Buying a mustang

ultraviolence · Post by **ultraviolence** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 3:22 pm

Yeah, so next friday (when I get paid) i am 99.99% sure I am going to buy a mustang.

Since I never have really paid much attention when I bought a guitar for little defects in them, what should I look for? (besides chips in the paint)

MaMo · Post by **MaMo** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 3:28 pm

are you going for a reissue or a vintage stang? Also, what's your budget?

Will · Post by **Will** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 5:55 pm

Mostly just look for severe fretwear or a warped neck - most other stuff is pretty easy to fix.

ultraviolence · Post by **ultraviolence** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 7:53 pm

DuoSonicBoy wrote:Mostly just look for severe fretwear or a warped neck - most other stuff is pretty easy to fix.

What do you mean by warped neck?

MaMo wrote:are you going for a reissue or a vintage stang? Also, what's your budget?

Reissue... They go for like 699$+ 14% tax in Montreal.

My budget would be like 800$, I prefer to buy it new, and I prefer to buy it from a store that offers guarantees.

MaMo · Post by **MaMo** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:01 pm

Well, if you're going new then fretwear won't be a problem. As for the warped neck issue, duo means make sure that the neck isn't bowed beyond a good turn of the truss rod. Generally a brand-spakin' new Fender should be free of those defects.

ultraviolence · Post by **ultraviolence** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:18 pm

MaMo wrote:Well, if you're going new then fretwear won't be a problem. As for the warped neck issue, duo means make sure that the neck isn't bowed beyond a good turn of the truss rod. Generally a brand-spakin' new Fender should be free of those defects.

Will the guitar salesman have it adjusted for free?
If not will it be hard to adjust action, the truss rod, intonation, etc...?
I never have touched a truss rod in my life, I beleive that people that know as little about setting/adjusting guitars as I do, should leave that kind of stuff to the pros.

MaMo · Post by **MaMo** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:32 pm

I can't picture someone setting the guitar up for free, but I'm sure there's someone in the Montreal area that services guitars. Also, the guitars are supposed to be intonated etc before they leave the factory anyway. If I were you I would just make sure to play the hell out of it when you try it out and see how well it holds tune. If it stays correct, go for it. Afterwards, find a guitar tech and let them handle the fine tuning if you think it needs it.

I bring all of my guitars to this guy: sf guitarworks. See if you can find someone with similar abilities.

Will · Post by **Will** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:37 pm

New guitars can have warped necks too and you can't always rely on the shop to check it out - Nick works at GC and can tell you some horror stories.
Basically just look down the neck from a few different angles and check that it isn't bowed forward/back or twisted to one side or the other.

You can also fret the 4th string on the first and last fret to use the string as a straight edge. If there's more then the string's width between the bottom of the string and the 9th fret, there may be some problem with the neck or trussrod.

The shop should be willing to set it up for free - they may hassle you a bit but they almost always do it. Truss rod and intonation adjustments aren't too difficult and there are several excellent guides online. The key skill is patience and using the right tools.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 10:26 pm

make sure the guy at the store gives you the proper tools to adjust the guitar.

it should come with two different sized allen wrenches. a small one for the saddle screws and one for the trem arm. make sure the grub screw for the trem arm is in there or you wont be able to lock the arm in.

get a red one.

we need a red one in the mg65 family

ultraviolence · Post by **ultraviolence** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 10:38 pm

robroe wrote:make sure the guy at the store gives you the proper tools to adjust the guitar.

it should come with two different sized allen wrenches. a small one for the saddle screws and one for the trem arm. make sure the grub screw for the trem arm is in there or you wont be able to lock the arm in.

get a red one.

we need a red one in the mg65 family

I'm not sure if I'll get a red one, the blue ones look amazing, if the store only has the red one, I'll get it. There is no way in hell I will have the patience to wait for a blue one.

eventually I'll probably get a custom finish on it though...I really would like to see how a green burst would look on a mustang

EDIT : The red one does look really great actually, other pictures I saw of it were crappy quality, and the red didn't look as good. That being said I don't care if I get the red or the blue, or even the white one, but I'd prefer red or blue.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 10:39 pm

ultraviolence wrote:I really would like to see how a green burst would look on a mustang

Get Out.

ultraviolence · Post by **ultraviolence** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 10:40 pm

Zaphod wrote:
ultraviolence wrote:I really would like to see how a green burst would look on a mustang
Get Out.

Meh...Green is my favourite color so it's just something I'm sure I'd love on (imo) the coolest body of any guitar

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:04 am

Zaphod wrote:
ultraviolence wrote:I really would like to see how a green burst would look on a mustang
Get Out.

*chortle*

astro · Post by **astro** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 5:39 am

I hope that you're not buying the guitar at Steve's... Laterallateral saw them drop their red '65 mustang on the floor. If you do buy from Steve's, DO NOT get them to set up the guitar. Their techs are complete idiots. I wouldn't trust them to set up a lawn sprinkler, let alone a mustang.

The best place to get a guitar setup is Lutherie MF, they're near Jarry metro. They're not cheap (I think a setup runs $80), but these guys are by far the best in town, and their work is absolutely flawless. And, unlike 99% of the so called pros out there, they actually know how to set up a mustang trem correctly.

I strongly recommend that you learn how to set up the guitar yourself. Besides the fact that you'll save money, you'll be able to fine tune the guitar to your exact preferences.

I strongly recommend the book Guitar Player Repair Guide, by Dan Erlewine. It will teach you the A to Z of doing a proper setup. I bought mine at Archambault, I think it was $25. Anything that pertains specifically to the Mustang trem, just ask here on the Shortscale forum. Doing a setup might appear to be challenging if you've never done it before, but you'll see that it's actually quite easy and intuitive.

ultraviolence · Post by **ultraviolence** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:41 pm

astro wrote:I hope that you're not buying the guitar at Steve's... Laterallateral saw them drop their red '65 mustang on the floor. If you do buy from Steve's, DO NOT get them to set up the guitar. Their techs are complete idiots. I wouldn't trust them to set up a lawn sprinkler, let alone a mustang.

The best place to get a guitar setup is Lutherie MF, they're near Jarry metro. They're not cheap (I think a setup runs $80), but these guys are by far the best in town, and their work is absolutely flawless. And, unlike 99% of the so called pros out there, they actually know how to set up a mustang trem correctly.

I strongly recommend that you learn how to set up the guitar yourself. Besides the fact that you'll save money, you'll be able to fine tune the guitar to your exact preferences.

I strongly recommend the book Guitar Player Repair Guide, by Dan Erlewine. It will teach you the A to Z of doing a proper setup. I bought mine at Archambault, I think it was $25. Anything that pertains specifically to the Mustang trem, just ask here on the Shortscale forum. Doing a setup might appear to be challenging if you've never done it before, but you'll see that it's actually quite easy and intuitive.

I was thinking about getting it at Steve's just so I could get them to throw in a gig bag and some other shit. When the techs at Steve's set my jagmaster up I liked it.

What do I have to do to "setup" the mustangs trem? Do i have to do it?

astro · Post by **astro** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 7:22 pm

ultraviolence wrote:
astro wrote:I hope that you're not buying the guitar at Steve's... Laterallateral saw them drop their red '65 mustang on the floor. If you do buy from Steve's, DO NOT get them to set up the guitar. Their techs are complete idiots. I wouldn't trust them to set up a lawn sprinkler, let alone a mustang.

The best place to get a guitar setup is Lutherie MF, they're near Jarry metro. They're not cheap (I think a setup runs $80), but these guys are by far the best in town, and their work is absolutely flawless. And, unlike 99% of the so called pros out there, they actually know how to set up a mustang trem correctly.

I strongly recommend that you learn how to set up the guitar yourself. Besides the fact that you'll save money, you'll be able to fine tune the guitar to your exact preferences.

I strongly recommend the book Guitar Player Repair Guide, by Dan Erlewine. It will teach you the A to Z of doing a proper setup. I bought mine at Archambault, I think it was $25. Anything that pertains specifically to the Mustang trem, just ask here on the Shortscale forum. Doing a setup might appear to be challenging if you've never done it before, but you'll see that it's actually quite easy and intuitive.
I was thinking about getting it at Steve's just so I could get them to throw in a gig bag and some other shit. When the techs at Steve's set my jagmaster up I liked it.

What do I have to do to "setup" the mustangs trem? Do i have to do it?

Strat trems are fairly common, so I'm not too surprised that they didn't foul that up. But 'stang trems are pretty different. Steve's once fouled up the instalation of a Tune-o-matic on one of my guitars. They put posts in the body that were too narrow, so the bridge would just slide around. And they didn't even bother to cut notches in the saddles, like I had asked them to. They also "fixed" one of my amps by doing absolutely nothing to it. Idiots. Use them at your own peril.

I know that there's a link somewhere on shortscale for a thread that details how to setup the mustang trem. I searched and can't find it, so if anybody can post the link that would be great. Trust me, doing a setup isn't rocket science. If I can do it, anybody can do it!

James · Post by **James** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:03 pm

I'm not a fan of paying people to do setups, but i'm considering having some fret work don eon my mustang and a setup with it. I admit to being quite anxious about it because I honestly don't think most shop 'techs' will have any idea what's going on with a mustang steup.

ultraviolence · Post by **ultraviolence** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:11 pm

James wrote:I'm not a fan of paying people to do setups, but i'm considering having some fret work don eon my mustang and a setup with it. I admit to being quite anxious about it because I honestly don't think most shop 'techs' will have any idea what's going on with a mustang steup.

good luck with that...I was just wondering what is wrong with a mustangs trem when it comes set up from the factory?

James · Post by **James** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:13 pm

ultraviolence wrote:
James wrote:I'm not a fan of paying people to do setups, but i'm considering having some fret work don eon my mustang and a setup with it. I admit to being quite anxious about it because I honestly don't think most shop 'techs' will have any idea what's going on with a mustang steup.
good luck with that...I was just wondering what is wrong with a mustangs trem when it comes set up from the factory?

Mine's an old one. The trem is 64-67 and the rest of the parts around that age but all from different guitars. The setup isnt bad but it could be tidied up a litle I suppose.

ultraviolence · Post by **ultraviolence** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:15 pm

James wrote:
ultraviolence wrote:
James wrote:I'm not a fan of paying people to do setups, but i'm considering having some fret work don eon my mustang and a setup with it. I admit to being quite anxious about it because I honestly don't think most shop 'techs' will have any idea what's going on with a mustang steup.
good luck with that...I was just wondering what is wrong with a mustangs trem when it comes set up from the factory?
Mine's an old one. The trem is 64-67 and the rest of the parts around that age but all from different guitars. The setup isnt bad but it could be tidied up a litle I suppose.

Vintage mustang from the 60's?

That's awesome

Uhh...but the RI jap mustangs trems...what is so bad about the way they come from the factory?