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New PJ Mustang at Summer NAMM

#1,021
I did a second rehearsal with it today. It definitely plays better with saddles lowered. This Sunday is the Men's Chorus, and we are singing a lot of traditional Black Gospel Quartet music. This music is often very guitar, bass, and drum focused. We have no guitarist, so I need to I need to be a bit more active to make up for the six string absence.

I still find my Mustang comfortable to play, but its diminutive size is something that still makes me do a double take.

I have found that being smaller, it is much, much easier for me to palm mute this bass than a 34"'or 35" bass. The brightness of the tone with rounds does cut through nicely, but I did turn the tone down for one song. I also should point out that this bass is light as a feather, and it was wonderful carrying so little into rehearsal!

I do miss that B string. For some reason, I did not miss it as much on full size four string P-bass with flats. That said, it's not an accident that fives and sixes are so dominant in Gospel.

I am pretty sure my Mustang is a keeper. I find it far more practical than my Kala. The Mustang is bass truly useful for church plus it is a great travel bass too!
 
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#1,022
I played my first service with my Mustang today. It's still feels weird to be playing a bass that is almost guitar sized, but it is really easy to play, it sounds great, and it is crazy light! One odd thing is that most likely due to the influence of Stanley Clarke, I always have worn my bass high. My Mustang feels more comfortable a few inches lower, but no one will mistake me for a Ramone!:D

One of my issues with PJ basses is that most have single coil hum issues. The hum on my Mustang PJ is noticeable when everything is quiet, but it is certainly not distracting or gets in the way of this bass' great tone. Short of finding a Reggie Hamilton Jazz in great shape and a good price, shelling out real dollars for a Caprice, I believe this is the nicest PJ four string for me, and it is without a doubt, the best short scale bass I have ever played.
 
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#1,026
I was in a Guitar Center a couple of weeks ago and was surprised to see quite a few basses there, including a Mustang. They'd been cutting back on their bass department recently and remodeling the store. Maybe the two were related because the remodeling seems to be done and they had expanded their bass supply considerably. Anyway I noodled around on it for a while and it is indeed a very nice bass that plays quite well for me. I did not plug it into an amp so no comment on the "boomy E string" discussion. I rarely plug into amps because I am more interested in the playing feel which requires no amp and because I tune in fifths and can hardly play a fourths tuned bass well enough anymore to feel comfortable with inflicting my playing on the innocent GC customers! It certainly would be a suitable replacement if I decided to sell my Reggie and go short scale. I've wavered back and forth on that for the last year or two. Before I walked into that GC and played their Mustang I had decided to do a soft conversion on my Reggie by capoing at the second fret and doing something temporary to move the side dots. Now I'm not so sure anymore, the Mustang is a nice bass and short scale does seem better for what I do....
 
#1,027
khutch said:
I was in a Guitar Center a couple of weeks ago and was surprised to see quite a few basses there, including a Mustang. They'd been cutting back on their bass department recently and remodeling the store. Maybe the two were related because the remodeling seems to be done and they had expanded their bass supply considerably. Anyway I noodled around on it for a while and it is indeed a very nice bass that plays quite well for me. I did not plug it into an amp so no comment on the "boomy E string" discussion. I rarely plug into amps because I am more interested in the playing feel which requires no amp and because I tune in fifths and can hardly play a fourths tuned bass well enough anymore to feel comfortable with inflicting my playing on the innocent GC customers! It certainly would be a suitable replacement if I decided to sell my Reggie and go short scale. I've wavered back and forth on that for the last year or two. Before I walked into that GC and played their Mustang I had decided to do a soft conversion on my Reggie by capoing at the second fret and doing something temporary to move the side dots. Now I'm not so sure anymore, the Mustang is a nice bass and short scale does seem better for what I do....
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I like it a lot. I still own a couple long scales but it's been my #1 player since last Christmas.

The good news is plugged in it sounds great. It's not a P bass or a J bass, but something else. The P pickup has less punch and more warmth I'd say. It cops a good mudbucker sound if you roll down the tone. The J pickup is pretty punchy and well-rounded for a bridge pickup.

Both pickups together and I'm not sure how I'd categorize it. It doesn't seem to have as much of a mid-scoop as I would expect, so it doesn't do a J-like tone really in my opinion. Meaning I didn't notice as much of the grind. It's kinda like a slightly brighter P sound to my ears.

I really like the control scheme on this and I'm usually a VVT kinda guy. It's something different so that's definitely nice, but it also gives you three pretty good preset tones. The bridge pickup sounds good when solo'd.

Anyway, all the different factors combined just made a sweet little bass. I'm considering a second one.
 
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#1,039
shoulderpet said:
How do the Daddario nylons sound on this bass? Am considering giving these a try
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I like them on my Mustang PJ. A nice low, deep, mellow, tone like flats, and has a punch if set your amp for it. I use ETB92 Nylons on my Ric 4003W also. ETB92S Nylons On the Mustang PJ.
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