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NBD: Fender JMJ Road Worn Mustang


iamtheelvy
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So yeah, playing around with this today... It’s lacking a few inches off my other basses (feels really tiny!), but not missing any bottom end! 

I’m not big fan of signature instruments, or ‘relic’d’ basses really, but this one has excellent specs that I believe outweigh its price tag. Plus, Fender and Justin Meldal-Johnsen haven’t done any silly faffing with the concept. JMJ’s just got a really nice Mustang that they’ve cloned...

Bit of a nervous wait for delivery (have always picked out an instrument in person before, but that’s really not an option right now...), but no major issues identified from its transit! Will need to have a look into some shielding paint/foil to counter 60-cycle hum at some point, but that seems to be fairly typical of these instruments.
 

 

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1 hour ago, ezbass said:

Congrats. I want one of these having played one quite a bit when such a thing was permissible.

It was a bit of a blind buy, as I had no choice but to order online, but been doing a fair bit of recording where a flat wound-strung short scale was the sound I was aiming for.

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36 minutes ago, iamtheelvy said:

This gets surprisingly close, but has its own thing going on. Bit more of a mid-mid punch, rather than the low-mid tone of the P-bass.

Plus, I already have a Precision... 🙂

Yes certainly gets nearer than a Musicmaster - a squier vista gets even closer with a proper 4 pole pup

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I had one of these for a while and agree about the build quality. Believe it or not, I actually struggled with a shorter scale and for some reason I had visions of me looking like George Formby playing his Ukulele, but I certainly enjoyed it. 

All that said, he was a great boxer and we had one of his grills that we used for quite a long time. 

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6 minutes ago, Old Horse Murphy said:

I had one of these for a while and agree about the build quality. Believe it or not, I actually struggled with a shorter scale and for some reason I had visions of me looking like George Formby playing his Ukulele, but I certainly enjoyed it. 

All that said, he was a great boxer and we had one of his grills that we used for quite a long time. 

Like this?

CB12190E-911C-474E-A9BE-C97A996FB9BE.jpeg

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On 30/12/2020 at 16:49, iamtheelvy said:

So yeah, playing around with this today... It’s lacking a few inches off my other basses (feels really tiny!), but not missing any bottom end! 

I’m not big fan of signature instruments, or ‘relic’d’ basses really, but this one has excellent specs that I believe outweigh its price tag. Plus, Fender and Justin Meldal-Johnsen haven’t done any silly faffing with the concept. JMJ’s just got a really nice Mustang that they’ve cloned...

Bit of a nervous wait for delivery (have always picked out an instrument in person before, but that’s really not an option right now...), but no major issues identified from its transit! Will need to have a look into some shielding paint/foil to counter 60-cycle hum at some point, but that seems to be fairly typical of these instruments.
 

 

0E0B9CCF-E7D9-4ADE-851D-7107E7A1BDF3.jpeg

15DDCFA5-DE13-4575-8AF6-0FC8F727714C.jpeg

4A831D07-0D16-4800-AFC4-D23F28587ECF.jpeg

7F4E6347-BC7C-4095-92B5-F261752D4F5C.jpeg

AAD48D8F-B3F7-4243-A9A0-86142B469BEC.jpeg

That looks fantastic. I love the look of the black JMJs. Just looks like a cool vintage Mustang rather than an obvious signature model. 

I did some home recording earlier this evening with my regular MiJ Mustang bass and it sounded ace. A great companion to a P bass. 

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On 01/01/2021 at 21:50, MoonBassAlpha said:

Just out of curiosity, how much weight do those Hipshot tuners save over the regular Fender ones?

This bass has a slightly ‘thicker’ headstock so any gains made from lighter tuners might be offset but the thicker headstock. I’ve a jmj and it’s a cracking wee bass not just sound wise but the feel, build quality and components all add up to make a great bass irrespective of who’s name or brand is on the headstock. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 21/01/2021 at 13:26, Fishman said:

How does this differ from a Japan Mustang?

My 2013 MIJ Mustang has a 7.25” neck radius, smallish frets, and none of the Hipshot hardware that the JMJ has.

I believe the JMJ has a thicker neck and headstock, lollipop tuners, 9.5” radius neck and medium jumbo frets, as well as Seymour Duncan p/ups (could be wrong tho).

Plus of course JMJs are reliced (presumably with nitro paint jobs) whereas my MIJ is a straightforward poly paint job. 

Similar, but different enough. 

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I think the JMJ is based off a 60’s Mustang. I know very little about Mustangs other than my jmj is a cracking wee bass. It’ll do a lot of the p bass type stuff and loves a bit of synth and sub stuff. 

Edited by krispn
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2 hours ago, Fil1ip said:

Looks ace, don't see many black ones.

Any bridge issues?

No, nothing so far. Being playing around for a month or so now. Only issue is quite a lot of hum. I’m getting some shielding foil soon and will open it up to shield the cavities and check out the grounding in the next couple of weeks.

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4 hours ago, iamtheelvy said:

No, nothing so far. Being playing around for a month or so now. Only issue is quite a lot of hum. I’m getting some shielding foil soon and will open it up to shield the cavities and check out the grounding in the next couple of weeks.

Looks ace, I have been tempted. 

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On ‎25‎/‎01‎/‎2021 at 14:52, Fil1ip said:

Looks ace, don't see many black ones.

Any bridge issues?

They can have an issue with losing the A string intonation screw - mine did and I've read others have had the same experience; maybe something to do with the factory set up?  Easy enough fix (FMJ sent me some spares) but just make sure it's seated far enough into the saddle.

Mine's been ok for hum, no different to my now departed MIJ Mustang.

 

Mustang Bridge.jpg

Edited by martthebass
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There was also some info about the holes on the bridge for the string thru looking like crescent moons but that’s supposed to be quite normal when placing the bridge. Apologies if already covered it just came to me as I was reading this latest post

Edited by krispn
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