Mustang Brotherhood & Similar

[Len_derby]

Mexican P-J , my go-to gigging bass. Love it.

 

 

[DanDoesBass]

1 hour ago, Len_derby said:

Mexican P-J , my go-to gigging bass. Love it.

 

 

Great aren’t they! 🙌

[DanDoesBass]

4 hours ago, Byo said:

Very interested in this too.

 

The Nordstrand is a great upgrade for the Japanese pup, especially if you want more definition.

 

The JMJ has a custom Mustang pup, wasn't this done by Seymour Duncan? 

It's a very P-bassy sounding pup, a bit more body than the Mustang. As far as I am aware.

 

@DanDoesBass tell us more!

 

@Byo @Lozz196 

 

I loved the JMJ’s punch, but I wanted a warmer, beefier tone with bigger lows, less top-end bite, and a hotter output, so I dropped in the Nordstrand. That said, depending on the amp and pedals the difference can be subtle—both pickups are great…I mostly just wanted an excuse to put Nordstrands in. 👀😂

 

My father in law has a JMJ with the stock pickups, I’ll do a side by side to see how noticeable it really is. 👌

[DanDoesBass]

When does it go from a collection to an obsession?! 

[Lozz196]

Erm, like this?

 

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, DanDoesBass said:

When does it go from a collection to an obsession?! 

I think it’s probably 5+

 

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Erm, like this?

 

However, I could be wrong 

Edited Thursday at 21:21 by ezbass

[DanDoesBass]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Erm, like this?

 

Now this guy knows how to party! 

TBH I have been considering a second JMJ for a while now... Nice to see I am not the only one. 

Any differences between them at all? @Lozz196

[Lozz196]

Only the weight, not much in it though, from about 7.5lbs to just over 8. All play and sound pretty much identical.

[ped]

Welcome to BC @DanDoesBass

 

I'm a paid up member of the Mustang Brotherhood - which is weird, because a few years ago I would have laughed at the idea. I bought the '66 Mustang on a whim and fell in love with it, especially with rounds. Since I had it modified with new pickups it's become my favourite bass. I realised that short scale would be really well suited for fretless, given the additional weight afforded to the higher strings. I bought the '72 Musicmaster and a fretless Mustang neck to test that idea, and it's fantastic. Shortly the bass is going to a local luthier who is doing a few other bits such as correcting the electronics, replacing the bridge and possibly epoxy coating the board.

 

 

[Byo]

1 hour ago, ped said:

Welcome to BC @DanDoesBass

 

I'm a paid up member of the Mustang Brotherhood - which is weird, because a few years ago I would have laughed at the idea. I bought the '66 Mustang on a whim and fell in love with it, especially with rounds. Since I had it modified with new pickups it's become my favourite bass. I realised that short scale would be really well suited for fretless, given the additional weight afforded to the higher strings. I bought the '72 Musicmaster and a fretless Mustang neck to test that idea, and it's fantastic. Shortly the bass is going to a local luthier who is doing a few other bits such as correcting the electronics, replacing the bridge and possibly epoxy coating the board.

 

 

The red Mustang... 🔥🔥🔥

What pups have you got there? Looks like a Thunderbird-style and a really beefy single coil, has a Burns vibe to it that fits so well!

[ped]

2 hours ago, Byo said:

The red Mustang... 🔥🔥🔥

What pups have you got there? Looks like a Thunderbird-style and a really beefy single coil, has a Burns vibe to it that fits so well!

 

Cheers, the 66 has two Gemini pickups, the front is a dual coil 'Degenerate' with one extra hot. It gives a lovely P sound. The bridge is a 'Surfrider' and it's very powerful, so the honk is amazing. There are a few audio clips here and the build diary for the bass is here - you can see it was modified already when I bought it, so no crime has been committed.

 

The fretless build diary (more of a parts assembly thread) is here

 

 

[DanDoesBass]

14 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Only the weight, not much in it though, from about 7.5lbs to just over 8. All play and sound pretty much identical.

All flats too? 

[DanDoesBass]

10 hours ago, Byo said:

The red Mustang... 🔥🔥🔥

What pups have you got there? Looks like a Thunderbird-style and a really beefy single coil, has a Burns vibe to it that fits so well!

A thunderbird pickup in a Mustang is something I’ve wanted for a while!! 
 

[DanDoesBass]

Mock up 👀 (not real)

 

Not quite the vintage T-bird pickups, but you get the idea. 

[Lozz196]

31 minutes ago, DanDoesBass said:

All flats too? 

No, I’m a rounds man, I did (very stupidly imo) put these up for sale so put the strings they came with back on, realised my mistake so took them down sharpish.

[JohnDaBass]

9 hours ago, DanDoesBass said:

Mock up 👀 (not real)

 

Not quite the vintage T-bird pickups, but you get the idea. 

Here's my ThunderStang

 

[eude]

10 hours ago, DanDoesBass said:

Mock up 👀 (not real)

 

Not quite the vintage T-bird pickups, but you get the idea. 

That would be lovely!

Approved.

[ped]

The neck pickup being that close to the fretboard would be a bit muddy. Better to have the additional pickup near the bridge to approximate jazz spacing. Imo obviously

[miles'tone]

12 hours ago, DanDoesBass said:

Mock up 👀 (not real)

 

Not quite the vintage T-bird pickups, but you get the idea. 

Is the whole bass an AI mockup or just the pickups? I love the look of that!

[alittlebitrobot]

On 12/09/2025 at 10:03, ped said:

Welcome to BC @DanDoesBass

 

I'm a paid up member of the Mustang Brotherhood - which is weird, because a few years ago I would have laughed at the idea. I bought the '66 Mustang on a whim and fell in love with it, especially with rounds. Since I had it modified with new pickups it's become my favourite bass. I realised that short scale would be really well suited for fretless, given the additional weight afforded to the higher strings. I bought the '72 Musicmaster and a fretless Mustang neck to test that idea, and it's fantastic. Shortly the bass is going to a local luthier who is doing a few other bits such as correcting the electronics, replacing the bridge and possibly epoxy coating the board.

 

 

 Beautiful combo!

I just bought a squire Bronco and I'm replacing the stock p'up with two jazz pickups like yours. I was going to go for full-fat jazz bass wiring (volume, volume, tone) but I see you've just got two pots. What's the wiring setup?

[ped]

5 minutes ago, alittlebitrobot said:

 Beautiful combo!

I just bought a squire Bronco and I'm replacing the stock p'up with two jazz pickups like yours. I was going to go for full-fat jazz bass wiring (volume, volume, tone) but I see you've just got two pots. What's the wiring setup?

Once it’s done it’ll be blend/tone with a series/parallel switch on the tone pot. I’ll probably favour the bridge pickup on the fretless so it’s good that the DiMarzio J pickups are hum cancelling. I wanted to keep the jack on the front of the bass to match the Mustang but three pots is also a good option 👍🏼

[alittlebitrobot]

16 minutes ago, ped said:

Once it’s done it’ll be blend/tone with a series/parallel switch on the tone pot. I’ll probably favour the bridge pickup on the fretless so it’s good that the DiMarzio J pickups are hum cancelling. I wanted to keep the jack on the front of the bass to match the Mustang but three pots is also a good option 👍🏼

Yeah, I agree - I'm reshaping the pickguard and will probably have to rout the cavity a wee bit so I think I can fit three pots while keeping the input jack where it is. I'm just not convinced about the VVT approach. I'd like to have some blend so I'm exploring my options now.

[ped]

4 minutes ago, alittlebitrobot said:

Yeah, I agree - I'm reshaping the pickguard and will probably have to rout the cavity a wee bit so I think I can fit three pots while keeping the input jack where it is. I'm just not convinced about the VVT approach. I'd like to have some blend so I'm exploring my options now.

I realised that I never use a volume on the bass so didn't bother!