Jean-Luc Pickguard

I'd send it back TBH

Mine doesn't have any dings on the neck - apart from the ones around the headstock to simulate the damage you get crashing it into a cymbal (or singer) The gigbag that comes with it is not a short-scale specific bag, but one that fits a jazz or precision

Thanks for the suggestion, I remember copydex from school - its the one that stinks of tramps' trousers if I recall correctly. That could work, along with using thin strips of the tape rather than one long piece. I can't remember whether the odour is likely to stay or go away once the glue is dry though.

Ugh! you'd probably catch something nasty from playing it.

I think it is genuine. The lollipop tuners were used 1966-68, so the shape of these is correct for '69 and they have Fender embossing in the backplate. Also the Japanese mustangs use gotoh tuners which require smaller holes in the headstock the japanese ones didn't have matching headstocks. On the photo of the back of the headstock the maple looks glossier than I would expect so the back of the neck may have been refinished or oversprayed at some point, but the checking on the front of the headstock looks genuine. To tell with more certainty whether it is a genuine sixties neck we'd need to see a pic of the heel end of the neck - on a 60s/early 70s one the rosewood fingerboard will be curved and appear to be applied like a veneer wrapped over the curved top of the neck (like my '72 musicmaster), whereas on a reissue the fingerboard will have more of a slab appearance - like on my CIJ mustang & JMJ Mustang. There is some checking on the body which suggests a laquer finish rather than the poly finish of the reissues and the hardware has a patina. The pickguard could be a reissue as an old celluloid pearl one would have gassed out and show a nice warm colour, some shrinkage and discolouration under and around the tug bar (like my '72 musicmaster). The mutes on the bridge were never fitted to reissues as far as I am aware.

update - this has not been a total success as the adhesive of the tape doesn't stick well to the polyester webbing of the strap and after leaving it overnight the tape actually fell off, so some additional sticking agent is requires. If tape was cloth it could probably be sewn, but its like thick parcel tape or sellotape so sewing would probably cause it to tear. Not sure what to use to give additonal stickage - maybe some kind of contact adhesive? Any ideas?

I have stuck it onto the area where it is needed. The adhesive seems to be very good, on a par with carpet tape and the rubbery dots are nice & grippy. Just tried the bass briefly and there is no longer any trace of neck dive. I'll have to see how it works long-term - it it comes unstuck or starts to peel, but initial impressions are good. If I redo it I might try sticking a load of one inch strips about an eighth of an inch apart instead of a single long piece to try to minimise any wrinkling that occurs when the strap is flexed.

I recently bought a daphne blue Fender logo strap like this one: It looks great with my '72 Daphne blue musicmaster, however I'm used to using Suede straps or ones with a similar grippy reverse side. Due to the webbing on the back of this one, my feather-light musicmaster does exhibit some minor neck dive which is not apparent when using a suede strap - My seafoam Levys Suede one previously used with this bass has been promoted to my JMJ Mustang and looks great with it as it is very close to the same colour. I figured that something grippy stuck to the inside of the new strap might help, and today while browsing the popular high-street emporium, 'the land of pound', I found this stuff - 'Stick 'em up non-slip rug gripper'. I don't remember how much it cost though. 😝 It looks to be about a gnats wotsit narrower than the strap and the grippy dots are a pretty close match to daphne blue, so I am hopeful that it should work well and not look out of place. I will be trying it later and I will report back here with my findings. There's 1.5m on the roll, but I think I will only need to use about 50cm on the strap.

The pics weren't available last time I looked, but they are back up now. I keep telling myself that I don't *need* another mustang, but the sunburst one looks rather tasty

Milli Vanilli

I dunno - if it was good enough for Jamerson...

I already have a CIJ olympic white mustang and a daphne blue JMJ mustang, plus a '72 daphne blue musicmaster, so I really don't need one of the vintera mustangs, but that doesn't prevent me wanting one. It looks like they use the same hipshot lollypop tuners as the JMJ which apart from working perfectly look great (yep - I'm that shallow).

I've tried a lot of compressors. My favourite is the TC spectracomp, which along with my tech 21 VTbass and thumpinator is an 'always on' pedal on my board.

PM'd!

No correction necessary Twigman Definitely not a PB62 as the truss rod adjusts from the wrong end of the neck. I used to own a 1990 PB62 and can confirm that the neck on that did not have a skunk stripe. Also the decal is wrong for a PB62.

If Epiphone discontinues the Thunderbird vintage pro, I can see those becoming sought after in the future. Also the JMJ Mustang once it is no longer part of Fender's range. Both are excellent basses and I very much doubt I would ever part with either of mine.

Kala ubass, Mahalo STN2031B or similar mini-bass?

Do fender sell unfinished bodies? I though they only sold finished replacement bodies.

I'm loving the La Bella white nylons on my vintage pro thunderbird. Not tried them on a precison yet as the TI jazz flats on my Precisions are only about 10 years old so have plenty of life left.

I added one in that position on my CIJ mustang bass to add to the 60s vibe. I doubt it affects the resale value, but that is not something I am worried about as the bass is a keeper. If you like the look of a tug bar, I’d say go for it.

I believe there was a manufacturing fault with the first run of Pro V thunderbirds where the wrong pickups were fitted (I think the same pickups as the 4 string version were mistakenly fitted) which resulted in low volume on the B strings. There was a program to replace the pickups under warrantly at the time, and the issue was corrected on subseqent manufacturing runs. I have a later one (which has the front strap button at the heel of the neck rather than the top 'horn') and the B string works well. The neck is rather wide though.

I seem to recall that Lodestone was a sister company to Ashdown so I'd suggest contacting them.

A modification I saw a few times on basses of the 80s was a balanced XLR fitted in addition to the jack - like the one my original Hohner B2A has as stock. Maybe its an XLR on the side of Bruce's bass?

The chap who did the Jazz bass repair is local to me & makes his own brand of guitars called "Flame". He seems like a nice affable bloke. I've only taken a banjo to him for some minor work so far.

I have an CIJ mustang & a JMJ - Both with fender flats as fitted to the JMJ as stock. Both are excellent basses & the JMJ is my main rehearsal/gigging bass. The biggest differences for me are the finish - I prefer the thin nitro on the neck of the JMJ compared to the gloss of the CIJ and the neck profile. The CIJ has a very skinny neck like a jazz whereas the JMJ’s is a little chunkier & more comfortable for me. I’ve wanted a daphne blue mustang with 'lollypop' tuners since i bought the (white) CIJ & I was initially put off by the ‘roadworn’ finish of the JMJ, but it looks a lot better in person than a lot of Fender’s stock images which I think were of an early prototype where they went a bit overboard with the aging & made it look really grubby. Sound-wise there’s not a massive amount of difference between the two & I’m happy to gig with either using the same fx/amp settings but in a side by side comparison I'd say that the pickup in the JMJ has the edge with a slightly chunkier tone.