NBD Midtown

[patman]

You made a good trade...I love my Mustang.

[Pilgrim]

^^Agreed. Fun basses, good sound.

[uwe]

Don't forget to play the Mustang with only downstrokes and a pick! That is mandatory. And make sure the A string is always louder than the E string ...

To this day it draws a smile to my face when listening to Quo's 70s recordings that I can always tell which string Alan Lancaster is playing at any given time even without seeing him. I actually always wait for and anticipate him changing from the E to the A string and vice versa, such bliss ... 

[patman]

Just bought my third Mustang, this one a competition Mustang...very comfortable nice sounding and very Fender sounding. Nice thud with Labella's...

[Alanko]

Don't forget to play the Mustang with only downstrokes and a pick! That is mandatory. And make sure the A string is always louder than the E string ...

To this day it draws a smile to my face when listening to Quo's 70s recordings that I can always tell which string Alan Lancaster is playing at any given time even without seeing him. I actually always wait for and anticipate him changing from the E to the A string and vice versa, such bliss ... 

The polepieces are narrow on Mustang pickups and don't sit directly under every string. I had the same problem recording a stock Mustang a few years ago. We sort of got away with it using heavy compression, but it was the phenomenon you describe!

[patman]

I always think of the "E" string as being "squishy sounding" while the others are well defined. Happens on all 3 of my Mustangs, which all have different pickups.

I always thought it was a function of the 30 inch scale.

[Basvarken]

The Les Paul Bass proves that this is not the case.

[patman]

My Les Paul has a good e string also...the extra .5 inch helps a lot...

[Basvarken]

My Les Paul has a good e string also...the extra .5 inch helps a lot...

The pickups
The location of the pickups
The neck thickness
And the body weight

All contribute to the excellent tone.

[morrow]

I have a bunch of short scale basses , about a dozen , I think. I just put on stiffer strings if I feel the E isn't happening. A surprising number have low tension flats and no issues.