NGD: 1978 Fender Mustang

astrozombie · Post by **astrozombie** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:24 pm

All original. The previous owner had put a lil 59n in the bridge for some reason. stupid. i took it out and put the stock fender single coil and... it sounds like an old guitar. In a very good way! weak ass 5-6k single coils. I'm loving it.

What kind of upgrades can I perform? I love the guitar, it's a keeper. I want to maximize it's sound and feel.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:44 pm

Looks like mamo's old one. Nice.

drBenway · Post by **drBenway** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:58 pm

Looks real nice.

Good decision on the pickup. I never get why people put humbuckers/rails in these type of guitars. Just thank god he didn't hack up the body for a full sized one.

astrozombie · Post by **astrozombie** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:55 pm

drBenway wrote:Looks real nice.

Good decision on the pickup. I never get why people put humbuckers/rails in these type of guitars. Just thank god he didn't hack up the body for a full sized one.

I'm lucky he KEPT the original and wasnt suckered into "trading" it to the tech for a duncan or some mundane modern piece of magnetic guitar tecnology.

I might try out a hot rails or something eventually... or maybe not. i think ill put a super distortion in my jaguar and have that for when i want to be really noisy.

astrozombie · Post by **astrozombie** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:05 pm

I'm thinking of putting in a Mastery bridge since the old one is pretty rusty at the saddles and some other patches.

I know they are good because alot of my heroes have them on their guitars... but are they really worth the $170 dollars Ill have to drop to get one? would this be the bridge to end all bridges?

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:11 pm

nice. I have one like that too. a mastery bridge is a waste of money on this guitar. the bridge on my mustang is rusty too but it works perfectly. you can disassemble it, clean it with some CLR and grease all the parts that screw together and it should work great.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:32 pm

Nice! Well done. Love that blk/blk color combo.

astrozombie · Post by **astrozombie** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:24 pm

Wasted? Seriously? why do you say that?

I'm willing to pick at least one up for the mustang and later if i get a jazzmaster i can just drop it in that one.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:27 pm

does the stock bridge not function? i can't see shelling out that kind of dough to replace a bridge that people seek out to replace jag/jazzmaster bridges, especially one that works.

it's fucking stupid, but it's your money to waste.

ykyk69 · Post by **ykyk69** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:27 pm

beautiful, i love the black on black stangs/broncos/mmasters.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:38 pm

That's a lovely guitar, and I'm suitably jealous. Well done.

ploppy · Post by **ploppy** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:55 pm

Stunning, do want!

astrozombie · Post by **astrozombie** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:07 am

I guess i could do with a replacement mustang bridge...

what about on a J Mascis jazzmaster? mastery on that?

astrozombie · Post by **astrozombie** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 4:28 pm

hotrodperlmutter wrote:does the stock bridge not function? i can't see shelling out that kind of dough to replace a bridge that people seek out to replace jag/jazzmaster bridges, especially one that works.

it's fucking stupid, but it's your money to waste.

a friend bought a mastery and put it on his japanese reissue mustang, there is an improvement in tone and trem stability.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:25 pm

i've not bought into all the claims, but i imagine if i forked over $150+ for a BRIDGE, i'd probably hear tonal differences, sustain, alternate tunings, fender mojo chiminess, etc.

again, it's your money.

Earth · Post by **Earth** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:33 pm

hotrodperlmutter wrote:i've not bought into all the claims, but i imagine if i forked over $150+ for a BRIDGE, i'd probably hear tonal differences, sustain, alternate tunings, fender mojo chiminess, etc.

again, it's your money.

Exactly, for that kind of money you are going to hear differences whether its there or not! Just like "people hear differences" in $40 caps.
They hear it because they have to to justify the money spent and on the occasions they do actually truthfully hear a difference all they are hearing is tolerance variations, not any difference in the dielectric.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 9:01 pm

bingolio.

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 2:59 am

That is a killer piece. Black is booful.

For all the shit the 70s get, that was when punk rawk was stirring the soup. It's nice to have a guitar without that hippie stank on it. I like the heft of the 70s shorties. They don't seem quite as fragile. They're the muscle cars of student models. I would like to see someone famous only play a Musicmaster with one pickup--that says your junk is plenty.

astrozombie · Post by **astrozombie** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 12:40 am

hotrodperlmutter wrote:i've not bought into all the claims, but i imagine if i forked over $150+ for a BRIDGE, i'd probably hear tonal differences, sustain, alternate tunings, fender mojo chiminess, etc.

again, it's your money.

You're right. I guess the only right way would be for me to go over to the dudes house and install the mastery bridge on my guitar and see what the fuck is up then.

as more time goes by however, i think of the mastery bridge less and less.

Doug · Post by **Doug** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 10:27 pm

Earth wrote:
hotrodperlmutter wrote:i've not bought into all the claims, but i imagine if i forked over $150+ for a BRIDGE, i'd probably hear tonal differences, sustain, alternate tunings, fender mojo chiminess, etc.

again, it's your money.
Exactly, for that kind of money you are going to hear differences whether its there or not! Just like "people hear differences" in $40 caps.
They hear it because they have to to justify the money spent and on the occasions they do actually truthfully hear a difference all they are hearing is tolerance variations, not any difference in the dielectric.

Tweaking or all-out hot rodding is a legitimately fun process. So I hope what I say does not take away from the pure pleasure of customizing one's axe. But I'm with Earth and hotrodperlmutter on this one. The performance result of most (not all) hot rodding is placebo...that is, you truly hear an improvement, but a scientific analysis would show it's not even measurable.

An amp has as much to do with the tones you get as all the components of your guitar. Then consider yer peripherals, like pedals. I've experimented with my all-original 1965 Mustang, my reissue 1959 Duo-Sonic, and my 1997 Gibson BluesHawk. I can get almost the same huge range of tones and sustainnnnnn from each guitar based on how I set my amp and Boss Distortion pedal.

My buddy collects high-end guitars and amps. He has 97 of the very best axes money can buy and he's done the same experiments. He can sometimes pick out very subtle differences that may be based on the guitar itself, but he can also get his best Strats, Teles, LPs, and White Penguins to produce the same range of tones.

The proportion of tone that comes from the type of bridge...or from the wood or nut for that matter...is so small that it's easily overcome by the rest of the system. I'd invest in a better amp or a new pedal before sinkin $150 in a new bridge unless the bridge truly is damaged.