ShortScale.org

actually now that youve pointed it out. the neck may be a from a reissue? the basic decal looks alot like the 65 reissue but the the body pantent sticker throws it all off. the neck is very nice and i doubt its a squier just by comparing the color of the headstock (its too dark). the guy said he replaced the tuners in the auction so that explains that. i'll have to unbolt the neck one of these days and see the serial to be sure. body is a mystery.

this is one poor bastardized franken guitar

Tuners aren't Mustang tuners. That is not a Mustang neck of any sort.

The "Fender" and "Mustang" parts of the decal look screwy and misapplied.

Yeah the decal looks like a home made effort. If I were you I'd take it to bits to see exactly what you've bought. My guess would be aftermarket neck and body. If you're happy with the way it plays then it's worth what you paid for it.

yea i guess thats all that matters in the end

check this out!!!!!

i was restringing and thought i would finally get around to unbolting the mysterystang's neck and i found this!

"16 AUG 71 B"
srry for the crappy resolution (will get better pics up soon)
also i noticed that in the various new dings that i have made, SONIC BLUE is showing underneath the green!!

So the neck is dated '71 (confirmed)
How about we narrow down the bodies? (what similar guitars with contours were offered in sonic blue?)
I'm thinking either its original or a '69 reissue body.

it looked like a vintage neck to me, I don't know what you guys were talking about. it has a veneer fretboard. I don't think any modern fenders do that anymore. it's extremely common to find vintage shortscales with the tuners changed out.

it's definitely not a cyclone. that would require filling in the whole trem route which would be a massive amount of work.

My theory is that this was a Duo Sonic II that was in really bad shape when the guy got it. the decal had been sanded off and who knows what fucked up stuff had happened to the bridge and the finish. so he fixed it back up to the best of his ability using newer easy get parts like the bridge, tuners and decal (mustang decals are far easier to get ahold of than duo sonic ones).

edit: Duo Sonics were discontinued by '71 so it was probably a Music Master. They used identical bodies to the Duo Sonic, even for a little while after the Duo was discontinued.

clarkbar wrote:So the neck is dated '71 (confirmed)
How about we narrow down the bodies? (what similar guitars with contours were offered in sonic blue?)
I'm thinking either its original or a '69 reissue body.

the contours could have been added when he refinished the body. the forearm contour doesn't really look stock. I'm still thinking it was a '71 Music Master. they came in blue, the same as this '75:

very cool! you shouldve seen my reaction when i saw the date! i love the sonic blue MM.

I still want to put a more "correct" duo bridge on it someday.

edit* so if it was a MM in a past life, would that mean that the second pup route would be per say "a little less professional" and not look like the neck route?
ill lift the pick guard tmr and get some pics.

clarkbar wrote:very cool! you shouldve seen my reaction when i saw the date! i love the sonic blue MM.

I still want to put a more "correct" duo bridge on it someday.

edit* so if it was a MM in a past life, would that mean that the second pup route would be per say "a little less professional" and not look like the neck route?
ill lift the pick guard tmr and get some pics.

Actually I - think - if a MM II - that the second route should be very professionally done if stock - the guitar would have been factory routed for two pickups but only one installed - lift the hood and lets take a look.

the neck is legit. 16 is the neck code that was used for Mustangs in 1971: http://zeus.lunarpages.com/~jimshi2/nec ... s_1962.htm

if this was mine i'd have had the thing in pieces the minute i unboxed it so i'd at least know WTF i'd bought. it takes about 60 seconds to get the neck and guard off, you don't even have to take the strings out of the tuner slots, just stick a capo on the neck to hold them in place. chop chop laddie, while we're young.

kypdurron wrote:the neck is legit. 16 is the neck code that was used for Mustangs in 1971: http://zeus.lunarpages.com/~jimshi2/nec ... s_1962.htm

and musicmaster and duo sonic and bronco

the contours would have to have been added, as MM/duo/bronco bodies never had them as far as i know.

or the neck doesn't match the body

I just think it's odd because the decal has been replaced on the headstock. were there any daphne blue mustangs in '71? or were they all competition by then?

they'd be competitions then, i think. could have been repainted more than once, of course...

a photo of the routes would help.

srry guys. i was just soo overwhelmed when i bought it that i just played the CRAP outta it before i really did anything. anyways i took the pickguard off today and found a duo-sonic route. both pup routes look stock and the switch route looked fine. im guessing early MM that had a surplus duo II body?

i'll get the pic up as soon as i find my good camera's cable.

TADA

looks a bit chewed up... but my money's on a comp mustang that's had the trem routes filled before being refinished. unless you'll strip the paint you'll never know, though.

I vote Musicmaster II or Duosonic II. Plugging and filling a trem hole is a major bitch to do.

as Mage pointed out. its not uncommon to see surplus Duo II bodies on old Music Masters. The paint is a light blue underneath and by looking at the deeper gauges (where i can see the paint layers), i can tell that the Blue is the only other paint on the body (this is confirmed in two opposite places).

so either the first owner sanded off, near COMPLETELY, the original paint then blue was applied then the next owner applied the glossy green over top of that OR the blue IS the original paint.

another note: think about it...you've just finished filling in those mustang trem routes, why ON EARTH would you settle for $400 on ebay? i would feel let down and like i've lost money. i think he did a quick upgrade of a Duo II and couldnt find the right decal.