Squier Mustang (full expos�)

[Fakir Mustache]

I got it.

It's pretty cool, it has a nice weight, it's not by any means heavy, but not toyishly light like some 'stangs either. The pickups are kind of hot, not as hot as humbuckers but pretty hot, and they have a fuzzy vibe even with a non-fuzz distortion.

I still haven't changed the strings and given it a proper setup, except for raising the action a little, which was super-low and super-buzzy.

The colour is weird, it looks like tomato juice mixed with carrot juice, maybe with a tiny bit of milk and blueberry juice. I wouldn't say quite pink, and I don't think Pepto-Bismol, but I don't live in the US so I'm not exposed to that on a daily basis (TV, shops...).



actually a lot brighter than the photo, it almost looks like they had it in the shop window for a long time facing the sun, but the back looks the same as the front.

(note: the original photos were uploaded to free image shack account, which appears to not be in function. Some of the original pics were found and uploaded to another server in 2019)

[meltedbuzzbox]

Nice guitar sir

not sure about that strap though

[gusman2x]

Nice. Might give one of these a go at some point.

[BearBoy]

Sweet. HNGD.

[speedfish]

Congrats! How do the pickups sound compared to the 'Fender' mustang?

[paul_]

PUT ON THE GLASSES and look at 'Fender'

[aen]

I liked the Squiers I played better than the fenders.

[Rox]

I like them . The bridges are a little meh but the Duncan Designed pickups in the basswood body is nice and something about the flat finish of the Squier necks I just find better than the Fenders . I always wind up steelwooling the finish on the neckbacks on my Fenders .

[Fakir Mustache]

I like them . The bridges are a little meh but the Duncan Designed pickups in the basswood body is nice and something about the flat finish of the Squier necks I just find better than the Fenders . I always wind up steelwooling the finish on the neckbacks on my Fenders .

Wot? The neck IS glossy, not satin.

Congrats! How do the pickups sound compared to the 'Fender' mustang?

They're darker and louder than a vintage Mustang (I'm not familiar with Japanese pickups, so I can't say about the reissues), good for distortion. The neck pickup can get a good jazzy sound. It would be a great guitar for blues.





I can't believe how much the bridge sucks, and I'm not even a bridge complainer. For example, I had a Jag copy with a real Jaguar bridge and I didn't have any problems with it.

The saddles are really small, so you have to raise them a bit or the front of the bridge will become the bridge. But the screw is too long, so if the saddle is moved too far back, the screw becomes the saddle. So of course no way to get proper intonation, and hard to really match any radius less than 35" or something. I couldn't get the G string intonated without having a sitar sound.

If they would have made the screws 2 mm shorter it would have worked though, and the saddles wouldn't have popped out because they are pretty big. I might eventually try to buy shorter screws if I can find any in a shop (chopping them would be too much of a pain), but I'll try this Japanese Mustang bridge I have next.

[JordanD]

The Japanese bridges are a different radius. I had one on mine for a while and the two E strings were far too low down compared to the relatively deent action of the inter strings. If you've got the cash, I'd recommend a 9.5" radius staytrem bridge.

[Mike]

+1 for teh Staytrem. I did this to my Squier VM Jaguar and it's incredible.

[Ankhanu]

I actually got to test one of these two weeks back (I took a trip to another city). I didn't get a chance to plug in; the store was about to close when I got there, and it wasn't open the next day... but it felt pretty nice in the hand, the finish was good... I didn't notice anything untoward with the bridge (can't say the same about the Japanese Bass VI I played). Only gripe I would have is the lack of contours. Wish I had more time to play with it, though, and to plug it in :/

[Awstin]

I love mine. Well, the body. I only bought the body. But it's a very nice weight and is great quality!

[Fakir Mustache]

The Japanese bridges are a different radius. I had one on mine for a while and the two E strings were far too low down compared to the relatively deent action of the inter strings. If you've got the cash, I'd recommend a 9.5" radius staytrem bridge.

Yes, I noticed that the E strings were much lower. In fact, the height difference from the two middle saddles (D,G) to the two saddles next to them (A,B) was very slight, while the height difference between the A and B strings and the E's next to them was very much. I don't know if it is geometrically correct, but it struck me as odd so I checked to see if it was the same on an original 1960's bridge, and it was.

However, I didn't have problems with the high E string being much lower. The low E string did buzz, even though I had the bass side considerably higher.

The way I solved it is I replaced the low E saddle with an A or B saddle from another Japanese bridge and it worked, no buzz and plays really nicely.

The pickguard also looks much nicer after I removed the protective film, it looks like the original pearl ones except it's not aged.

[Fakir Mustache]

here's some pr0n:

ooooh, baby....o.k. never mind, here's the vibrato rout:

notice the place where the springs connect is filed at an angle. This is how it came from the factory.

compare to a vintage rout:


scratchplate looks nice with the plastic film removed:


vibrato mechanism:


Strangely enough, these are not exactly the same as the ones available as unbranded parts. This is one of those, I bought it a few years ago. The post on the right belongs to the Squier. Notice a different angle next to the part that screws into the plate. The top of the post is a bit different too.


By comparison, a vintage mechanism only has two steps for the springs:


I didn't take any pics of the grub screw on the Squier or replacement tailpiece, but it is a hex screw. The vintage one is a flathead screw:

[Fakir Mustache]

top: Squier cigar tube, bottom: recent replacement parts mechanism

holes not the same.

vintage knobs:


Squier knobs not the same, but close, maybe a bit smaller:


Squier control plate:


Squier pickup routs:


vintage pickup routs:

[Fakir Mustache]

Squier bridge pickup:


Squier neck pickup:


vintage tuners:


Squier tuner buttons are made of a different type of plastic, you can sort of see through them:


back of Squier:

[astro]

Warmoth sells a "modified" mustang bridge. It is a normal mustang bridge, with normal mustang saddles that have been modified to have saddle height adjustment screws. You get all the benefits of a stock mustang bridge plus you can set the height for each individual string so that any radius can be accommodated. I have two of them, they're rock solid and top quality. And at $50 it's half the price of a staytrem bridge.

Lank

[Fakir Mustache]

They seem to be exactly the same as the Squier ones, read the review, the screws are too long.

Warmoth used to have another version several years ago, where they put height screws in a Mustang bridge in 4 of the saddles.

However, I am doing fine with a regular Mustang bridge with a higher E saddle, as I've written before.

[Fran]

Nice. I'd pick one of these up too if I didn't already have a load of guitars.

Thanks for the illustrated pics as well, reminds me of back in the day on here...