Yea that’s the plan. I had one in my cart 15 years ago and wish now I pulled the damn trigger and got it. Hopefully this plays well and surprises me. Maybe I’ll post a video since I got so many of yall invested!
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Thoughts on this 77 Mustang
- Thread starter painful100
- Start date
I think I’m actually after more of a p sound in a Mustang / short scale bass with a vintage swag. Yea I won’t pay top dollar for it, no way. But if it feels good and sounds good I’ll keep an open mind.
The more I look at this, the more I don’t know why I think this is a mustang neck on a musicmaster body. Unless the serial number on the neck matches a mustang, I’m thinking this whole thing is a musicmaster with a ton of mods.
Lest it need be said, that pickguard looks aftermarket too. I am pretty sure tortoise guards were only used on Mustangs in 60s and maybe early 70s. So it may be a Mustang neck, Musicmaster body, and aftermarket everything else. Personally, the lack of "authenticity" wouldn't bother me at all--I would prefer to play that bass to an all-original vintage Mustang or Musicmaster. But I would also expect to pay a fair bit less for it!
And the other question is what P pickup is in there? Is it something nice or something cheap?
Yeah, i think any illusions of authenticity are out the window. But that bass is cool as hell, reeks of mojo and wasn't done recently. Despite the body looking like an antique dart board i bet it plays great, good luck.
It’s got a SPB1 pickups. See attached photo. Any idea how to tell how old these are?
It says Mustang on the neck, that would probably be hard to pull off looking so clean right? Check out this pic, can you tell anything from what on the neck?
Well that’s a good point, the neck doesn’t look like it’s been modified in any way, so seems like the mustang decal is probably legit
Alright. Moment of truth. I got the bass in hand now and recorded some tones to check out. I appreciate y’all’s interest and comments thus far. Let me know what you think of the tones. I’ll upload two files. First one is just the bass solo, and then the second one is the same identical file but with some drums I tossed on. I normally play and like the sound of flat wounds, but these are chromes.
Started with tone knob down and hit open strings (E, A, D, G), then tone knob all the way up repeat. Got a fuzzy sounds when I hit the G but it went it wasn’t consistently there. Then at :25 went to the 5th fret and did A, D, G, C. Tone knob down, then mid, then open. Then played with drums, 4 bars knob down, then 4 open, then 4 mid. And played around after that.
Regarding the body, no contours as suspected from the images. The neck had a serial number that indicates a 70s Mustang. Check out the pickups, do they look alright? I know placement is key. And if I were to get flatwounds. Any suggestion on which labella’s to get? Assuming not the mustang specific ones at this point.
Thanks y’all for joining me on this journey. The bass definitely has mojo, just got sort out the rest with this Frankenstang and see what it’s worth to me. haha
Started with tone knob down and hit open strings (E, A, D, G), then tone knob all the way up repeat. Got a fuzzy sounds when I hit the G but it went it wasn’t consistently there. Then at :25 went to the 5th fret and did A, D, G, C. Tone knob down, then mid, then open. Then played with drums, 4 bars knob down, then 4 open, then 4 mid. And played around after that.
Regarding the body, no contours as suspected from the images. The neck had a serial number that indicates a 70s Mustang. Check out the pickups, do they look alright? I know placement is key. And if I were to get flatwounds. Any suggestion on which labella’s to get? Assuming not the mustang specific ones at this point.
Thanks y’all for joining me on this journey. The bass definitely has mojo, just got sort out the rest with this Frankenstang and see what it’s worth to me. haha
Attachments
Was the bass recorded direct? Assuming it was, there's nothing bad about how it sounds and the playing is good. But at the end of the day it sounds more like a P-bass to me. Was there any EQ or processing applied to the bass track?
I'm just another internet nobody, but I do record frequently, with various short and long scales. The two Mustangs I've used were a JMJ and a '66 w/ Bullet pickups. They inherently sit in a mix differently than say a P-bass. To my ears, the Mustangs do a punchy low-mid thing whereas the P has more beef/bloom (that sometimes needs to be reeled in so it doesn't consume all the low freq. real estate).
If you like how it sounds and how it feels in your hands, by all means keep it and enjoy it.
I'm just another internet nobody, but I do record frequently, with various short and long scales. The two Mustangs I've used were a JMJ and a '66 w/ Bullet pickups. They inherently sit in a mix differently than say a P-bass. To my ears, the Mustangs do a punchy low-mid thing whereas the P has more beef/bloom (that sometimes needs to be reeled in so it doesn't consume all the low freq. real estate).
If you like how it sounds and how it feels in your hands, by all means keep it and enjoy it.
