Jean-Luc Pickguard

My newly acquired squier classic vibe competition mustang came from the previous owner upgraded with a pickup from a vintera mustang and CTS pots. The soldering job wasn't the best - I've improved some of the connections by reflowing the existing solder and adding some extra, but I will probably remake the loom at some point to make it look a bit prettier. Surprisingly the original jack socket was still in place so I replaced it with a switchcraft from my bits box. Also surprisingly, the CTS pots used were splined split shaft pots rather than the solid shaft type which fit the knobs best, and one half of the shaft on tone pot had snapped off so the knob couldnt be fitted. I was originally going to replace the pot but instead built up the shaft using two part epoxy putty (milliput). I also filled in the gap between the halves of the volume pot to strengthen it. The knobs are easy to fit now and there's no danger of half the shaft breaking off again.

Orgasm Addict - The Buzzcocks

Even Ray Charles wouldn't have mistaken that for a Fender

Einstein a go go - Landscape

Permanent Vacation - Marion Sodd

It looks wrong to me with the schaller bridge especially as it is set so far forward. It looks a guitar design made into a bass with seemingly little thought of its ergonomics as a bass.

Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers - ZZ Top

I have a few basses with a chrome bridge & nickel tuners. Doesn’t look weird at all unless the string guide on the headstock is chrome.

I don't know about the standard classic vibe mustang basses, but the body edges of my competition orange one certainly have a noticably smaller radius than my various Fender mustangs. I've done all the little jobs that it needed and now that it has flatwounds its a pretty decent mustang. I couldnt get the action quite as low as I'd like so I'll probably take it to Camden sometime to get the frets levelled. I'll probably take it to tomorrow's gig as the 'just in case' bass as backup whichever of the JMJs I take.

On Wednesday this week I spent exactly £300 on a secondhand Squier Classic Vibe Competition Orange Mustang which had been upgraded with a Fender Vintera Mustang Pickup, so I guess that's my answer. Today I have radiused the fingerboard edges with an ultrafine sanding pad and given the fingerboard some Dunlop 65. I'm currently awaiting a delivery of slug repellant copper tape to keep slugs out of the the electronics,.I also have a set of Wilkinson tuners for it and a set of ECB81M Chromes to put on.

My Ding-a-ling - Chuck Berry

Chocolate City - Mavis Staples

Putting it together is make a playable bass will probably cost way more than the restored bass is worth as the neck is without a fingerboard.

Super Sonic Sooty Spug - Sooty

This just popped up on my youtube feed — watching it now.

After spending some time with a real vintage bass I think I prefer basses that have the look of an old one but with modern manufacturing. After being able to do a side by side comparison I have arrived at the conclusion that my black & blue JMJ twins sound and feel at least as good as the '76, and my sunburst vintera mustang is not far behing those. I have just arrived home from an outing where I picked up a competition orange classic vibe mustang via Reverb for around 9% of the cost of the vintage one. The previous owner has upgraded it with the pickup & bridge from a vintera mustang. I'm sure once I've given it a full service including polishing the frets, rolling the fingerboard edges and setting it up with a set of Chomes it'll satisfy my GAS for a while.

Yep - that's what I said when I took it back, and they agreed to refund once what I said was confirmed. I mentioned the sunken truss rod issue also, but only in passing as the wrong date was my reason to decide to return it.

Red headed Woman - Sonny Burgess

I thought it would be a YoB thing which was later confirmed by wikipedia — where his birth date is stated as 2 May 1974, So yesterday was his birthday. He wasn't specifically looking for a mustang — I think he tried a jazz later. But I agree the best people are mustang fans.

Alright then — https://reverb.com/uk/item/63044138-fender-mustang-bass-1971 (the price was lower in the shop) When I was there yesterday a couple of chaps came in, one looking very much like Matt Berry. He saw the mustang sitting in its open case and said "That is a thing of beauty" In a perfectly modulated rich baritone voice. I told him about the bass and he expressed that he'd be more interested in a 1974 one so I showed him where they have a similar '74 mustang hanging on the wall. And that is how I met Matt Berry.

There’s no problem with the neck joint — that was nice & snug. The pickguard is a bit off though as can be seen in the pics.

I was able to give the truss rod a tweak to decrease the relief using my stewmac tool (without taking the neck off) and it didn't feel any different to a normal truss rod, so I think it is probably okay functionally, however I just don't know enough about what is inside the neck causing the ajustment nut to be recessed so much. My main reason to return the bass was actually that it was listed as a 1971 mustang, but the serial number indicated that it was not quite that old, and there were other clues to back this up. I believe this was a genuine mistake, and the shop owner did seem genuinely concerned that I had been let down, so I won't name the shop publicly. It is a terrific bass otherwise — certainly on a par with my perfectly set-up twin JMJ mustangs, but with a lighter swamp ash body and some good-looking genuine mojo.

+1 for hiscox