ShortScale.org

Same as '65 RI

(but it's showing up as $999 at other vendors...)

can't wait till these are on Cl for 450-500. Then I may have to jump. It's like a perfect mustang.

£766 here for anyone interested. Not my sport.

Meh. I wouldn't buy one at that price. I've been thinking about it a lot, on the fence about buying one of these to have a real lefty Mustang in my possession, but to be honest my Musicmaster already fills this role for me.

I do hope to find them later on used for half that price, though. I'd pay $600 for one.

Hopefully in 12-24 months there will be tons of excellent looking Squier and MIJ instruments (that we are currently lusting for) on the used market.

I think it'll be worth the wait. I hate buying new.

I can kind of see why these are that price but it seems insane the other RI's are. £766 is serious guitar money, you are talking second hand Gibson, Fender USA and hand built stuff like Eggle and Gordon Smith. I love CIJ Mustangs but they just are'nt in the same league as stuff like that.

I'd buy one if I didn't already make one ... . But they do offer it in my colors .. Sonic with brown tort .. Sexy..

Fran wrote:I can kind of see why these are that price but it seems insane the other RI's are. £766 is serious guitar money, you are talking second hand Gibson, Fender USA and hand built stuff like Eggle and Gordon Smith. I love CIJ Mustangs but they just are'nt in the same league as stuff like that.

Honestly, I think they are. I really don't find American Fenders or Gibsons to be built or play any better than the Japanese Mustangs I've played.

Regardless, I think none of us expected it to be less than the price of a new '65 RI, so it's good that it's in the same vicinity.

mickie08 wrote:can't wait till these are on Cl for 450-500. Then I may have to jump. It's like a perfect mustang.

I have a feeling these will retain more value than the standard issue Mustangs that go for $500 used.

honeyiscool wrote:

Fran wrote:I can kind of see why these are that price but it seems insane the other RI's are. £766 is serious guitar money, you are talking second hand Gibson, Fender USA and hand built stuff like Eggle and Gordon Smith. I love CIJ Mustangs but they just are'nt in the same league as stuff like that.

Honestly, I think they are. I really don't find American Fenders or Gibsons to be built or play any better than the Japanese Mustangs I've played.

Different ballparks in my experience. MIM Classic 50s and an AVRI '57 feel and sound different... and comparing a Mustang to a Les Paul is ludicrous. "Better" is a subjective term. If a guitar works at all it can be appreciated by somebody.

honeyiscool wrote:

Fran wrote:I can kind of see why these are that price but it seems insane the other RI's are. £766 is serious guitar money, you are talking second hand Gibson, Fender USA and hand built stuff like Eggle and Gordon Smith. I love CIJ Mustangs but they just are'nt in the same league as stuff like that.

Honestly, I think they are. I really don't find American Fenders or Gibsons to be built or play any better than the Japanese Mustangs I've played.

Horses for courses mate.
I love CIJ Fender necks and i cannot argue with playability but in my experience the electronics usually need completely upgrading or at minimal a pickup replacement. Now, to me, for £700 that is complete garbage. Its just not acceptable at that price. I've had two CIJ Mustangs and they did'nt hold a candle to any Squier i've owned sonically, its just not good enough.

Fran wrote:

honeyiscool wrote:

Fran wrote:I can kind of see why these are that price but it seems insane the other RI's are. £766 is serious guitar money, you are talking second hand Gibson, Fender USA and hand built stuff like Eggle and Gordon Smith. I love CIJ Mustangs but they just are'nt in the same league as stuff like that.

Honestly, I think they are. I really don't find American Fenders or Gibsons to be built or play any better than the Japanese Mustangs I've played.

Horses for courses mate.
I love CIJ Fender necks and i cannot argue with playability but in my experience the electronics usually need completely upgrading or at minimal a pickup replacement. Now, to me, for £700 that is complete garbage. Its just not acceptable at that price. I've had two CIJ Mustangs and they did'nt hold a candle to any Squier i've owned sonically, its just not good enough.

Yeah, though this thing does have a Duncan JB from the factory. It does appear to be up to snuff.

I don't plan on buying one of these, but if my Mustang love affair continues it might happen for used one. Right now my Mustangs are my favorite electrics and the humbucker in the bridge would be fun.

I liked the humbuckers in the Kurtz jaguar. Is that the same humbucker in these Kurtz Mustangs?

Would considering selling my 65RI and buying new. This shit is hot.

Fran wrote:Horses for courses mate.
I love CIJ Fender necks and i cannot argue with playability but in my experience the electronics usually need completely upgrading or at minimal a pickup replacement. Now, to me, for £700 that is complete garbage. Its just not acceptable at that price. I've had two CIJ Mustangs and they did'nt hold a candle to any Squier i've owned sonically, its just not good enough.

I think wiring is definitely up to par. I mean, they've got Alpha pots. Same things that go into boutique pedals. The '65 RI is an especially well done wiring job IMO. My '73 is well shielded and wired quite well, though I rewired anyway (I like more features). I've always believed that poly caps are good enough, so that's fine as well. As for pickups, yeah, I don't particularly like MIJ pickups, but then again, I don't even like MIA pickups. It's funny you mention Squier because the only Fender-made instruments where I've really enjoyed the stock pickups were all Squiers, and humbuckers at that. I thought the stock pickups in the Bullet Tele HH were particularly good (especially since that thing was $99), also the stock Avril Lavigne humbucker is excellent. As far as pure single coils go, the Duncan Designed AlNiCo SC101s in the Deluxe Strats are really very good, and yeah, any of these would blast away my MIJ Mustang pickups. Thankfully, pickups are easy and pretty cheap to replace.

As for this guitar, it's a JB in the bridge. You might not like the pickup, but it's certainly a good quality pickup.

taylornutt wrote:I liked the humbuckers in the Kurtz jaguar. Is that the same humbucker in these Kurtz Mustangs?

Mustang has a JB, Jaguar has a Super Distortion and DiMarzio PAF in the neck. Overall, I probably like the Super Distortion more than the JB, but I don't even like the Super Distortion all that much lately. That said, I've never tried JB in a short scale. If I don't like it, I'll change it to a Duncan Custom and change the bridge pickup switch to be an Avril style coil selector (left-series-right coil) and the neck pickup switch into a simple three-way pickup selector. I also have a spare Green Lace Sensor that would go nicely in the neck.

honeyiscool wrote:

Fran wrote:Horses for courses mate.
I love CIJ Fender necks and i cannot argue with playability but in my experience the electronics usually need completely upgrading or at minimal a pickup replacement. Now, to me, for £700 that is complete garbage. Its just not acceptable at that price. I've had two CIJ Mustangs and they did'nt hold a candle to any Squier i've owned sonically, its just not good enough.

I think wiring is definitely up to par. I mean, they've got Alpha pots. Same things that go into boutique pedals. The '65 RI is an especially well done wiring job IMO. My '73 is well shielded and wired quite well, though I rewired anyway (I like more features). I've always believed that poly caps are good enough, so that's fine as well. As for pickups, yeah, I don't particularly like MIJ pickups, but then again, I don't even like MIA pickups. It's funny you mention Squier because the only Fender-made instruments where I've really enjoyed the stock pickups were all Squiers, and humbuckers at that. I thought the stock pickups in the Bullet Tele HH were particularly good (especially since that thing was $99), also the stock Avril Lavigne humbucker is excellent. As far as pure single coils go, the Duncan Designed AlNiCo SC101s in the Deluxe Strats are really very good, and yeah, any of these would blast away my MIJ Mustang pickups. Thankfully, pickups are easy and pretty cheap to replace.

As for this guitar, it's a JB in the bridge. You might not like the pickup, but it's certainly a good quality pickup.

taylornutt wrote:I liked the humbuckers in the Kurtz jaguar. Is that the same humbucker in these Kurtz Mustangs?

Mustang has a JB, Jaguar has a Super Distortion and DiMarzio PAF in the neck. Overall, I probably like the Super Distortion more than the JB, but I don't even like the Super Distortion all that much lately. I'll probably replace the JB with a Custom and change the bridge pickup switch to be an Avril style coil selector (left-series-right coil) and the neck pickup switch into a simple three-way pickup selector. I also have a spare Green Lace Sensor that would go nicely in the neck.

Dibs on the JB, sell it to me for cheaps.

OK, barring any major injury or misfortune to happen to me, I'll probably pick one up in February. I'll definitely rave about how great the guitar is, and hopefully I'll hate the JB like I predict I will.

honeyiscool wrote:

Fran wrote:Horses for courses mate.
I love CIJ Fender necks and i cannot argue with playability but in my experience the electronics usually need completely upgrading or at minimal a pickup replacement. Now, to me, for £700 that is complete garbage. Its just not acceptable at that price. I've had two CIJ Mustangs and they did'nt hold a candle to any Squier i've owned sonically, its just not good enough.

I think wiring is definitely up to par. I mean, they've got Alpha pots. Same things that go into boutique pedals. The '65 RI is an especially well done wiring job IMO. My '73 is well shielded and wired quite well, though I rewired anyway (I like more features). I've always believed that poly caps are good enough, so that's fine as well. As for pickups, yeah, I don't particularly like MIJ pickups, but then again, I don't even like MIA pickups. It's funny you mention Squier because the only Fender-made instruments where I've really enjoyed the stock pickups were all Squiers, and humbuckers at that. I thought the stock pickups in the Bullet Tele HH were particularly good (especially since that thing was $99), also the stock Avril Lavigne humbucker is excellent. As far as pure single coils go, the Duncan Designed AlNiCo SC101s in the Deluxe Strats are really very good, and yeah, any of these would blast away my MIJ Mustang pickups. Thankfully, pickups are easy and pretty cheap to replace.

As for this guitar, it's a JB in the bridge. You might not like the pickup, but it's certainly a good quality pickup.

Just to clear up what you and Pens said, im not criticizing the KC Mustang. Im talking about the 65 and 69 RI's being £700.
So you agree the pups are shite in CIJ Mustangs? You are happy to pay £700 for a guitar that needs upgrading straight away? I would'nt be.
I might be wondering off topic here but some of the guitars you can buy for that money are incredible, never mind Gibson and Fender USA, try an early 80's Ibanez Artist or Yamaha SG 1000 for instance. You would not dream of going anywhere near one of those with a soldering iron or replacement parts, they are pure quality.
CIJ Fenders have always fell short of being great albeit with the electronics mostly. In the past the beauty was you got an excellent chassis to upgrade at a good price, but at £700 them days have clearly gone.

Well, I tinker with circuits for fun. The soldering iron and I are good friends. I find rewiring a Mustang to be fun.

I wouldn't call '65 RI pickups shite, I might call the pickups in the '69 and the '73 to be shite. Well, they actually all sound pretty good, but the noise is unacceptable, and the construction is of worse quality. The '65 RI is the only one where the noise is bearable, but I just don't really care for single coil noise, period. But I can understand that there's a preference issue here. I put Lace Sensors in my last two Mustangs. There are people who consider them to be dull lifeless pieces of shit and many would find '65 RI pickups to be better.

It seems like in comparing purchasing power in guitars, 700 GBP = 950 USD, approx. As long as I believe that I have 950 dollars worth of guitar, the electronics, I can do myself. Build a guitar well, I can't do. I actually do feel that I'm getting $939 worth of guitar for a Mustang because a good Mustang body, neck, fretwork, setup, tuners, hardware, finish, these things can easily cost more than that and those things are impeccable on the MIJ Mustangs I've had (minus the '69 RI). At the same time, it is on the high end of what I'm willing to pay. That's why I avoided buying another '65 RI because ultimately it is a bit overpriced. However, spending $1050 for my '73 RI was a no-brainer for me because it has the perfect finish. So as long as everything is right but the electronics, that's something I'm willing to eat on top of whatever I pay because what's $1000 for a perfect guitar, really.

The Cobain Mustang, I actually think it's easily $939 worth of value to me. In theory, it gives me that same great MIJ Mustang feel, with my favorite neck in the world, but places two worthy mods, the bucker and the Tune-O-Matic bridge. So I have no problem spending another grand on that.

After going several months without a Mustang in my grasp, I've gone through so many guitars and spent so much money, trying to think of my needs instead of my desires. Here's the thing: I'm a Mustang fanboy to the extreme. For me, the Fender Mustang is the greatest guitar of all time. As far as I care, other guitars are just things that tide me over until I find a Mustang I like. Even Jaguars don't even stay with me. I bought an HH Special Edition and as soon as I heard of the Cobain Mustang, I've been trying to sell that thing. Thankfully my roommate is in love with it and is willing to buy for what I paid for it. If I used my brain to reason out how awesome a new Ibanez or ESP or whatever is, I know that the $900 guitar will just end up as a $750 eBay auction three months later, with PayPal and Ebay taking $75 of that.

That's why I tend to keep my budget low when it comes to guitars that aren't Mustangs because at least dealing with Daisy Rock* and Agile and Squier, I don't lose too much money when I sell them two months later.


* And really, my Daisy Rock Retro-H is actually my favorite guitar right now, I even love the stock pickups. I'm gonna have to buy another one some day, especially considering they do so poorly on eBay.

I called the local Fender dealers today... they'll only special order then, but don't otherwise plan on selling them. I guess I'll keep my $1k and wait for them to hit the used market.

I love the set up on these, still undecided on whether its worth a grand.