Mustang basses... any fans?

[Alanko]

Still not seen one of the new PJ Mustangs in the flesh, but I have a used MIJ '60s reissue Mustang coming my way. Tomorrow or Wednesday a box of parts should arrive which, once assembled, will make a Mustang. The frets have signs of roundwound wear, so I will be sorting them out first.

I've purchased a set of La Bella Deep Talkin' Mustang flatwound strings. Any fans?

[Pilgrim]

Still not seen one of the new PJ Mustangs in the flesh, but I have a used MIJ '60s reissue Mustang coming my way. Tomorrow or Wednesday a box of parts should arrive which, once assembled, will make a Mustang. The frets have signs of roundwound wear, so I will be sorting them out first.

I've purchased a set of La Bella Deep Talkin' Mustang flatwound strings. Any fans?

Oh, YEAH.  Those are THE strings for a traditional sound.  I like the light gauge .043-.104 set. The short scale set fits perfectly.  Give them about 60 days to settle in and sound like Labellas...then those strings are good for the lifetime of the bass. I have used those strings on Fender, Gretsch, Dean and Gibson (EB-0) basses.

This should be a real winner.  Enjoy!!

[Alanko]

Glad to hear it! I was going to go for Chromes, but figured that if somebody made Mustang strings then they are probably already optimal for length, tension, balance etc. Thanks for reassuring me!

[Pilgrim]

Chromes are good strings, but by reputation brighter than the Deep Talkin' Flats. The Labellas are the go-to strings for classic flatwound sound, and they're extremely durable. To say they last for decades is no exaggeration.

[Dave W]

The MIJ Mustangs are strung through body. Did you order the right set for them?

You need medium scale strings, and at least some Mustangs have smaller tuners. LaBella makes a special set just for strung-through-body Mustangs. They don't recommend using their regular flats on through-body basses.

[Pilgrim]

Absolutely correct!  I forgot about the string-through bridge. Definitely get the correct set, as Dave is right on target both with the length and the warning about using their standard strings for through-body installation.

[Alanko]

I got the strings marketed as specifically for Mustang basses.

[Dave W]

I got the strings marketed as specifically for Mustang basses.

Whew!    Seriously, glad you ordered the Mustang set. Returning and reshipping can really drive up the cost.

[Alanko]

Both the Mustang and the La Bellas arrived today. The Mustang confused me. The seller sent it to me with the neck removed, but  I was still confused by the large brown box under my desk this morning. Had a quick poke around inside, and was blown away by how small the body is! I'd honestly forgotten how small Mustangs are, especially as I've only seen pictures of them recently with shorter bassists playing them.

[Pilgrim]

Both the Mustang and the La Bellas arrived today. The Mustang confused me. The seller sent it to me with the neck removed, but  I was still confused by the large brown box under my desk this morning. Had a quick poke around inside, and was blown away by how small the body is! I'd honestly forgotten how small Mustangs are, especially as I've only seen pictures of them recently with shorter bassists playing them.

That's part of their appeal. It's refreshing to play a light instrument like a Mustang or EB-0 after hefting many other basses.

[Alanko]

Heh! Bass reassembled. I levelled the frets and re-crowned them. I used a machined aluminium beam and a 'little bone' fret file. I've heard it said that these are actually Japanese knife sharpening tools, re-branded as fret files. I was surprised to see guitar frets on the Mustang neck, so I figured the little bone was a better option than triangular files.

The bass is good fun to play. The La Bellas are wonderfully balanced both in feel and tonal balance. They even came with a wee numbered plastic cube on each string reminding you of the order. The bass is a wee bit of a neck diver, but I've fitted a suede strap, and all is good. I'm looking forward to the strings bedding in a bit, but out the gate they sound nicer than the slightly stiff, powdery feel I've felt on new Chromes.

A few tangential thoughts about the design. The Japanese reissue doesn't come with foam mutes (no great loss) or a tug bar. I might fit a tug bar, and I presume it is the same size as a standard Precision or Jazz tug bar?

Second thought, the Mustang is a weird mix of corner-cutting design and innovation. Compared to the similar Musicmaster bass, which is a more overtly budget design, the Mustang's electronics sit on their own chrome plate (more metal, more machining, higher cost to produce), the pickups are proprietary to the design and the bridge is also unique to the instrument. In fact the bridge reminds me of a Stingray bridge to a limited degree. Was this one of Leo Fender's last design for Fender? He might have been playing around with the idea of high mass bridges from the Mustang onwards, as both Music Man and G&L bass designs feature higher mass bridges than the P or J.

[Pilgrim]

Two questions...

How does it sound?

Pictures?

[Dave W]

Although the Mustang guitar came out before Leo sold to CBS, the Mustang bass didn't come out until afterward. That doesn't necessarily mean he didn't design the bridge, it may have already been on the drawing board.

[Alanko]

Pictures are in the works! I need to clean up the paintwork and drop-fill a couple of dents, then fit the tug bar (and work out where to locate it).

Sound wise it basically has a P bass sonic footprint. Maybe a little less girth to the tone, but that is probably psychoacoustics at work! I will see how well I get on with the stock pickups, as a lot of folk seem to swap them out and generally not get on with them. The tone control is pretty powerful. If you roll it down it gets pretty dark and thumpy. At 10 however the bass is surprisingly bright. In a weird way it reminds me of my Ibanez Axstar bass: the tone seems to be more about the pickups and control settings, and it sounds like a more direct reproduction of the strings, and every tap and knock you put into them. Maybe not the most organic tone ever. I find that my P bass, and other I've tried, tend to 'level' the tone more into typical P bass territory. The P bass tone is in there, but it seems a bit more responsive to playing variables.

I will need to adjust my technique slightly, as I think I'm being a bit rough on it, having transitioned off my P bass which takes a bit of wrestling. The neck has maybe a wee bit too much relief, so I get that 'squack' sound off the higher frets, even plucking a bit lighter than on my 34'' basses.

Only thing I've noticed is that after adjusting the action and intonation the G string has quickly gone a bit duller and more typically 'flatwound' in tone than the other three. Not a big concern, trusting that there is nothing up with the string itself. At the moment the saddles are quite low, so I might build a shim for the bass out of plastic card. The set-screws for the saddles project quite far out of the saddle themselves, and I do palm-mute on occasion.

Speaking of bridges, I'm sure I saw reference to an early Stingray prototype with a Mustang bridge, P bass neck and pickup, albeit with a Stingray-shaped body?

[Pilgrim]

I would bet that the other strings will come along soon and be more consistent in sound.

I'd shim under the bottom of the neck, not the bridge...typical Fender adjustment. My '63 P has had a shim under there since 1967 when I got it, probably since new.