NGD- Vista Musicmaster

jculpjr · Post by **jculpjr** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:09 pm

This popped up on Craigslist locally and I bought it. It's in decent shape- appears to be all original. I can't get the volume knob to slide, so I guess I'll open it up to see if anything stands out. Isn't the knob supposed to slide a half inch or so?
I like the neck- it's a satin finish. It's thinner than my Squier Duo Sonic, but quite comfortable. The frets don't stick out, the frets have a lot of wear left and the fingerboard is unmarked. The front of the body have what almost look like surfboard pressure dings- kind of weird. It appears that a previous owner used the guitar as a broom on asphalt at some point. It's CIC and not a "real" Vista, so I didn't expect outstanding quality, but overall I'm pretty impressed.
He was asking $180 and I ended up paying $140 due to the road rash.

Will plug it in tonight to hear how it sounds. I'm tempted to mod it with a mustang neck pickup, but I'll probably leave it as is if it sounds good enough stock.

Scale comparison to my Duo Sonic:

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:17 pm

Just like mine, minus yours' damage. Volume knob should be a push-pull if nobody's replaced it.

DasBeef · Post by **DasBeef** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:18 pm

This just makes me want one even more....

jculpjr · Post by **jculpjr** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:19 pm

theshadowofseattle wrote:Just like mine, minus yours' damage. Volume knob should be a push-pull if nobody's replaced it.

Well gee that would explain that. Thanks. Push/pull engages.

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:21 pm

They sound great stock. If after plugging it in, you still miss the neck pickup, I'd be quite surprised. If yours has the push-pull replaced, it's worth it to restore it. The coilsplit sound is lovely.

jculpjr · Post by **jculpjr** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:27 pm

Just noticed the tuning machine heads have been replaced for some reason.
Gobs of sustain on this thing...

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:33 pm

DasBeef wrote:This just makes me want one even more....

markarkark · Post by **markarkark** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:31 pm

I really like the one Blane posted once:

cooter · Post by **cooter** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 12:57 am

Nice guitar. If those are old Music Man tuners they are probably worth $50-$75 by theirself.

I just bought an old Squier Bullet and when I opened it up it had a 1979 Strat pickup in the bridge. That one pickup is worth
almost what I paid for the whole guitar.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 3:11 am

markarkark wrote:I really like the one Blane posted once:

i think thats my old one that i sold to Aen

jculpjr · Post by **jculpjr** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 8:40 am

cooterfinger wrote:Nice guitar. If those are old Music Man tuners they are probably worth $50-$75 by theirself.

I just bought an old Squier Bullet and when I opened it up it had a 1979 Strat pickup in the bridge. That one pickup is worth
almost what I paid for the whole guitar.

They are MusicMan indeed. Thanks for the info. Is that Strat pickup the red bobbin type?

cooter · Post by **cooter** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:28 pm

No, it's a grey bottom with a stamped serial number.

jculpjr · Post by **jculpjr** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 4:01 pm

theshadowofseattle wrote:They sound great stock. If after plugging it in, you still miss the neck pickup, I'd be quite surprised. If yours has the push-pull replaced, it's worth it to restore it. The coilsplit sound is lovely.

Coilsplit is working- guitar sounds great. What gauge strings have you found to work the best for this guitar?

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 10:56 pm

jculpjr wrote:
theshadowofseattle wrote:They sound great stock. If after plugging it in, you still miss the neck pickup, I'd be quite surprised. If yours has the push-pull replaced, it's worth it to restore it. The coilsplit sound is lovely.

Coilsplit is working- guitar sounds great. What gauge strings have you found to work the best for this guitar?

I use 10's with a wound G on anything that isn't 24" scale, though I'd use 11's on a shortscale. 10's are doing the job really well on the 24.75", so I haven't wanted to switch them out. I'll keep 10's on it.

jculpjr · Post by **jculpjr** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:44 pm

good I just ordered 10 sets of 'em.

jculpjr · Post by **jculpjr** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 12:03 am

cooterfinger wrote:No, it's a grey bottom with a stamped serial number.

I bought an '82 US S3 Bullet remotely on Craigslist. It was probably a stupid buy because of the risk, but I did it anyway. The guy came through and shipped the guitar. I opened up the pickguard and (nice surprise) it happens to have the red bobbin pickups.

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Tue Feb 18, 2014 1:31 am

I can't find these musicmasters anywhere. I don't know how they play but they look really awesome. I have a thing for guitars with a single humbucker in the bridge position.

apreswho · Post by **apreswho** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 2:25 am

what a cool looking guitar, i had no idea these existed. I should probably get more informed on the vista series...

JordanD · Post by **JordanD** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 9:01 am

Awesome guitar! I've always wanted one of these.

cooter · Post by **cooter** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 10:54 am

jculpjr wrote:
cooterfinger wrote:No, it's a grey bottom with a stamped serial number.
I bought an '82 US S3 Bullet remotely on Craigslist. It was probably a stupid buy because of the risk, but I did it anyway. The guy came through and shipped the guitar. I opened up the pickguard and (nice surprise) it happens to have the red bobbin pickups.

Now that is a nice surprise. How do those sound? I have an '89 Bullet 1 that I'm rewiring with a set of grey bottom overwound pickups.
I made an old school shielding plate for it as well.
I'm hoping it sounds good because the neck is really nice.