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Post subject: Mustang Bass
Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 9:10 pm
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I am posting in this P-bass forum to simply ask... Is my Mustang considered to be a P-bass?


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Post subject: Re: Mustang Bass
Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:36 pm
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No it goes in the "All other Fender bass guitars" category of the forum. Only a Precision Bass or a P-Bass Special is technically a P-Bass. Actually calling a P-Bass Special a P-Bass is a bit of a stretch but it is a P-Bass of sorts.

A Mustang is it's own animal and there should be a category for it, but the way the forum is setup it goes in the "All other Fender bass guitars" category which is sort of a catch-all for everything other than a Precision or Jazz.


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Post subject: Re: Mustang Bass
Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 3:19 pm
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I think it'd be great if Fender put out a Mustang with regular Precision split alnico's. Such a bass may already exist. I guess I should research a bit.

suck@bass...if you feel you truly are a novice..you could always make yourself feel better by learning some 80's hair metal.


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Post subject: Re: Mustang Bass
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 4:07 pm
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I love 80's metal!! Grew up in the 80's. Maiden, Priest, Dio, Dokken, and the Cru. Loved them all, and those are the ones everybody knows about. I'd be posting all night if I were to list the one hitter's : Mama's boys, Torra torra, Trixter, Slave Raider on and on. Oh and there's Helix too!
Anyway Love the 80's, that was my time, but the fellas I get together with, don't. So we Play 90's : Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Toadies, Seether, Bush.
I rate myself as a novice, because all along I would play for a few years, then stop for a few years, then start again. I know a million little pieces of songs, and very few full songs. Now my oldest (he's now 13) is playing guitar, piano, Harmonica and my bass. It's all about him and his interest, so my playing will always be a hobby / novice status. Oh yeah, he hates 80's metal too. :( He sure does like the Beatles though.


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Post subject: Re: Mustang Bass
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 6:00 pm
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Now back to my original question. The reason I asked it, was simply about construction ( should have clarified) It has a split single coil p/up, volume and tone. That seems to be the same configuration as any P-Bass I've seen. Is the shorter scale the reason why it is it's own animal? What is the difference?? Not here to argue, just to learn from people more knowledgeable than I.

P.s I think I have valid debate topic. 8)


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Post subject: Re: Mustang Bass
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 9:26 pm
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suck@bass wrote:
Now back to my original question. The reason I asked it, was simply about construction ( should have clarified) It has a split single coil p/up, volume and tone. That seems to be the same configuration as any P-Bass I've seen. Is the shorter scale the reason why it is it's own animal? What is the difference?? Not here to argue, just to learn from people more knowledgeable than I.

P.s I think I have valid debate topic. 8)

They look nothing alike, where did you get such a foolish notion and it is not debateable it's a fact. :roll:


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Post subject: Re: Mustang Bass
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 10:07 pm
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This was a totally fresh design.

The Mustang is a short scale bass.

The Mustang pickup, while a split pickup design based on the noise cancelling properties of the P-Bass pickup pair, is differently shaped than the squared off P-Bass and the flatwork is much smaller which requires more winding turns to get to the same impedance load. Crucial difference is that the Mustang pickup pair only has one pole per string where the P-bass pair has two poles per sting which is partly how he made the Mustang pickup so much smaller. I think this gives the Mustang a slightly clearer and less aggressive tone. It is a good tone though and the reason it sounds more similar to a P-Bass tone than a Jazz tone is because of the way the two pickups halves are wired out of phase for noise cancellation. I think if you didn't reverse the polarity it would sound closer to a Jazz than a P-Bass that way. If you ever take a Seth Lover designed 2nd generation Telecaster Bass chrome humbucker pickup out and look at the back of it, that design will remind you more of a Mustang bass pickup mounted to a chrome cover than a P-Bass pickup mounted to a chrome cover.

The body shape is different.

The bridge is way different.

The tuners are different.

The pickguard is different.

The knobs are different.

A Mustang weighs in at around 7 lbs while a P-Bass will come in at closer to and often over 9 lbs.

As far as I can tell the tugbar, strap buttons, string retainer, some of the screws, the jack, the pots and tone cap are the only interchangeable parts between the Mustang Bass and the Precision. All those parts are also interchangeable with a Jazz Bass and some of them with all other Fender instruments too.

IMO the Mustang is the best short scale Fender bass ever. They play and sound great! I've got absolutely nothing against them, but they are a different instrument from a Precision Bass. In some ways, a Mustang is actually more refined yet retains a primary emphasis on the fundamental bass tone. Like a P-Bass it responds well to both pick and finger style play but it isn't as dark a tone as a P-Bass having slightly better definition.

The Mustang Bass is said to be the last instrument Leo Fender designed before leaving Fender. After he left some really silly stuff happened at Fullerton, check out the Fender Swinger guitar sometime. The Mustang is a well thought out instrument and that's why it has survived so long while non-Leo Fender models like The Swinger have long since been scrapped.

I believe Mr. Fender really hit a home run with the Mustang Bass bridge design and he must have liked it too because he adapted the same basic concept to his later bass designs at Music Man. I've often wondered how he came up with that idea since it is so different from his original Fender bass bridges. I've also wondered how he got the idea to use active electronics in the Music Man.

Debate away.


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Post subject: Re: Mustang Bass
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 12:54 am
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Actually...I'd like to see a MIM 32' scale ash Mustang with 2nd generation Precision electronics(alnico), and nickel bridge...maybe a 1951 style version, too.

Or even better yet..have another option of fretless with just a mudbucker at the neck(like the later Tele bass of the 70's)...but this one should have a basswood body(with some new super hard finish to protect that soft wood).

What's the debate again?


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Post subject: Re: Mustang Bass
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 6:42 am
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Short scale Fender Precision bass junior.Image


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Post subject: Re: Mustang Bass
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 10:38 am
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I could install a set of Nordstrand NM4's, which has 2 poles per string, and call it a "Mustang Precision Bass". :roll: Look fellas I'm not trying to turn my bass into something it isn't. AS FOR MY FOOLISH NOTIONS, I just thought there were more similarities than differences in basic design of p/up, volume, tone configuration to have it cataloged as a "P" TYPE. Since it is all about looks on how to categorize a bass, then I'll consider myself educated.

Thank all who replied


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Post subject: Re: Mustang Bass
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 11:22 am
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The difference isn't all about looks. There are way more differences than similarities which I listed in my previous post. And no, a pickup change doesn't make it into anything other than a Mustang Bass with a pickup change. I like the original pickups on these just fine. It was born a Mustang Bass, it will live as a Mustang Bass and it will die as a Mustang Bass. There is nothing you can do to change it into a Precision Bass. I don't know why anyone would want to either.

It's like buying a vintage Shelby Cobra and wanting to call it an Avanti. Both are great cars just the way they are, but they are very different cars. Both have 4 wheels, a gasoline engine, steering wheel, mirrors, throttle, clutch and brake pedals, but that is about where the similarities end.


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Post subject: Re: Mustang Bass
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 12:09 pm
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Thanks Dave.
I do get it.
Just seemed like people started "Throwing Flames" at me, so I'll put it to rest.
I apologize if I stared to sound sour.


The term "Throwing Flames" was invented by "Linnin"
I do not own this term, nor do I claim any rights to it, or mean to infringe any copyright laws ect.


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Post subject: Re: Mustang Bass
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 11:30 am
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I don't see any flames, and I was a fireman. I know flames.


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