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New PJ Mustang at Summer NAMM
- Thread starter GhettoBrassGuy
- Start date
So my strings will be here today, I'm really interested to hear the difference coming from the stock rounds. Anybody else have intonation issues with there Mustangs? More specifically the E string. I can't seem to get it spot on, so I'm hoping the new string will help.
Alright so I'm in the PJ Mustang gang. 
I went out for pizza and a trip to the museum, and I saw a sonic blue Mustang PJ in the window of my local pawnbroker. £325 gbp, so I couldn't resist! Not a single mark or fingerprint on the thing, so I'm thinking unwanted gift or something like that.
I'm having a good hair day, so here is me with the Mustang. In the background you can see my Coronado II skulking nervously, and on the floor next to me is a heap of all the stuff I'm offloading to Ebay to lighten the blow.
If you are eagle eyed, you will have already spotted the replacement bridge. This is a Fender BA II bridge taken from a Starcaster bass. The flying saucer string tree came from that same bass.
I've been down this route before. I used to own a MIJ Mustang bass:
What I like about the bass is that the tone is solid, especially in the P pickup setting. The pickup was wimpy in the the MIJ bass! It looked cooler (arguably), but the pickups were weak and finicky. I would be happy with Fender making these PJ basses as a simple P bass, though the Jazz pickup is nice and burpy once you tame it with the tone control. So...
The good:
See! What is that? Not a sign of any solder on that end of the switch. People with switch issues should check this out. An odd QC mistake. Had the wire unhooked then I might have had some noise issues or even silence, if the wire ended up grounding out the hot tabs at the other end of the switch. A bit unimpressive.
Finally, the bass is blue! The sonic blue is subtle, and the mint pickguard robs the blue hue somehow. I think a white pickguard, or even parchment, would look better on there. The mint almost looks khaki. I'm also thinking about rolling an orange pickguard for it. The blue/orange combo would look retro, like a '60s Ford GT40. I'm wondering if I could delete the 3-way switch, and have the tone control as a push/pull to bring the J pickup into the solo or mute it.
I went out for pizza and a trip to the museum, and I saw a sonic blue Mustang PJ in the window of my local pawnbroker. £325 gbp, so I couldn't resist! Not a single mark or fingerprint on the thing, so I'm thinking unwanted gift or something like that.
I'm having a good hair day, so here is me with the Mustang. In the background you can see my Coronado II skulking nervously, and on the floor next to me is a heap of all the stuff I'm offloading to Ebay to lighten the blow.
If you are eagle eyed, you will have already spotted the replacement bridge. This is a Fender BA II bridge taken from a Starcaster bass. The flying saucer string tree came from that same bass.
I've been down this route before. I used to own a MIJ Mustang bass:
What I like about the bass is that the tone is solid, especially in the P pickup setting. The pickup was wimpy in the the MIJ bass! It looked cooler (arguably), but the pickups were weak and finicky. I would be happy with Fender making these PJ basses as a simple P bass, though the Jazz pickup is nice and burpy once you tame it with the tone control. So...
The good:
- Robust tone! This thing thunders, without the rubbery, twangy tone of my Japanese Mustang bass of yore. I plugged it into a Peavey combo in the pawnbrokers, set the EQ to flat, and had a usable tone right there!
- The neck is comfortable. Satin finish on the back works for me as well.
- The previous owner fitted some decent flats already. Cheers bud!
- The palm-muted pick tone of this is great. Definitely a monster bass for garage rock, '60s rock, psychedelia.
- Finger style doesn't overwhelm it! My Japanese Mustang seemed to fart out if I played with anything but bomb-disposal levels of detail and precision.
- The frets are big! Not small vintage frets at all. They feel the same as those on my MIM Telecaster guitar, and bigger than those on the Coronado. For this bass I feel it works!
- That switch! It sticks out the pickguard quite far (I shimmed mine with a second nut behind the pickguard) and the ground wire wasn't soldered to it, simply wrapped around the eyelet.
See! What is that? Not a sign of any solder on that end of the switch. People with switch issues should check this out. An odd QC mistake. Had the wire unhooked then I might have had some noise issues or even silence, if the wire ended up grounding out the hot tabs at the other end of the switch. A bit unimpressive.
- Fretwork was ok, but it was installed to a slightly higher quality on my Chinese-built Coronado II bass. More attention was paid to the fret ends on the Coronado as well. However neither bass had especially exemplary crowning on the frets. A few on the Mustang had a wide, flat top.
- The fretboard is presumably Pau Ferro, and has a satin mist coat sprayed on it. Why? The grain of the wood was hidden by a satin sheen of something. I scraped the board and oiled it. It looks better now!
- I'm not entirely sold on the J pickup, but it does its job. I'm trying to think of a more graceful wiring solution, but at the moment I'm drawing a blank.
Finally, the bass is blue! The sonic blue is subtle, and the mint pickguard robs the blue hue somehow. I think a white pickguard, or even parchment, would look better on there. The mint almost looks khaki. I'm also thinking about rolling an orange pickguard for it. The blue/orange combo would look retro, like a '60s Ford GT40. I'm wondering if I could delete the 3-way switch, and have the tone control as a push/pull to bring the J pickup into the solo or mute it.
Thanks! Had my first proper rehearsal with it last night. I played it with just the P pickup solo'd for about 95 % of the time, and then with both pickups for the other 5 %.
It definitely holds its ground better than my old MIJ Mustang, and it is comfortable enough to play. It sits differently to a P bass as the horn is shorter, and the headstock does seem a bit heavy? It isn't a diver as such, but it does want to sit at 9:00. It is also so small that I was throwing it around a bit without really thinking about it. A great, light bass. It sounds big!
I'm still thinking about a wiring revision for it, and maybe a pickguard change. Two people have indicated that I should stick a mirror pickguard on there, and I'm also thinking of doing a white pearloid pickguard for a retro look.
The trick for making your Sonic Blue Mustang turn blue is to replace the pickguard:
I made the pickguard myself, though I'm tempted to get a WD Music pickguard in the long run. I put a cream switch tip on there as well.
The pickguard on these basses is very green. It is almost a light khaki colour. I think that maybe the human eye 'normalises' the colour a bit. If you take one of these pickguards and stick it next to a normal white pickguard then the green really jumps out! However if you put it on this 'faded sonic blue' bass then I think the eye adjusts the colour slightly, and sees it whiter than it is. The knock-on effect is to reduce your perception of the blue as a result.
Honestly I put a white pearloid pickguard on the bass above and the colour of the bass changed, because the white pickguard changes your frame of reference.
For reference, the pickguard was a complete faff to make. It has to fit the neck pocket, control plate and pickups perfectly. I don't own a router either. I had to rough out the shape of the pickguard with a dremel and cutting wheels, then dial it in further with files and sand paper. I used a 12mm Forstner bit to get the pickup lugs routed, as well as the corners of the neck pocket. This involved a bit of highschool maths!
Finally the bevel on the pickguard was applied using a Stanley blade screwed to a wooden beam at 45 degrees, with an overhang to drive the pickguard edge against. I coloured the edge of the pickguard in with a Sharpie and watched as the pen was removed with each pass, stopping when the lower white layer was revealed, and adjusting if the black middle layer was inconsistently thick. Work you could to in 2 minutes with a router took me about 6 hours.
I made the pickguard myself, though I'm tempted to get a WD Music pickguard in the long run. I put a cream switch tip on there as well.
The pickguard on these basses is very green. It is almost a light khaki colour. I think that maybe the human eye 'normalises' the colour a bit. If you take one of these pickguards and stick it next to a normal white pickguard then the green really jumps out! However if you put it on this 'faded sonic blue' bass then I think the eye adjusts the colour slightly, and sees it whiter than it is. The knock-on effect is to reduce your perception of the blue as a result.
Honestly I put a white pearloid pickguard on the bass above and the colour of the bass changed, because the white pickguard changes your frame of reference.
For reference, the pickguard was a complete faff to make. It has to fit the neck pocket, control plate and pickups perfectly. I don't own a router either. I had to rough out the shape of the pickguard with a dremel and cutting wheels, then dial it in further with files and sand paper. I used a 12mm Forstner bit to get the pickup lugs routed, as well as the corners of the neck pocket. This involved a bit of highschool maths!
Finally the bevel on the pickguard was applied using a Stanley blade screwed to a wooden beam at 45 degrees, with an overhang to drive the pickguard edge against. I coloured the edge of the pickguard in with a Sharpie and watched as the pen was removed with each pass, stopping when the lower white layer was revealed, and adjusting if the black middle layer was inconsistently thick. Work you could to in 2 minutes with a router took me about 6 hours.
Great, another "what color is this dress" image! Seriously, though, that new pickguard absolutely changes everything. Looks really nice.
The ultimate accolade! I'm getting WD Music to spin up a proper pickguard for it in white pearloid, but at £65+ I might wait until next month.
Smart move on the white pearl. Really makes that pale blue pop more. I still say Fender didn't mix this color correctly . It should be called barely blue rather than sonic blue.
I posted this over in pickups....but thought I would see if anyone here has any thoughts.
I heard the the PJ mustang was wired like a telecaster with 3 way switch, but it appears not? Any benefits/drawacks to wiring it like the telecaster? I'm not crazy about the volume drop when turning the tone knob down.
My PJ Mustang wiring:
And tele wiring:
I heard the the PJ mustang was wired like a telecaster with 3 way switch, but it appears not? Any benefits/drawacks to wiring it like the telecaster? I'm not crazy about the volume drop when turning the tone knob down.
My PJ Mustang wiring:
And tele wiring:
Went nuts on my white PJ Mustang.....
Amber nitro on the neck, aged (slightly) the hardware, stripped the heavy poly and applied 3 coats of fiesta red nitro, fully shielded the cavities, new wiring harness (wired telecaster style) and.....a bridge ashtray.
It was a busy Saturday.
Amber nitro on the neck, aged (slightly) the hardware, stripped the heavy poly and applied 3 coats of fiesta red nitro, fully shielded the cavities, new wiring harness (wired telecaster style) and.....a bridge ashtray.
It was a busy Saturday.
I'm surprised that the J added some smoothness, would have thought it would be more honky, but it's a great smooth sound in PJ mode and the stock P bass pick up sounds fantastic too.
