Fender '69 Reissue Mustang

I am reviewing a 1991 Japanaese Fender Mustang ('69 Reissue). White with Red tortoise shell pickguard, and white pickups. Rosewood fretbaord. It came with a Trem-Arm and gig bag. Though I got at 13 years old, the thing was barely used. (might as well have been "mint"...like it even matters)

I just traded it in for reasons that you shall discover below.

My white cat is louder than my white mustang. I felt like I could break off one of the horns of the guitar with my hand. the sound was so thin, that it was excruciating.

Here's a little quiz I created. This will tell you if this guitar is right for you:

Do you want your guitar to perpetually sound like the guitar in the beginning of "Smells Like Teen Spirit"?

Is your distortion pedal just too damn distortion-y?

Do you hate sustain?

Do you ever ask yourself, "I love the way electric guitars sound when they're not plugged in. Is there an electric guitar out there that, when plugged in, will sound like I'm still playing it unplugged?"

If you answered yes to these questions, this guitar is for you!

in addition to the already bad sound, it had a bad jack. also, the finish was thin.

You know how nervous you get when you hold a newborn baby? Why are you nervous? Because if you drop the baby, it will be bad. Babies aren't the most durable things.

So, if you ever hear me refer to this particular Mustang as "baby," know that it's not a term of affection.

I played this guitar for three, THREE, songs at a REHEARSAL. and had to put it away for fear that it would come apart in my hands.

N/A

a *real* mustang is worth the investment.

Most people don't know about a particulary cool use of this guitar:

There's a classic sound from the era of the first killer rock lead originators (as opposed to rock 'n roll cats) )(1967-1969) that most people don't know how to get: It's the sound of Johnny Winter before he started playing Gibson Thunderbirds. Listen to the tone of Johnny Winter's first Columbia Album (it's black with a white spotlight photo of him), entitled Johnny Winter. (It's worth buying.) It's a fantastic blues tone that most people overlook. It sings. Here's how to get it:

Use a Fender Mustang (or Musicmaster or Duosonic which have the same pickups) on the RHYTHM pickup. Plug it into a small Fender amp (like a Princeton or Pro Jr) and set the tone for TREBLY even though you are using the rhythm pickup. The result will be a great bluesy tone that nobody gets nowadays because they don't know how. The lead sounds will CLANG LIKE A BELL - presto, the Johhny Winter tone! It is also killer for slide.

So, listen to that first Johnny Winter album. Then try this Mustang setup in a store. You will find that this tone cannot be duplicated with other than the Mustang (or Musicmaster or Duo-sonic) rhythm pickup. Many of you will then be HOOKED. (By the way, Hendrix played Duo-Sonics, which have the same pickup, before he could afford Strats).

I've done this trick using a Duo-Sonic and had the owner come over to check the setup, saying they didn't realize that the guitar was that cool.

The beauty of using the rhythm pickup through treble EQ, is that you can still use it on versions of Mustangs that have substituted a humbucker in the lead position. (And if you listen to that first Winter Album and try the rhythm-treble setting, you may not use that humbucker quite so much for lead in the future.)

I got this guitar because it really does deliver that tone. The Johnny Winter CLANG tone sounds great and gets you out of the Strat and Humbucker tone ghettos.

Like I said above, the rhythm pickup of this type of guitar through a trebly EQ in a small hot amp with moderate breakup is a classic blues tone that is the equal of the two or three other classic blues tones. The difference is that almost nobody knows how to get THIS tone (now YOU do). There is a great advantage to getting a classic tone that nobody else gets though - it sets you apart from your competition.

I have the Japanese '69 repro version - Surf Blue - the setup and finish are as good as an original Fullerton Mustang my friend had in 1968.

Fine - as high in quality as any of the 60's vintage Fenders.

Fender provides high quality but expensive service. You shouldn't have to use the Fender factory - a good local tech can do anything you need.

I've been playing since the summer of 1965 when I was 10. Rock n' roll evolved into Rock as I learned to play, and I learned lead improv. from the records of Henrix (strat tone), Clapton (humbucker tone), Leslie West (P90 tone) and Johnny Winter (Mustang rhythm treble clang tone) as their albums first came out.

I've had various Fenders and Marshall amps over the years and played on the road in the 1970's. I now use a stereo pair Pro Junior amps on chairs (through the PA if necessary) when I gig - gets a nice "double-track" sound. I like to pre-boost the Fender pickup signal a tad (20-25%) (the early Page trick) with a compressor before feeding it into the two amps - makes 'em sing a bit more.

Lefty Sonic Blue 1996 made in Japan. Basswood body, Two lousy single coils with bizzaro switches. Maple neck, mediocre
rosewood fretboard. Dynamic vibrato with "floating" bridge.
Cheap Kluson style tuners. 24" scale neck. Accessories included a couple of Allen wrenches and the wammy bar.

Basically, this guitar forces you into its own style... twang and
surf are its specialties. It can go from a pale version of a strat
on the neck P/U, but also has that distinct "nasally" Mustang
sound, which can cut through a mix, in a "make you whince"
kind of way which will definately attract attention. Maybe not the good kind of attention. With the stock pick-ups I think it definitely
meets the re-issue criteria... a student guitar. The sound improved reasonably with Lace sensors installed... blue in bridge and gold at the neck. The sounds this thing makes are
unique, just not very versatile.

Overall the quality of the build is pretty good, although the quality
of the components is somewhat lacking. But hey, its a '69 re-issue... again... of a student guitar. When the vibrato bar is in,
there is nothing to hold it in place... I may get through a couple of songs but it invariably falls out... which can be rather embarrassing. It does, for the most part, stay in tune when using the vibrato bar, as I've put graphite on the nut to prevent
pinching. Do not treat it like a floyd rose though... you'll regret
it. The finish is thin, which is surprising because moderately priced guitars usually have very thick coats of polyurethane.
Maybe they wanted the true tone to come through, or maybe they wanted to save money.

Its a student guitar that was probably re-issued because that Nirvana guy was using them. Of course it will stand live playing,
as long as you don't abuse it, and use the vibrato bar moderately
and sparingly (if at all).

Never dealt with Fender. I had it modified in that I had it re-strung
righty (of course with a new nut) as that is how I play.

The main reason I bought this guitar was because it was left-handed and has the 24" scale neck... I' m not large in stature
and it is quite comfortable for barre cords. In my opinion, it was overpriced ... one can buy Korean , Chinese or Indonesian
guitars which are of better quality for less money these days. However, I must say that from time to time I play it and love it...
just not very often.

I own the 1996 '69 Fender Mustang reissue, made in Japan. It features cool styling in a thinner smaller offset waist style body, and a slightly shorter, thinner neck than a Fender Stratocaster, which is somewhat nice, although the truss rod access point is at the bottom of the neck and is extremely annoying to get to with a phillips head (must take off pickguard or neck-- your choice!) THe pickups have phase shifting capability, but unfortunately, the covered single coil pickups are so weak, only country and blues boys would enjoy them. The tuners are vintage crap. The bridge has a floating tremolo- great for messing your tuning up. Altogether the bridge assembly is a pretty bad design. Not the most wonderful features ever created for a guitar.

For all of you who want a Mustang to be like Kurt Cobain-- stop being stupid or prepare to be disappointed. Unless you're prepared to cut up your brand new Mustang's pickguard (and destroy it, if you attempt it yourself) and drop a hundred bucks for a high output humbucker to replace the single coil in the tight bridge position, then think about buying a Fat Strat. The stock pickups in a Mustang are so weak, you'd better be an old man who loves country blues or folk, or you're bound to be disappointed. All that high output Kurt Cobain's Stangs have is plastic surgery. THe only likeness your new mustang will bear to his is its looks-- that's it. The sound is full of Merle Haggard twang, and even with phase shifting, it's not much on variety. No matter what distortion you use and what amplifier, your sound with a stock mustang is going to be poor if you like hard rock. Also, I have had problems with noise from the stock pickups. There is only one tone knob for both pickups also.

THe action on this guitar is fast, and set up well from the factory, but you can only set up so well with poor equipment. Everything was solid and in perfect place on mine when I got it- trouble is, it all moves with a little abuse.
The finish is absolutely the worst I have ever seen on any Fender. My white Mustang has been knicked quite a few times since 1996, and even a light bump will chip the paint right off down to the wood. My Stratocaster has a much thicker more durable Higher quality finish. THe wood is extremely soft basswood that dents with the lightest collisions.

This axe is not made for abusing. Nothing on it will last a little rough housing. The strap buttons come loose very easily. Don't try to put on Strap locks cuz You'll never get the buttons screwed in tight. They will pull out after a few shows. You can't depend on this axe for any main work. Maybe once in a while for a backup axe... at a folk festival.

Never tried bugging the company, so I can't comment.

Overall, I give this a 4. It's not such a terrible guitar if you are into the matching music style. Plenty of country twang here. But for me, it just doesn't suit my needs. Poor durability and poor hardware, poor features and weak sound... It's just not gonna cut it. A Strat with humbucker in the bridge is my ideal. Ive been playing guitar for 9 years now, 8 of which spent playing in several different bands, and have test driven many many guitars. I just wish I had test driven this one before buying. Bottom line- remember... SOUND IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN LOOKS.

Ah,yes for a long time i wanted my 69' mustang,and i finally got one of the japan reissues.Ive had it for about a year now and its done it job well,i guess.The phase switches are very interesting,with them it is possible to turn the guitar completly off.If u like to play hard like i do,at first u might accidentally flick one of the switches into an unwanted position...this takes some getting used to.Its shortscale,and even 11's seemed kinda thin on it.The basswood body is extremely light,making it very easy to move around on stage.The tuners are ok i guess,but if u use the vibrato ur tuning is gone within seconds.HOWEVER,the neck on this guitar is a jem!Its very thin and easy to play,i simply love it.

I play mostly alternative music (AT the drive in,Radiohead,Taking back sunday,Finch,Sex pistols,Soundgarden,Every time i die,Sparta,and yes..Nirvana.Definetly not hot enough for punk,much less grunge....and forget hardcore.The pickups are VERY quiet,and low output.I run this through a Triple rectifier half stack and it still sounds very thin.I guess it would be good for jazz,maybe even country.After a while i had a full size JB humbucker installed,the results were somewhat disappointing.The sound with the jb was still alot better than the original pickups,ill give this a 4

The finish is thin,and shows fingerprints very easily on the CAR finish.The strap buttons came loose quickly and i had to glue em in.

Overall,this guitar was a disappointment.The tuning problems and sound always made me avoid using it,in preference to my mexi strat.This guitar never really came out of the case much,except when my strat needed repair.The neck is simply brilliant however,and i think fender should use the same style of neck on other guitars as well.Sigh...in the very near future i am planning on trading this guitar in,possibly for a 72' tele thinline.I bought this guitar to emulate Kurt Cobain,but his mustangs were heavily modified and used to create his trademark "grunge" sound,and only that.

It's a reissseud 69' Fender Compition Mustang, blue with the white stripes. There are no modes exept for I deepin the nut groves for my fat strings. I love the switches; they alow you to change the sound so easyly, they do have a tendancy to change them selves if your really stroming. Love the neck, bridge and everything ealse

I have read some players complaning that the pick ups are weak, but i can get a good deep rick cleen, and with the flick of a switch it changes to stringie, the distortion is really divers too. i can get a tom petty, last dance with mary jane; or nirvana, serve the servents or in bloom; and ranstien, do hasst, no problem. I do have a creat gtx212t which many acount for the divesity (2 distortion chanles and a roland ds-1)
This suts my style perfictly, grunge. my band loves the sounds i get. They aslo get mad when i play with the feed back, which is a little more work to stop than start but i was able figure ot how to keep it under controll.

The guitar was set up for stringes a bit to small for my likeing so i had to get everything adjusted. It cost 12 bucks so who cares. The switches also slip when Im playing somtimes so I will have to get them tytend or something. I have had to make the changes on every guitar i have and its normal for something to come loose so no complantes hear

this guitar is very durable. i have thrown the guitar and only scratched the paint. i play very vilently and would not hold back if i didnt bring my bakc up guitar.

Havent had to deal with them, and if thats the fact that meens the factory is doing its job.

i have a no name fender strat rip off(shit) and an ibanez rg470(not a bad guitar), i have also had a samick sg rip off(not a bad guitar). My ibanez is for harded stuff, not my syle. the smick i sold,it was for smooth cleer distortion, it didnt have the definition. My mustng, i love it. It can do more than both guitars combine. if it was stollen, i would force its head up the the guys ass with and lube. if you wont to no what kind of music this guitar is made for i would hace to say, it is a grunge guitar (nirvana showed what thins guitar was made for)or tom petty type stuff. Its good for ad music anything a power trio would be making and can play punk but the guitar has so much more it can do it would bring a tier to my eye to see a mustang in a punk band.

Japanese Reissue 69' Fender Mustang, 24 fat scale neck, single volume and tone control, two switches to mess with the polarity of the pickups (phase out of phase, that kinda dealy), standard "Mustang" pickups, Double cutaway desing, has a floating bridge with tremelo (which I hate), and the rest is trying to be vintage.

Give it a 9 because even though the floating bridge is vintage, it just dosn't jive with me!

I've been searching for the last three months for a guitar that could sound like my Danelectro Hodad, but that was heavier, had more output volume in the neck/bridge positions, and could handle distortion better without giving my ears a generous dosage of feedback and instant amp death. The Mustang seems to be the only guitar out there that could fullfil this role.

I use this guitar for all my clean bright songs with the bridge pickup phased, and the neck one out of phase, along with the clean setting on my Vox Cambrdige 30. Sometimes it sees the Amps beautiful tube overdrive, but mostly just the standard Daddy-O tube driver from Danelectro.

The tremelo is also very nice, when it's not getting in the way of the volume and tone knobs, or getting caught in my strap. Might have to mod the gutiar to have the jack on the side of the body.

This guitar plays very beautifuly, and I'm usually not a fan of Fender guitars. (I hate strats and Teles! I'm a Gibson freak!) But the Mustang showed me how good this company really is. All I had to do is raise the pickups and set the intonation to my preferance to play how I want it to. However I'm not as fast on it as say my 335 because of the neck shape.

The finish is cool, a nice blue with that competition stripe. Complements my Matthew Good "Avalance" sticker very nicely.

The only problem I have with this guitar is that stinking floating Tremelo bridge. The Tremelo arm is not anchored properly, and the floating system likes to lose tuning quite quickly. I'll probably replace it with a Tuno-Matic bridge sometime in this guitars near future. I love Tremelo, but not when it gets in the way! Bigsby or nothing! Mustang loses 8 points for that exact reason.

I'm very cautious with Fenders since I have had a Fender Mexican Fat Strat with Floyd Rose in the past... and it fell apart 6 months after purchase, with no stage pressance. (I used it as a backup during practices) So I'm ver worried that my Mustang is going to do the same thing.

So far it feels very solid, all except the floating bridge which feels VERY cheap.

I'm giving it a 5 for the reason I don't know which way to go.

I've only delt with Fender regarding thier amps and my fat strat. I've never had success, so I won't bother dealing with them for the Mustang if I need to. I'll just do the work myself this time.

I've been playing for almost 7 years now and own a variety of equipment from Ibanez 5 string basses, to Gibson Es-335's, Fender Fat Strats, and even a BC Rich or too. My favorite guitars are without a doubt (in this order from best to worst): Gibson Es335, Fender Mustang, Epiphone Supernova, Danelectro Hodad. If I could bring all of them to a gig, I would. But right now I will settle with just the 335 and the Mustang at my side. A very great guitar definatly worth the price.

If it were stolen or lost, I would just buy a new one since they are quite afordable and worth it. Of course if I ever found out who stole it, I would probably wrap the neck of my BC rich around his head!

For a clean liquidy sound that can't be beat definatly get the Mustang, Danelectros are also great for this (aside from their holobody feedback nature during high gain levels) but the Mustang takes the cake. The only Fender gutiar worth buying!

I have a japanese reissue of the '69 mustang. The guitar itself is a shorter scale (24.5 inches) guitar with fender's soft 'C' shape neck finished in gloss polyurethane and a rosewood fretboard. The neck radius is 7.25 inches and there are 22 frets. The tuning pegs are vintage style. The body of the guitar is somewhat slimmer than the telecasters or stratocasters, and has fender's 'offset countour' body style (made of BASSWOOD, not any other wood that some of these reviews claim). The pickups are somewhat interesting in that they have two slider switches above them that allow you to switch the phase of the pickups. Some interesting sounds can be obtained by messing around with the phase of the pickups. The bridge on this guitar is fender's 'floating bridge' couple with a 'dynamic vibrato' system.

This guitar sounds great. I play through a 50 watt marshall anniversary issue JCM900 lead series combo, and I've been able to get every sound I've looked for. My music tastes are pretty eclectic, and this guitar has brought me through all of my tastes. The neck pickup on mine is a little hotter than the bridge pickup, and has a nice warm sound to it. The bridge pickup is a bit thinner and works well for lead playing with lots of mid. Both pickups together with matched phase has a nice warm mellow sound, and is great for rhythm playing, or softer lead roles. Both pickups with opposite phase creates this weird nasal sound, I've never really found a use for it other than lead playing with LOTS of treble and mid.

I got this guitar in 1996, and I've played it just about everyday. The action came set a little low from the factory, but i played around with it and it's fine. The pickups were set evenly, but I found that the pickups had a more matched level if the bridge pickup was raised a bit to compensate for the fact that it's not quite as hot as the neck pickup. The finish of the guitar was (and still is) immaculate. No flaws were to be found, the neck felt great, and the paint on the guitar was perfect. It has darkened maybe a little bit since i got the guitar, but that's to be expected. Frets were all nicely done, even and well filled. The nut (which has since been replaced) was nice and flush with the neck. All aspects of the hardware work as they should. The pots are nice and smooth, and the pickup switches work well.

I've played this guitar live at many shows, and I play it nearly every day. The only problem I had with the guitar was that I had to replace the nut because the guitar stand broke and the guitar fell over. The finish shows no sign of wear at all from loads of playing. The strap button popped out once, just after i got the guitar, nothing a little wood-sweller didn't fix permanently. This guitar is 100% reliable, and I would use it without a backup no questions asked (except for the stupidity of busting a string). It stays in tune well DESPITE WHAT OTHER REVIEWS SAY. It's nearly impossible to break strings on this guitar. I had a telecaster, and every time I picked it up, I busted a string. I hardly ever break them on this guitar.

Never had to deal with them... Hopefully never will

Awesome guitar, I've had many others but this is the only one that's stayed in my line-up for 7 years. I've been playing for the better part of a decade and I have no complaints whatsoever about this guitar. It is a smaller scale guitar, so anyone complaining about the fact that the frets are small, and the neck is too thin are just complaining because they got what they asked for. I considered buying a stratocaster or a telecaster, but this guitar was so much easier for me to play than either of them that there was no real debate. I have since seen a genuine '69 mustang, and I had the opportunity to purchase it, however when I played it I realized that it sounds EXACTLY like my reissue (minus the wear and tear). It's an awesome and UNIQUE guitar. If I lost it, I would kick my own ass, then replace it. If it was stolen, I would castrate those responsible, then replace it.

This is the 69 reissue made in Japan with standard 22 frets but short scale of 24 inches. A standard guitar is 25 and 3/4 plus/minus inches. The fret board is also thinner by 1/4 inch. The fret board radius is 5.9 inches (a serious visible curve). Not in keeping with the 69 theme, the frets are med jumbo (a much needed improvement). The body is made of solid basswood? with 2 pick ups (mustang pickups) with on/off/plolarity switching and vol and tone control. Non- locking 69 tuners (poor quality, but I guess they wanted to imitate the whole 69 experience). The bridge is a mustang tremlo with semi tune-o-matic qualities (the best part of the guitar). Comes with no accessories

I'm an old guitarist and I play what the people want, but I like the lead work of the blues. I played this guitar on my Fender amp and it is like most Fender guitars and has that silent constant "hiss." The pick ups are really neat in that you can change the polarity and produce a unique thin irritating sound by mismatching the polarity.

The guitar was set up great from the factory and the action is great (I did fix it a little, but I like my action really slick) for single note lead work due to the short scale and the narrow fret board width. This is where the failure of the mustang series of guitar develops. As you play this guitar you find that adapting to its short scale and narrow fret board is really irritating. This is not a guitar for people with thick fingers or for people who play different guitars on any given night. I play a variety of different instruments but I found that my technique began to suffer when going back and forth between guitars. This guitar was originally designed to be a cheep student/beginner guitar and some how made it to the surfer music scene. It was recently brought back into the spot light by Kurt who really didn't play it that much. Fender acutally designed a whole new guitar for him to play call the Jag-Stang. The action of this guitar also fails when it come to rhythm playing as well. The short radius of the neck makes it very difficult to do bar chording well. It's great if you only have the ability to play 2 note power cords, but if you have any ambition to actually play music this guitar is a not the guitar to buy. The price new is $489! Dear God, for that price you can get some really "hot" slick playing guitars. This guitar belongs back in the grave. Buy a real guitar not a poor attempt at an easy play student guitar.

Real Fender products are quality and are use by pros

Fender has no "real" customer support, but they make a great products so they don't need to support them.

I've been playing since the 70's and I've owned everything at one time or another. I bought this guitar just for the fun of it. It is really a different guitar from anything on the market. It has a different sound and a different play. If you have small hands with thin fingers and you don't play bar cords and you only want to play one guitar (because you'll find changing to a normal guitar is going to be hard) this could be the guitar for you. But, I would recommend spending less money and buying a really good guitar. This guitar, in comparison to any real guitar, is not worth any price.

I really like the bridge and tremelo. Ibanez has the same idea on a lot of their guitars but with mustang the body is not cut into. The tuners could be a little better and they are the only reason I gave it a 9.

The sound is amazing. The clean is a kinda weak with both /ups on, but its really good with only the neck /up. The guitars is extreamly versital. I go from playing nivana perfictly into tom petty, i play some cky, dope, and the go to puddle of mudd. It's incredable. I can see how some people would say the /ups are week and they are if you compare them to an active emg 81 or something.

It just perfict.

It's built like a rock. if i had only this guitar i would play live and not have any worries, but you would have to be an idiot to try it if you had 2 guitars.

I havent had to deal with them but i did order the guitar on line and it got here in about a week. By the way i live in germany.

this is the best guitar i own. if it were stollen i blow the guys car up. i have an ibanez rg270(crap),a samick sg(good clean and smooth distortion), and my mustang(blows them both away). my only complant is the tuners seem kinda cheep and the /ups are a little week. The guitar just looks and sounds great. Im now looking into getting an orginal but even after i do i will keep playing this guitar. My band loves it lust as much as i do. look for us , LABELED.