NBD - Fender JMJ Mustang

[Frank Blank]

A little while back I paid @Osiris a visit in order to evaluate some pedals and eat fish finger sandwiches (not a euphonium), as an aside I was going to try out his JMJ Mustang and Sandberg Lionel. Now I have played a Lionel (again, not a euphonium) two or three times previous to this and I have found them dull and without any discernible character, this doesn't go for all Sandbergs, I've had two TT4s, superb basses, just not short scale, it seems I just don't dig the Lionel.

 

I've had a few Fenders over the years, mainly at the beginning of my second bass playing phase as an over 50 man as opposed to phase one in my youth, I have always found Fenders perfectly good if a little dull, so, as @Osiris handed me the Mustang I expected just that, perfectly good if a little dull. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong, perhaps the most comfortable bass I've ever played, I mean I'd have to do a side-by-side with an Acinonyx but, although heavier than an Acinonyx, it did feel extremely comfortable. But, oh man, the playability was off the chart! One of my measures of how much I like a bass is how quickly I start writing new bass lines and that happened immediately. I was truly gobsmacked, i kept playing, it kept being excellent, it was one of those moments when you realise the options are a) knock @Osiris spark out and leggit with said instrument or b) start messaging people on BC who I knew had a JMJM or two (sorry @Lozz196) to see if I could talk them into selling me one. Luckily I hit gold and two days later I had a JMJ in the rack.

 

Now the one I bought was strung with La Bella 760F-MUS stainless steel flats and ooofff that makes a big difference, they sound so good, deep and thumpy but still articulate in a way I find quite difficult to describe. Now to be honest, the Mustang sound, even through my preamp, isn't really the right sound for the music I make with my current duo, most of the bass lines I play are up around the 12th fret and require a @Jabba_the_gut semi-hollow bass wearing light, very bright rounds, but as a writing tool the Mustang is unsurpassed. Over half of the bass lines I play were actually initially written on a knackered old classical guitar, I have no idea why this is the case but there it is, it just seems to have tunes in it, but blimey, the Mustang is actually bursting with bass lines, every time I sit down something new falls out of it, it's mad, so many in fact that I keep forgetting them, I really must invest in a new interface that I have set up all the time, in fact I wonder if I can play through the Grace Design Alix and straight into a DAW... I digress.

 

Anyway, the JMJ Mustang is a stonker. If you are considering going over to short scales but can't bear to put down your big ol' Fender Precision, even though it is giving you serious back or shoulder problems, try a JMJ Mustang. I have often wondered which bass could be a safe bridge, so to speak, into the interesting world of short scales, I think this has to be a top candidate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by Frank Blank
Chalfont St Giles

[police squad]

everyone who has a JMJ loves it.

I had a 2 day rehearsal with mine last week and everybody loved the sound

Best neck on a bass since my '73 P. It's the same profile but being shorter scale makes it better

 

A great choice Frank

[Frank Blank]

7 minutes ago, police squad said:

...everyone who has a JMJ loves it.

 

This is what I've noticed, I've not seen a bad word about one and now I understand why.

 

7 minutes ago, police squad said:

I had a 2 day rehearsal with mine last week and everybody loved the sound...

 

Being a player who mostly plays light, bright rounds up the dusty end it isn't a sound I am used to but, likewise, I love it. On most of our songs I'm playing the bass more like a guitar really, so to get down the other end for some beefy action (not a euphonium) has been an excellent change.

 

7 minutes ago, police squad said:

Best neck on a bass since my '73 P. It's the same profile but being shorter scale makes it better...

 

Yes, just looking at the neck, it looks as if it's going to be a thudding great plank, but once you play it, my word, the neck is the real winner, by far the most playable neck in my experience.

 

7 minutes ago, police squad said:

A great choice Frank

 

👍

[mr4stringz]

Echo the above. It must be a bore to many to hear me so frequently wax lyrical about mine. They got it so, so right with this model.

[Frank Blank]

1 minute ago, mr4stringz said:

Echo the above. It must be a bore to many to hear me so frequently wax lyrical about mine. They got it so, so right with this model.

 

So right...

[snorkie635]

33 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

 

So right...

In case Nilo asks, do you like the bass then?

🦄

[Frank Blank]

1 minute ago, snorkie635 said:

In case Nilo asks, do you like the bass then?

🦄

 

Carthage, penguin, euphonium.

[snorkie635]

4 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

 

Carthage, penguin, euphonium.

I had no idea you spoke fluent Nilo. I'll send him your address. Hannibal reading a book on how to play a low brass instrument will keep him foaming for months. Later ... ...

[ezbass]

5 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

Carthage, penguin, euphonium.

Nothing comes up for what 3 words, but carénage.pingouin.euphonium is suggested, somewhere in Irkutsk apparently.

[Osiris]

3 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

A little while back I paid @Osiris a visit in order to evaluate some pedals and eat fish finger sandwiches (not a euphonium), as an aside I was going to try out his JMJ Mustang and Sandberg Lionel. Now I have played a Lionel (again, not a euphonium) two or three times previous to this and I have found them dull and without any discernible character, this doesn't go for all Sandbergs, I've had two TT4s, superb basses, just not short scale, it seems I just don't dig the Lionel.

 

I've had a few Fenders over the years, mainly at the beginning of my second bass playing phase as an over 50 man as opposed to phase one in my youth, I have always found Fenders perfectly good if a little dull, so, as @Osiris handed me the Mustang I expected just that perfectly good if a little dull. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong, perhaps the most comfortable bass I've ever played, I mean I'd have to do a side-by-side with an Acinonyx but, although heavier than an Acinonyx, it did feel extremely comfortable. But, oh man, the playability was off the chart! One of my measures of how much I like a bass is how quickly I start writing new bass lines and that happened immediately. I was truly gobsmacked, i kept playing, it kept being excellent, it was one of those moments when you realise the options are a) knock @Osiris spark out and leggit with said instrument or start messaging people on BC who I knew had a JMJM or two (sorry @Lozz196) to see if I could talk them into selling me one. Luckily I hit gold and two days later I had a JMJ in the rack.

 

Now the one I bought was strung with La Bella 760F-MUS stainless steel flats and ooofff that make a difference, they sound so good, deep and thumpy but still articulate in a way I find quite difficult to describe. Now to be honest, the Mustang sound, even through my preamp, isn't really the right sound for the music I make with my current duo, most of the bass lines I play are up around the 12th fret and require a @Jabba_the_gut semi-hollow bass wearing light, very bright rounds, but as a writing tool the Mustang is unsurpassed. Over half of the bass lines I play were written on a knackered old classical guitar, I have no idea why this is the case but there it is, it just seems to have tunes in it, but blimey, the Mustang is actually bursting with bass lines, every time I sit down something new falls out of it, it's mad, so many in fact that I keep forgetting them, I really must invest in a new interface that I have set up all the time, in fact I wonder if I can play through the Grace Design Alix and straight into a DAW... I digress.

 

Anyway, the JMJ Mustang is a stonker. If you are considering going over to short scales but can't bear to put down your big ol' Fender Precision even though it is giving you serious back or shoulder problems, try a JMJ Mustang. I have often wondered which bass could be a safe bridge, so to speak, into the interesting world of short scales, I think this has to be a top candidate.

 

PS: Just to annoy the hell out of @Osiris I ordered two new tort scratchplates for the JMJ from Tiny Tone, just going to do a post about those now...

 

 

 

 

Francine, you're absolutely right, they are absolutely sublime basses. Neither elegant nor refined but the character they exude from that combination of neck profile and the awesome pickup is perfect and then some.

 

I awarded you a thanks TLRT thingy for your opening post but you also deserve a vomiting one for desecrating such a glorious instrument with not one but a pair of tort scratch plates. You should feel dirty and ashamed 🤢🤮

[Frank Blank]

2 minutes ago, Osiris said:

Francine, you're absolutely right, they are absolutely sublime basses. Neither elegant nor refined but the character they exude from that combination of neck profile and the awesome pickup is perfect and then some.

 

That's the word I was looking for, Character. 

 

2 minutes ago, Osiris said:

I awarded you a thanks TLRT thingy for your opening post...

 

Awarded? Who are you, Fred Nobel?*

 

 

*Nobby Nobel's youngest, works down the fair on the dodgems.

 

2 minutes ago, Osiris said:

...but you also deserve a vomiting one for desecrating such a glorious instrument with not one but a pair of tort scratch plates.

 

It's a classic look, oft misunderstood by the great unwashed hoi polloi such as yourself. 

 

2 minutes ago, Osiris said:

You should feel dirty and ashamed 🤢🤮

 

My middle names, there.

[ezbass]

1 minute ago, Frank Blank said:

It's a classic look, oft misunderstood by the great unwashed hoi polloi such as yourself. 

 

I also like tort on black myself, but didn’t that black JMJ come with an additional black p/g as well as the mother of toilet-seat?

[Frank Blank]

Just now, ezbass said:

I also like tort on black myself, but didn’t that black JMJ come with an additional black p/g as well as the mother of toilet-seat?

 

It did. The black looks fine but the white pearloid... *shudder* Just not my bag. The white one was perfect for the TinyTone template, they could've bunged it out of the window into the rather excellently named River Irk afterwards for all I care.*

 

*you may glean from this that a fan of white pearloid I am not.

[BillyBass]

Frank, a picture of a couple of pickguards is inadequate.  Where is the JMJ?

[Frank Blank]

12 minutes ago, BillyBass said:

Frank, a picture of a couple of pickguards is inadequate.  Where is the JMJ?

 

A good point, well made. What on Earth was I thinking? Pics coming up.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Welcome to the JMJ clan!

 

I have a black JMJ & a pair of daphne blues. I'm not sure why I bought the second blue one though. I've tried the LaBella mustang set on my vintera mustang, but D'addario ECB81M hromes are my favourite strings on the JMJs.

[ezbass]

52 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

 

It did. The black looks fine but the white pearloid... *shudder* Just not my bag. The white one was perfect for the TinyTone template, they could've bunged it out of the window into the rather excellently named River Irk afterwards for all I care.*

 

*you may glean from this that a fan of white pearloid I am not.

Mother of toilet seat kind of works on the daphne blue one (like wot I ‘as), but on black - no, no. It annoys me that only the black JMJ came with the optional p/g, I think a black one would look fine and dandy on a blue JMJ. The workings of the Fender hive mind are a true mystery.

[Lozz196]

Nice one @Frank Blank

[TheGreek]

I'm not a fan of the design...

 

If I end up buying one I'm going to blame you lot!! 😠😠

[ezbass]

1 minute ago, TheGreek said:

I'm not a fan of the design...

 

If I end up buying one I'm going to blame you lot!! 😠😠

I understand that, it is an odd look, but it grows on you once you take the plunge, the ergonomics seem just right, even with the slab bodied versions.

[TheGreek]

I might wait till @Andyjr1515 is less busy and get him to build a more pleasing to the eye body.

 

See!! You've got me thinking about it!! 😱😱

[ezbass]

33 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

I might wait till @Andyjr1515 is less busy and get him to build a more pleasing to the eye body.

 

See!! You've got me thinking about it!! 😱😱

You should play one, seriously it’s a revelation. When the short scale revolution started to get some traction, I thought I should investigate and I went out to they a bunch. The JMJ was easily the best I tried of the mainstream manufacturers, with only Viv Wilcock’s output being another contender (price and availability ruling them out, sadly). The Vinteras aren’t bad at all but, despite a very similar spec, the JMJ is much better. The small body makes the slab construction perfect (for me), with the upper bout being spot on as a forearm rest. Upper fret access is restricted, but not as much as you’d think and I’m not up that end a whole bunch anyway. Up against P basses, it blows them away as it’s just… more. Kudos to,Seymour Duncan for the pickup and Fender for the neck shape. The relicing is a bit caveman with a couple of tools like, but then you don’t care if you bash it. Despite having 2 custom basses built to my spec and great instruments that are, the JMJ is my go to and has been for as long as I’ve owned it, 3 and a half years.

[TheGreek]

I have three short scale basses as well as a Uke bass so I don't "need " another  - even though that hasn't stopped me spending in the past.

 

I think that I would have to go some to find a short scale bass better than my @Jabba_the_gut 5er or my short scale Ray.

 

 

[ezbass]

13 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

I don't "need " another

Who does? Please remember where you are. 
 

14 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

short scale Ray.

I have one of those too. I played a gig where I used it for the 1st set and the JMJ for the 2nd - I don’t take it out now and must see about moving it on.

[JohnDaBass]

I have tried several JMJ Mustangs at different retailers and everyone has had a consistent sublime neck feel and profile, credit to the higher QC  standards. Sadly the body does not suit or sit well with my slightly portly body profile even though the Pup produces such a wide range of tonal options. 

A larger body short scale  bass is  more comfortable and playable for me.