slides in and out nicely) I'm really happy with the top end and can adjust it externally.

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Unusual, what is the attraction to this one, Ped?

Honestly it was the look that grabbed me right away, then the reasonable price, the promise that it'll hold it's value making it a no risk buy. After trying a Squier Mustang, which I really really like, I have been enjoying reading up about Mustangs and their unique flavours. Apart from that, like you've said, it's unusual, which I like too! (And it's my first red bass, I think)
 
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