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So I just aquired a nice sunburst mustang body for a pretty good price. The seller thinks it is a Japan reissue but I am almost positive that it is vintage. The serial number sticker looks to vintagey and it has so much mojo to it. The finish looks like it is brown where it is black in bright light and it looks to be laquer. There are cracks in it and it has spiderweb cracking in the back. It looks like my 78 musicmasters finish. The wear on it is incredibly nice. I love it. What is weird though is where the finish has worn to the wood, the wood is very glossy and feels like it never lost the finish. Is this due to the way it is painted? Also another thing that I noticed is the big hole between the spring routs. What is the purpose of that? It's a factory rout. There are other small routs under the Pickguard and the one pickup rout is widened a bit. The new routs don't look like they were used for anything to the guitar and are very square. I'm thinking it was a place for hiding something, probably drugs. Haha. But the quality of it is very nice. I like the spring routs. They are routed slanted so that the rout is not conpletely missing apace and not just a hole. I think it is 1977-1978 by the serial number. I'm thinking a stock setup no humbucker. Maybe a JB jr. But I need help on deciding the Pickguard. I'm thinking an aged white pearl w/ black pickups/selector, red tort w/ white pickups/selectors, or anodized gold w/black pickups/selector. As for neck should I just use my squier mustang neck I have or get a vintage one for it? Because I love the mojo of the body..


Untitled by punkacc9, on Flickr

Untitled by punkacc9, on Flickr

Untitled by punkacc9, on Flickr

Untitled by punkacc9, on Flickr

Untitled by punkacc9, on Flickr

Untitled by punkacc9, on Flickr

Tried to show the brown here. Look at the tip of the horn. Ill get better pics eventually.


Untitled by punkacc9, on Flickr

Untitled by punkacc9, on Flickr

Untitled by punkacc9, on Flickr

Untitled by punkacc9, on Flickr

Untitled by punkacc9, on Flickr

I absolutely adore it and I really dig the checking of the finish. But I am biased.

Lets see the front! d: hehe. Still cool though. Party in the back right?

it looks like it has that post 1978 wonky upper horn thing going on, definitely not japanese.

stewart wrote:it looks like it has that post 1978 wonky upper horn thing going on, definitely not japanese.

Sweet. Yeah. I know what you mean by that. It's got more of a twist to it. I noticed that first on my 78 musicmaster.

I dig it. Nice finish crackle on that one.

I smell a relic job. Looks cool nonetheless, regardless of age or origin.

Relicing? You think so? It doesn't seem so. The neck pocket is even routed the old style. Can't the serial be ran to confirm? Taylornutt, does yours have the hole rout between the spring routs?

I LOVE scumburst Mustangs. Vey cool.

His does have the large hole between the springs route. But I filled them in when I redid the top.

The spring routes, neck pocket and upper horn are the same. The only different I see is the finish, Taylor is more milky with lots of red. You have a clearer more laid back sunburst. His was a lacquer finish... test your with a Q-tip and drop of lacquer thinner, but I'm sure it is lacquer. I don't know if it's US or Japan, when did Japan get involved? I've seen JM from the early 80's.

I had a 78 Mustang with the same checking and trem hole. It's the real deal.

So. Would you guys recommend this tort/company http://bit.ly/Qkn8HG I know it would fit or this tort/company which the tort looks better but I don't know if it would fit this guitar. http://bit.ly/YQU8aE Has anyone ever bought red tort from either of these and have pictures they can share with me? Or know a better place to buy it. Thanks!

Putting that serial in the guitardaterproject.com serial checker reveals:

Guitar Info
Your guitar was made at the
Fullerton Plant (Fender - CBS Era), USA
in the Year(s): 1977 - 1978


Fender: Fullerton
The Fullerton factory opened in 1946, Fullerton California with the first major electric solid body guitar production began in 1950 with the Broadcaster (later known as the Telecaster). Sold in 1965 to CBS who in 1985 sold Fender to a group of private investors the plant was not included in that sale and was subsequently closed.


I'm a bit suss about some of the wear hence the relic comment. Poly finishes tend to have big old cracks (like those on the front) rather than the ultra fine checking (like your other picture - this is usually a nitro finish) plus the wear spots look like what you'd get on nitro rather than poly. That being said i don't know how they finished these 1970's guitars so it might be possible. There's just something that doesn't totally add up in what I'm seeing, especially on the front lower horn....that wood to have been exposed under a poly finish would take constant wear from a hand over a very long time (no so long for nitro) but honestly who's hand contantly brushes the horn that way, all along it and not just right by the neck, and why, if that wood is exposed by hands and sweat, is it so pristine looking? Has it got laquer over it? I may be wrong entirely

If i had to make a Sherlock call on this I'd say: This is a late 70's body, finished in poly. The body has been heat and cold treated to induce cracks as seen on the front (which are bigger than you'd get unless some extra stressful situation were applied) and that the detailed checking is a razorblade relic job. Fake wear has been sanded in on the butt and lower horn and then possibly lacquered over (see the continuous shine from paint to wood in one pic)

Idk. It really doesn't look relicd. I'm almost positive it is vintage 77-78 though. As for the shine on the wear parts I thought it was strange too unless they put a coating of clear on the wood, then they painted over top of it. Because if it was relicd and sanded down to the wood then I have no idea how the hell they did such a good job spraying over top of the original finish so perfectly because the bare wood and paint feel the same. You wouldn't notice there is wood exposed if you rubbed there with your eyes closed. If the body was really stained then it would require a lot of sanding to get rid of the stain leaving a dip from the bare wood to the paint. I think they were clear coated and sprayed with a light orange paint over top of the clear then red then brownish black. As for the spiderweb cracking, I don't see and scratching. They are actually cracks. Now as for the lower horn being so worn, that's a tuff call because the seller didn't have the original neck. The original owner could of been a heavy lead player. We won't know unless we saw the frets though. But I do know someone locally that plays in a band where his music requires him playing that low on his neck there for usually the whole song and his hand is constantly rubbing at the lower part of his Polly finished jaguar.

Well maybe it's an ex-sonic youth geetar! There no way the hand would wear right down to the horn tip unless that was an arm reaching across to wang the bar whilst sliding a drum stick on the neck with the other Looks like at least one previous owner wasn't worried about taking a dremel to it and drilling extra screw holes

That 66 mustang body was very odd and very similar to Thurstons. But all I am saying is I doubt it is relicd. The finish looks very similar to my musicmaster from the same time period.

I think it looks really cool. I wouldn't worry about the real vs fake relic concern as long as you like how it looks.

(If you don't, feel free to visit my misc sale/trade area. )

Can someone help me decide on the Pickguard now please? Lol.

Indeed it looks the tits. Not bad for $100 with a roadworn bridge. Can't believe the seller called it a stratocaster body in the text and a squier mustang in the title - you clearly rescued it from an idiot. Top find!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Mustang- ... 19d630515b