Pre-1969 Mustang vs post-1969

[ajkula66]

Simple: because the vintage germ is stubborn. For example, this 1973 is for sale in Germany and I can't stop thinking about it.

You like blue things, don't you ? That 118 sure brings back memories of my much younger years.

I've never played - let alone owned - a JMJ Mustang but went through several Mustangs during the '80s, and in all fairness it's one of two Fender basses that I wouldn't have a problem buying sight unseen, the other one being the '68-71 Tele Bass.

Why ? I've never played a bad Mustang, something that I couldn't say about its more famous/expensive cousins.

My $0.02 only...

Happy shopping.

 

[NewJackBass]

I bought my JMJ from a guy who had a '66 Dakota Red Mustang also. He let me play it and I honestly preferred the JMJ, but honestly they were REALLY close in feel and sound to me. That being said, I completely understand the Vintage bug...

 

[BassAgent]

You like blue things, don't you ? That 118 sure brings back memories of my much younger years.

Hah it's pure coincidence! I got the Acoustic at a thrift store for next to nothing. Sold it though, it was so insanely heavy hahaha!

 

[smatanovic]

As someone who has never played a Mustang, what’s the appeal? I find the typical jazz bass neck to be almost too small/narrow, I’m much more comfortable on a precision neck, the wider the better. Is a mustang neck closer to a jazz or pbass?

 

[BassAgent]

A short scale bass is very different from a long scale bass. It feels different (of course) and sounds different (more "sloppy" mostly). I've used my JMJ last weekend on an alt country-ish demo and it worked perfectly.

 

[jj4001]

As someone who has never played a Mustang, what’s the appeal? I find the typical jazz bass neck to be almost too small/narrow, I’m much more comfortable on a precision neck, the wider the better. Is a mustang neck closer to a jazz or pbass?

For me, the appeal is that I’m 5’7” lol. Longtime 4001 and Precision player here but getting my ‘66 Mustang was definitely a case of, “why work harder when you can work smarter?”

Sonically, I find the Mustang is close to a P with its pickup placement, but for lack of better words I’d say the P is a little more open and 3D sounding with more sweetness in the mids. The Mustang does this cool thing where every note sounds like it’s played on the same string, as if the bass line is being played on a keyboard or something. Also, while I perceive more mids when hearing the P in a room, somehow the Mustang slays listening to it played on a recording through phone speakers or really any tiny speakers that don’t reproduce bass frequencies well. No idea why that is, but it is.

 

[smatanovic]

For me, the appeal is that I’m 5’7” lol.

I figured that might be a part of it. I'm 6'4" with bear paws for hands, hence my preference for chunky p bass necks.

I think I just need to play a few mustangs and see what they feel like.

 

[lm183902]

As someone who has never played a Mustang, what’s the appeal? I find the typical jazz bass neck to be almost too small/narrow, I’m much more comfortable on a precision neck, the wider the better. Is a mustang neck closer to a jazz or pbass?

I feel like there are several good reasons to play a Mustang. If you have smaller hands and struggle to play with big stretches down low on a normal scale instrument, a Mustang will help with that. My reasoning is all about tone though. You get a really thick and tubby fundamental and that, combined with where the point/attack of your notes sit just seem to wrap perfectly around certain kick drums. They also seem to feel much more even across all notes than a P Bass (but maybe I'm crazy?). I've never experienced any dead notes on a Mustang, whereas every normal scale bass I've ever played has had them to some degree. Also, the flats w/ a pick tone is unrivaled, imo.

 

[jj4001]

I figured that might be a part of it. I'm 6'4" with bear paws for hands, hence my preference for chunky p bass necks.

I think I just need to play a few mustangs and see what they feel like.

Yeah, at 6’4”, no reason not to stick with a P. I’m with you on Jazz necks, I’m much more comfortable on a P neck. Though I think it may be the extreme taper more so than the spacing at the nut. I’d say my ‘66 Mustang is much closer to a Jazz string spacing there, but it doesn’t bother me at all since it’s in perfect proportion to the rest of the neck. On a Jazz, that spacing feels so awkward and out of proportion to the rest of the bass.

 

[BassAgent]

Another question; I'm currently looking at a 1973 Mustang (not the one in the pic on the first page of this thread) and it has the thumb rest above the strings. To my knowledge, Mustangs usually have the rest under the strings (so at the G-string side). Does it happen that they're on the other side?

 

[BassAgent]

I figured that might be a part of it. I'm 6'4" with bear paws for hands, hence my preference for chunky p bass necks.

I think I just need to play a few mustangs and see what they feel like.

Well, I'm 6'2" with quite big hands and I use my Mustang even on TV:

 

[sunbeast]

As someone who has never played a Mustang, what’s the appeal? I find the typical jazz bass neck to be almost too small/narrow, I’m much more comfortable on a precision neck, the wider the better. Is a mustang neck closer to a jazz or pbass?

As others have said, the tone is really unique in a mix. It's common to compare to a P-bass due to the pickup being a split-coil, but I don't find them to sound much at all like a P in practice. Of course any basses strung with super fresh bright round wounds and with wide-open tone controls will tend to sound somewhat similar as the harmonic content strongly overpowers everything else (whenever someone says X bass sounds basically the same as Y bass that are fundamentally very different I usually assume they are using bright roundwounds!), but using some more muted rounds or flat wounds (or using manual muting techniques) the difference becomes very apparent IME. The comments about the consistent thickness of tone across the neck are one of my favorite parts about the Mustang (and most short-scales for that matter). There is also a sharper attack and quicker decay than a typical P-bass that along with that fatness across the neck really sticks out to me when using a Mustang with flat wounds in a mix (very clear on @BassAgent great video above). Indeed there tends to be more of a scooped midrange compared to a P (which is a midrange machine).

As far as height of players go- the first time I noticed a Mustang live (apart from seeing videos of JMJ or Tina Weymouth playing one) was just randomly in an opening band at a bar I used to work some 20 years ago. The guy playing it was taller than me and pretty muscular (I'm a slim 6'5") and it looked fairly cartoonish on him, but the tone in the mix was among maybe the best I'd ever heard from a bassist in that room- he was playing flats with a pick through an Ampeg V4B + 1x15" cab and the punch of his lines between the bass drum and guitars/keys sounded straight out of a record. I wish I had written down the name of the band!

I am tall with big hands and tend to prefer the overall feel of a P-bass, but still use a Mustang for the tone sometimes (I'd love to find a way to make a P sound like a Mustang- but even the Fender Bullet basses from the 80s that are long scales with Mustang pickups don't really sound like a Mustang). The neck width (side to side) seems closer to a J-bass on the ones I've owned (never actually measured), but the width of the neck heel is smaller than a P or J too so the relative taper as you go up the neck is more like a P if that makes sense. The string-spacing is also tighter than a P or J at the bridge.

 

[JIO]

Another question; I'm currently looking at a 1973 Mustang (not the one in the pic on the first page of this thread) and it has the thumb rest above the strings. To my knowledge, Mustangs usually have the rest under the strings (so at the G-string side). Does it happen that they're on the other side?

'60s Fender basses had the rest on the G side - switched to the E side in '74. (early '74s still had it on the G side)

 

[JIO]

Well, I'm 6'2" with quite big hands and I use my Mustang even on TV:

Nice performance. I also like the cycling excerpt/coverage!

 

[BassAgent]

'60s Fender basses had the rest on the G side - switched to the E side in '74. (early '74s still had it on the G side)

The serial on this particular bass says '73 and the pickguard has no holes on the G side. Sooooooo is that wrong?

 

[JIO]

The serial on this particular bass says '73 and the pickguard has no holes on the G side. Sooooooo is that wrong?

Both happened in '73. Fender introduced new things every 6 months then so yours is most likely a late '73 (July-Dec)

https://reverb.com/item/76843507-1973-fender-mustang-bass - E side

https://reverb.com/au/item/20631735-fender-mustang-bass-1973-sunburst - E-side

【used】Fender / 1973 Mustang Bass #405747 3.43kg【横浜店】 - Geek IN Box - G side

1973 Fender Mustang Bass, Sunburst - G side

 

[smatanovic]

I figured that might be a part of it. I'm 6'4" with bear paws for hands, hence my preference for chunky p bass necks.

I think I just need to play a few mustangs and see what they feel like.

Follow-up: I went a local Guitar Center yesterday and they had a lovely-looking Vintera II Mustang (Invalid Link Removed). I sat down and played it for about 30 minutes, but I could not get comfortable with the size and string spacing. It felt like I was holding a child’s toy: granted, a well crafted, expensive child’s toy, but the thing just disappeared in my hands.

 

[BassAgent]

Hah and that's exactly why I like mine. It's such a teensy weensy little bass that feels so comfortable and almost like you're not holding anything.

Oh speaking of size: a well known Belgian bassist, Paul van Bruystegem, played a LOT of Mustang. I've interviewed him a few years ago and my hand disappeared in his. Paul is ENORMOUS.

In other news: I bought a 73. Not the one from the previous page but a different one. Original except for the (very well made) nut and strap locks, taken care of véry well by the first owner who I bought it from. It is veeeeery different from my JMJ so they might both stay...

 

[sunbeast]

Follow-up: I went a local Guitar Center yesterday and they had a lovely-looking Vintera II Mustang (Invalid Link Removed). I sat down and played it for about 30 minutes, but I could not get comfortable with the size and string spacing. It felt like I was holding a child’s toy: granted, a well crafted, expensive child’s toy, but the thing just disappeared in my hands.

I feel that- my Mustang currently is a very lightweight Squier body paired with a vintage Fender Musicmaster neck. The neck is tiny in my hands and the whole bass weighs around 7 pounds. Sounds massive though, and for a long set I barely even feel it on my shoulder!

 

[Lammchop93]

Hah and that's exactly why I like mine. It's such a teensy weensy little bass that feels so comfortable and almost like you're not holding anything.

Oh speaking of size: a well known Belgian bassist, Paul van Bruystegem, played a LOT of Mustang. I've interviewed him a few years ago and my hand disappeared in his. Paul is ENORMOUS.

In other news: I bought a 73. Not the one from the previous page but a different one. Original except for the (very well made) nut and strap locks, taken care of véry well by the first owner who I bought it from. It is veeeeery different from my JMJ so they might both stay...

How do the necks compare between these 2 basses? I play an early 70's competition the other week and I can't get it out of my head, but the seller was asking way too much. Just curious if the neck is similar to the JMJs.