So the Mustang arrived over the weekend.
Shitty picture! But the good ones are in the OP, and it really does look as good as that. It is about the prettiest thing I've ever seen. This is supposedly used, but it's fucking mint. The only sign of wear on the guitar is on the pickguard. There is not a single scratch anywhere. Considering that a new '65 costs $939 these days, I don't really mind the $1020 this cost me (free shipping, whatever that means).
They really have up'd the build quality of Mustangs in the last few years. The '69 RI that I had three years back was just awful compared to the newer '65 and '73s I've had. I figure the new '69s are quite good, judging from the pictures, but the old ones need at least a bridge and tailpiece replacement to keep up with these newer guitars. I always thought it might have been the basswood vs. poplar thing, but no, it's just that the newer Mustangs are better built with better hardware. That's the reason why I opted for this instead of a cheaper Candy Apple Red (w/ matching stock) '69 because I could tell that was old stock and I just figured it wasn't as well built.
The body, hardware, and neck are absolutely perfect on the '73, and that's what I buy guitars for. And it is really drop-dead gorgeous. People who never really care for Mustangs look at it and know it's a quality piece of instrument. I had a couple of college kids stop by my house over the weekend to buy a Strat off craigslist, and they were totally raving about how amazing that white Mustang is. Nobody's really ever seen a guitar like that before in real life, certainly, and I'll doubt I'll run into too many of them.
I was going to do a video demo with this, but when I plugged in, I remembered I hate single coils. I really can't stand the bzzzzzt, but the middle position is excellent. I will do a stock demo before I put Lace Sensors in, for the benefit of people who I think would appreciate that, but I think I'll wait for my other new guitars to arrive, so I can knock them out in one session.
Having peeked at the guts, the '73 differs from the '65 in that it uses shielded paint and a foil-covered pickguard instead of the brass shielding plates on the '65, and I don't think the '65 pickguard was shielded, if I remember correctly. I think the shielding is adequate, however, and is certainly simpler to work with. The flush control cavity (vs. the gappy one on the '65) certainly looks better to the OCD in me.
I can say that the sound is quite good, very pleasing, but noisy, obviously. I've always thought that MIJ pickups are especially noisy, even for single coils. The '65 pickups are different from the '69/'73 pickups, though, in that the '65 pickups do look the part. The '73 pickup has thin plastic hookup wire and the overall construction of the pickup looks cheap compared to the beefier and better built '65 pickups, which also have cloth wire for that vintage look and look just as good as more boutique pickups. One of the really nice things about the '65 RI is how much attention to detail there is under the pickguard and I would say that while the '65 RI is an A+ in that regard, the '73 is a solid B. (The '65 RI is actually just an A+ everywhere, isn't it?)
As for the basswood thing, I can tell it's not going to be much of an issue. I've had a couple of excellent basswood guitars now and have really come to appreciate them. Basswood is a fine wood, and it's good enough for some of the greatest guitarists in the world. It's certainly good enough for me. The main problem with basswood is that it's a soft wood that strips the screws eventually if you're unscrewing and screwing too much, but I don't think this is as much of a problem with the dynamic vibrato design, and really, once I get my wiring in, I probably won't touch the guts for years to come.
My modding plans for this guitar are purely electronic. I will change the pots to push-pull Alpha 500k pots, and the jack to a Switchcraft one. The pickups will be changed to a Lace Purple in the bridge and a reverse-wound Lace Silver in the neck for a slightly warmer than vintage sound. The volume knob will push-pull to activate series mode (I will use four-conductor wire from the control cavity to the switches so that I can have series out-of-phase sounds as well), and the tone knob will push-pull to activate a Jaguar style strangle switch because I think that's the best thing about a Jaguar anyway. This is really going to give me all the tonal options I ever need.
Overall, I'm really ecstatic about this guitar. It's some of the best money I've ever spent.
