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Does anyone have more details about these? Is the pickguard aged just like in the photos? Does the stripe go all around? How does the pickups sound?

Thanks for any details.

They look like the Fender Japan MG73-CO model, which are pretty well documented. I'm a fan and have two already.

On my MG73-CO, stock, pickups sound good but noisy. I always change them because I'm like that but it's unnecessary to do so. They're Alnico pickups by Fender Japan. Sort of cheap looking under the cover but they have all the correct bits. They measure right about 6k, RWRP pair, single coil. They'll get you the Mustang sound. Switches are the Asian type, which use a retaining nut instead of the switch being threaded for screws. I find this aggravating but it's not something you have to deal with unless you're changing pickguards or switches.

Stripes never go all around on any Fender Mustangs.

I just got an email that they're in stock now. I ordered one just now, the blue one. That's been the RI Mustang I've been trying to find for years. Comes out to 581.49 GBP including shipping to USA. Thanks to no VAT for overseas sales, it's way cheaper than 669 pounds that UK buyers have to pay. At current conversion rates, that's 910.26 USD for a brand new Japanese made Fender, which is actually a damn steal if you think about the fact that the Fender Japan '65 Mustang RI sold for $939.99 new.

Ok thanks for the info.

I been waiting for a blue one myself with matching headstock. But i read these only have 21 frets instead of 22. So i think thats the only difference from the original ones?

It says 21 frets, but the picture clearly shows 22 frets. They're not gonna bother creating an entirely new neck design when they already have this model that they've been selling for many years (MG73).

honeyiscool wrote:I just got an email that they're in stock now. I ordered one just now, the blue one. That's been the RI Mustang I've been trying to find for years. Comes out to 581.49 GBP including shipping to USA. Thanks to no VAT for overseas sales, it's way cheaper than 669 pounds that UK buyers have to pay.

What, no tax or duty on import?

Shouldn't be. He's buying from the US so he doesn't pay VAT.

If you're from outside the UK you can get your VAT back in most stores at point of sale. If the store doesn't offer that you get it back at the airport.

O hai.

Naïs!

Got mine yeasterday. Sold some guitars to afford this. Im not happy with the action. So probably gonna try to sink it a bit. Anyways the pickups sounds nice and i like the floating tremolo. Well im gonna play it in first before im takin actions. Nice guitar.

Looks the bollocks. But even so, £669 is a lot, it's a Mustang guitar. I could buy a half decent car for that money.

weeping_moon wrote:Got mine yeasterday. Sold some guitars to afford this. Im not happy with the action. So probably gonna try to sink it a bit. Anyways the pickups sounds nice and i like the floating tremolo. Well im gonna play it in first before im takin actions. Nice guitar.

Truss rod should be the first step. Once I set mine my guitar action was perfect. Of course taking the whole neck off sucks but loosening the strings and using a capo helps.

honeyiscool wrote:

weeping_moon wrote:Got mine yeasterday. Sold some guitars to afford this. Im not happy with the action. So probably gonna try to sink it a bit. Anyways the pickups sounds nice and i like the floating tremolo. Well im gonna play it in first before im takin actions. Nice guitar.

Truss rod should be the first step. Once I set mine my guitar action was perfect. Of course taking the whole neck off sucks but loosening the strings and using a capo helps.

Well. After playing it again today it felt better. But yeah truss rod is the way to go.

Are you planning to change the pickups or stay with the original ones?

Yeah, it might just need a little time to adjust from the flight, too, in terms of truss rod and everything, too. I was pleasantly surprised at the condition of my guitar out of the box. Sure, the truss rod needed about 3/4 of a turn (I might turn it back 1/8 of a turn when I change strings because I like a little slack) but the action was spot on once the truss rod was taken care of. I have about 1.5mm in the treble side and 1.75mm on the bass side, which to me is perfect, and no choking on bends on the high E string, I was able to do whole step pretty easily. I will probably adjust to 1.75mm on the treble side when I am really giving my guitar a good setup. I also like the cigar tailpiece quite high so I got to get that.

I plan on using my series/parallel wiring diagram with some Fralin Blues Special Mustang pickups that I got at a really good price. The stock pickups are good but I always feel like I'd like a little more output, and I feel like the Fralin Blues pickups will give me that. I think I want to keep this one looking stock, because at least some of the appeal of the guitar is the visuals, so no Strat pickups this time.

Other than that, my Mustang changes that I like are a GraphTech string tree and a non-rocking Staytrem 7.25" bridge. I'll get around to them eventually but I don't have to have them. I might wrap my bridge in some tape in the mean time.

Thomas wrote:Shouldn't be. He's buying from the US so he doesn't pay VAT.

What I meant was, is there no tax or import duty in the US?

honeyiscool wrote:Yeah, it might just need a little time to adjust from the flight, too, in terms of truss rod and everything, too. I was pleasantly surprised at the condition of my guitar out of the box. Sure, the truss rod needed about 3/4 of a turn (I might turn it back 1/8 of a turn when I change strings because I like a little slack) but the action was spot on once the truss rod was taken care of. I have about 1.5mm in the treble side and 1.75mm on the bass side, which to me is perfect, and no choking on bends on the high E string, I was able to do whole step pretty easily. I will probably adjust to 1.75mm on the treble side when I am really giving my guitar a good setup. I also like the cigar tailpiece quite high so I got to get that.

I plan on using my series/parallel wiring diagram with some Fralin Blues Special Mustang pickups that I got at a really good price. The stock pickups are good but I always feel like I'd like a little more output, and I feel like the Fralin Blues pickups will give me that. I think I want to keep this one looking stock, because at least some of the appeal of the guitar is the visuals, so no Strat pickups this time.

Other than that, my Mustang changes that I like are a GraphTech string tree and a non-rocking Staytrem 7.25" bridge. I'll get around to them eventually but I don't have to have them. I might wrap my bridge in some tape in the mean time.

Well after my late in night playing the guitar rocked. Its been a long flight from japan to germany to finland. Dont know where it have been there between. Im planning to keep this one stock. Im not modding anything. One thing was a shock through. The frets 21 but it is 22 and the pickguard shows a aged one but it is not. Its a complete 73 MG reissue. Why dosent Fender show these on their website? Is it limited?

NickS wrote:

Thomas wrote:Shouldn't be. He's buying from the US so he doesn't pay VAT.

What I meant was, is there no tax or import duty in the US?

Nope.

weeping_moon wrote:Well after my late in night playing the guitar rocked. Its been a long flight from japan to germany to finland. Dont know where it have been there between. Im planning to keep this one stock. Im not modding anything. One thing was a shock through. The frets 21 but it is 22 and the pickguard shows a aged one but it is not. Its a complete 73 MG reissue. Why dosent Fender show these on their website? Is it limited?

Ever since Fender Japan ended, I think these guitars are being phased out. I guess there's a little bit of stock left and they're getting rid of them by packaging them as "Factory Special Run" but really, they're just Fender Japan guitars they've never offered outside of Japan that they're getting rid of.

And really? My pickguard looks aged. Either way, it looks just great.

Love it

honeyiscool wrote:

NickS wrote:

Thomas wrote:Shouldn't be. He's buying from the US so he doesn't pay VAT.

What I meant was, is there no tax or import duty in the US?

Nope.

weeping_moon wrote:Well after my late in night playing the guitar rocked. Its been a long flight from japan to germany to finland. Dont know where it have been there between. Im planning to keep this one stock. Im not modding anything. One thing was a shock through. The frets 21 but it is 22 and the pickguard shows a aged one but it is not. Its a complete 73 MG reissue. Why dosent Fender show these on their website? Is it limited?

Ever since Fender Japan ended, I think these guitars are being phased out. I guess there's a little bit of stock left and they're getting rid of them by packaging them as "Factory Special Run" but really, they're just Fender Japan guitars they've never offered outside of Japan that they're getting rid of.

And really? My pickguard looks aged. Either way, it looks just great.

Not mine. My pickguard is not aged at all.
Yes. Im gonna play some Melvins on it.