Mustang Reissue neck dimensions

GeSe · Post by **GeSe** » Fri Mar 29, 2019 3:13 pm

Hi Shortscale people. The call of the shortscale is very loud at the moment and I decided to buy a Mustang reissue. I wonder if anyone can tell me how their necks differ. I read that the '69 reissues have a narrower nut than the '65 reissues. Can anyone confirm? What about the Kurt Cobain ones and the '73 reissues? Is the general neck thickness/shape the same with all of those? I own one guitar with a 42mm nut, but a baseball bat, normal scale neck. I can't just view all four as each one would likely involve a a full day of travelling. Thus I'm uncertain which one to chose for the complete contrast to my other guitar.

As a secondary consideration: how do the pickups compare?

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Sat Mar 30, 2019 2:41 pm

man all this modern stuff out there right now....i haven't been able to pick them all up and compare neck sizes to the muscle memory off all the ones in my own collection.

I will tell you this. the one neck that was the truest to the late 90's skinny neck stuff (MG 69) was the squier VM mustang. and it had tons of gloss all over it like the old ones did too. These newer ones with the satin necks I don't even bother picking up because my left hand tells my brain fuck this thing it doesn't feel right.

Pickups are tough too because we were all swapping out the pickups on all the older fender mustangs of that era too. no one was ever happy with anything they ever made. I think I kept the grey bottom pickups in my MG65 RI slab body because i liked them a lot. but only for like a year before I ended up tearing everything out making a new one pickup pickguard, with a single SD SJAG1 in it. So it sounded like a jaguar, but with all the mustang hardware oddities. the neck on the 65RI was a lot beefier than all my other mustangs

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Sat Mar 30, 2019 4:02 pm

My VM mustang neck was ridiculously chunky tho. But true about the gloss.

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Sat Mar 30, 2019 4:26 pm

robroe wrote:man all this modern stuff out there right now....i haven't been able to pick them all up and compare neck sizes to the muscle memory off all the ones in my own collection.

I will tell you this. the one neck that was the truest to the late 90's skinny neck stuff (MG 69) was the squier VM mustang. and it had tons of gloss all over it like the old ones did too. These newer ones with the satin necks I don't even bother picking up because my left hand tells my brain fuck this thing it doesn't feel right.

Pickups are tough too because we were all swapping out the pickups on all the older fender mustangs of that era too. no one was ever happy with anything they ever made. I think I kept the grey bottom pickups in my MG65 RI slab body because i liked them a lot. but only for like a year before I ended up tearing everything out making a new one pickup pickguard, with a single SD SJAG1 in it. So it sounded like a jaguar, but with all the mustang hardware oddities. the neck on the 65RI was a lot beefier than all my other mustangs

What about the Bullet Stang? How thick is the neck on it?

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Sun Mar 31, 2019 2:16 am

bigger than 69 neck. satin neck. after i shoe polished the shit out of it felt better to me

GeSe · Post by **GeSe** » Sun Mar 31, 2019 8:09 am

robroe wrote:man all this modern stuff out there right now....i haven't been able to pick them all up and compare neck sizes to the muscle memory off all the ones in my own collection.

I will tell you this. the one neck that was the truest to the late 90's skinny neck stuff (MG 69) was the squier VM mustang. and it had tons of gloss all over it like the old ones did too. These newer ones with the satin necks I don't even bother picking up because my left hand tells my brain fuck this thing it doesn't feel right.

Pickups are tough too because we were all swapping out the pickups on all the older fender mustangs of that era too. no one was ever happy with anything they ever made. I think I kept the grey bottom pickups in my MG65 RI slab body because i liked them a lot. but only for like a year before I ended up tearing everything out making a new one pickup pickguard, with a single SD SJAG1 in it. So it sounded like a jaguar, but with all the mustang hardware oddities. the neck on the 65RI was a lot beefier than all my other mustangs

Thanks a lot. I can't test a modern Mustang as no shop stocks them here. I did try a Jag (too big body for me) and hated the satin neck. It's just wrong!

Yeah, I read that the '65 reissues have chunkier necks, which would be a dealbreaker for me as I'm really looking for a guitar with a very thin one. I've also considered a VM Squier (might be a cheap modding base) but again no shop stocks them or would order one in for testing.

Btw, what about the Cobain Mustangs? Do those have the chunkier or matchstick necks? I'm not into Nirvana, but that might also be something to consider. At least, with the humbucker, this guitar would be very different to my Tele in pretty much all aspects

GeSe · Post by **GeSe** » Sun Mar 31, 2019 8:16 am

robroe wrote:bigger than 69 neck. satin neck. after i shoe polished the shit out of it felt better to me

Thanks. I'd not consider this one or the current other Fender mustang as they look bland! If I buy a Mustang I want one with lovely colour and a bridge to get annoyed about.

Actually, while I don't really like the race stripe ones, I fell big time for the RE '73 in orange. Just needs a red pickguard. Thick or thin? I think I read somewhere that those are skinny as well.

GeSe · Post by **GeSe** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:22 am

Nick wrote:My VM mustang neck was ridiculously chunky tho. But true about the gloss.

I tried one of those now, and it's indeed very chunky. Not for me I'm afraid even though it might be a great modding guitar.

GeSe · Post by **GeSe** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:36 am

Ok, someone offered me a Kurt Cobain Mustang at a great price. Only problem: communication is difficult as this gentleman only speaks French and me not really. He sent masses of photos but I can't figure out whether the neck is similar to the super skinny '69 RIs.

So far I've tried a SQ VM, which was too chunky for me. Keep in mind I'm tiny and have stubby fingers. Thus if a huge guy describes a neck as skinny it's probably chunky for me

Also tried current Mexican and American models and found them to be a bit better, but also far from skinny. The nut width is 42mm, compared to about 40mm on modern Jags (too big and heavy body for me). Copied from elsewhere, I found this, copied from the Fender Japan website:

MG65 - 1.614 nut width
MG65/VSP - 1.614 nut width
MG69 - 1.574 nut width
MG69/MH - 1.574 nut width
MG69/ALG/2H - 1.574 nut width
MG69/MH/DP - 1.574 nut width
MG73/CO - 1.574 nut width
MG/HO - 1.574 nut width
MG-CUSTOM - 1.574 nut width
MG77 - 1.574 nut width
Jag-stang - 1.5625 nut width

Based on that I should avoid the '65 depending on what kind of neck it has. But the KC is not on this list.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:59 am

GeSe wrote:
robroe wrote:bigger than 69 neck. satin neck. after i shoe polished the shit out of it felt better to me
If I buy a Mustang I want one with lovely colour and a bridge to get annoyed about.

gusman2x · Post by **gusman2x** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:00 am

I have a KC, so I can check for you tonight (or tomorrow If that's OK).

I remember when I bought it, it felt a little "bigger" overall than the '65RI I tried in the shop, but not as big as the RI MIJ Jaguar I have. To be fair it find of feels like a modern C shape.

What's the most important measurement for you, the nut width, or the thickness at multiple frets? I can check whatever measurements you want, and you can then check against your other guitars. I'll be doing mm though, even though we're leaving Europe.

Noirie. · Post by **Noirie.** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:01 am

There's a '65ri at my local place atm. Only played it unplugged and it was pretty busted. Real good neck though. Felt like a better Squier one but with smaller frets.

GeSe · Post by **GeSe** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:32 am

gusman2x wrote:I have a KC, so I can check for you tonight (or tomorrow If that's OK).

I remember when I bought it, it felt a little "bigger" overall than the '65RI I tried in the shop, but not as big as the RI MIJ Jaguar I have. To be fair it find of feels like a modern C shape.

What's the most important measurement for you, the nut width, or the thickness at multiple frets? I can check whatever measurements you want, and you can then check against your other guitars. I'll be doing mm though, even though we're leaving Europe.

Thanks, that's very kind of you

Nut width, and as I don't have calipers I would say circumference at the first and 12th fret dot inlay.

GeSe · Post by **GeSe** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:33 am

robroe wrote:
GeSe wrote:
robroe wrote:bigger than 69 neck. satin neck. after i shoe polished the shit out of it felt better to me
If I buy a Mustang I want one with lovely colour and a bridge to get annoyed about.

Hahaha!

Woman, though

GeSe · Post by **GeSe** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:39 am

Noirie. wrote:There's a '65ri at my local place atm. Only played it unplugged and it was pretty busted. Real good neck though. Felt like a better Squier one but with smaller frets.

I wanted to have a look a '73 RI in a local shop but I was away for business when it was offered, and once I came back 4 days later it was sold. Apparently for the asking price of 900 Euro

That was the closest I came to actually testing a RI Mustang.

Fakir Mustache · Post by **Fakir Mustache** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:33 pm

You might want to check out those VM Jaguars with the 2 humbuckers and fixed tailpiece. Not for the body, but the neck, it's a tad thinner than the one on the VM Mustang. The idea would be to swap necks with a Mustang body you like, then sell the Jag body with the Mustang neck you don't like.

gusman2x · Post by **gusman2x** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:49 pm

GeSe wrote:
gusman2x wrote:I have a KC, so I can check for you tonight (or tomorrow If that's OK).

I remember when I bought it, it felt a little "bigger" overall than the '65RI I tried in the shop, but not as big as the RI MIJ Jaguar I have. To be fair it find of feels like a modern C shape.

What's the most important measurement for you, the nut width, or the thickness at multiple frets? I can check whatever measurements you want, and you can then check against your other guitars. I'll be doing mm though, even though we're leaving Europe.
Thanks, that's very kind of you

Nut width, and as I don't have calipers I would say circumference at the first and 12th fret dot inlay.

No prob. If you haven't heard from me within 24 hrs, shoot me a PM so I get an email.

GeSe · Post by **GeSe** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:54 pm

Fakir Mustache wrote:You might want to check out those VM Jaguars with the 2 humbuckers and fixed tailpiece. Not for the body, but the neck, it's a tad thinner than the one on the VM Mustang. The idea would be to swap necks with a Mustang body you like, then sell the Jag body with the Mustang neck you don't like.

Yes, I tried a VM Jag and really loved it. It's an interesting suggestion, though I'm not sure there's a proper second-hand market here. Modded guitars and parts remain on sale forever, and those aren't really cheap either. This idea would probably cost around 800 Euro together new, and then it depends on what I manage to sell. The VM Jags only come with singlecoil though, right?

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 1:04 pm

I sold my 69 Mustang years ago so can't comment exactly, but my KC Mustang has got the same neck as my CIJ Jaguar, and both are nice and thin. My Jagstang is thinner, but it's marginal, I would definitely class the KC as skinny. This is all by feel, I haven't measured, but I just went up to check the feel again.

Fakir Mustache · Post by **Fakir Mustache** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 1:30 pm

GeSe wrote:
Fakir Mustache wrote:You might want to check out those VM Jaguars with the 2 humbuckers and fixed tailpiece. Not for the body, but the neck, it's a tad thinner than the one on the VM Mustang. The idea would be to swap necks with a Mustang body you like, then sell the Jag body with the Mustang neck you don't like.
Yes, I tried a VM Jag and really loved it. It's an interesting suggestion, though I'm not sure there's a proper second-hand market here. Modded guitars and parts remain on sale forever, and those aren't really cheap either. This idea would probably cost around 800 Euro together new, and then it depends on what I manage to sell. The VM Jags only come with singlecoil though, right?

It's a discontinued model, that's the only Squier Jag I have or even tried, and the neck is a bit thinner. They are usually a bit cheaper when found for sale too.

It is called VM Jaguar HH or something like that.