Fender '69 Reissue Mustang

I own a 94 Sonic blue made in Japan and made of basswood. Purchased brand new and has gone through a lot of changes. First off I had to turn the saddle around to access the screws without unstringing the guitar every time to adjust em. Then there is the chrome hot dog that fender calls a tremelo. I play hard and every time I would bump that thing my guitar would go out of tune, so I locked that thing down tight, and now it never goes out of tune. The short scale neck is where this thing shines, and the reason its been my main guitar for 15 years, even with my best efforts to find a replacement. The neck allows you to play some disturbing chords with ease that on other guitars would make your fingers cramp up, especially past the 9th fret.

This thing is used for rock and roll. I run it into a Big Muff and a 65 Bassman and it has a very unique sound, Fender tone on steroids is the best way I can describe it, but it took some work to get there. The pickups that came stock in this thing were terrible. They were so weak and flimsy. Ripped em out and put a hot wound strat in the neck and some random humbucker I got for $20 in the bridge. Put on a set of 12s and raise the action a bit and voila, you have a very mean sounding Fender.

In the store this thing was setup great and did not have any noticeable flaws. The construction on this thing is remarkable, it's taken a beating over the years and with the exception of the nut all the remaining stock parts function as good as new.

This thing has been played regularly for 15 years. Its had cigarettes put out on it, been thrown a few times, and used in a fight. I would give it a 10 but the nut finally broke on it a few weeks ago. Fender of Japan has earned my approval.

When you get drunk and chisel out out a space for a humbucker with a screw driver and a pipe wrench it's time to say goodbye to the warranty.

I've been playing guitar for 16 years. I own a Danelectro, an Ibanez Strat, a Jackson Rhodes EX, and this Mustang. I have also played a Gibson SG and a mid 90's Jaguar extensively and the Mustang is my favorite of the bunch. If this guitar was stolen, first I would feel sorry for the thief trying to sell it, and then I would start hunting around for another one. A Fender Mustang is not for everyone(weird switches, a chrome hot dog, and a small scale neck) but if it catches your fancy and you are willing to put a bit of work into one, get yourself one of these Japanese Mustangs. There is just something about the basswood bodies and the short scale neck with a heavy set of strings that give these reissues a very cool sound.

You all know the details. I actually bought a couple- I have a bad right arm and wanted to choose the easiest for me to play. The 65 RIs werent as good (I'm going to sell the others- the move wasn't as extragant as it sounds). The '69 has the Fender body contours (forearm and ribcage) and that makes the '69 much better. I thought the 65 looked better but the 69 is just beautiful to play.

The only negative about Mustangs (to me) is that the neck, because it's thin at the nut, gets thick really quickly, because it's normal thickness where it meets the neck (does that make sense?- it starts off shallow then gets deeper more quickly than other guitars).

Other than that, just a gorgeous guitar, especially in terms of playability. But alas, not many features.

As everyone says, very bright, posibly brittle tone. Although, I put a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage in it and I thought one of 65s sounded better than it, so it's a bit random. The problem may be the timber and body shape and size, not the pick ups. I only ever use the neck pickup and I think the stock ones sounds fine- I only put the DiMarzio in because it's noiseless. Variety of tones is fine. Noise is also ok but I did notice that we were previously in a house with dodgey wiring and the hum was a bit louder than other guitars.

It suits my stuff- kind off Coldplay/low gain indie/Built to Spill-ish stuff. I am using mainly a Laney LC-30 (Vox AC30 clone) and it appears to be a great match. I've also got a Fender Super 210 valve combo and a 70s Vase valve head but it doesn't sound as good on those. I use a heap of effects, but my setup is mainly a Boss OD-20 drive zone, an MXR Phase 45, a Yamaha FL-01 analog flanger, home made tremelo and Marshall Ecoh Head delay.

Most of my guitars are Fender Japan. I have not noticed a single manufacturing flaw in one of them, even the 88 strat that has been badly abused by a previous ownder. I have owned one MIM guitar and the workmanship was shoddy to say the least. I own one US Fender and it's great but certainly no better than Japanese Fender. I don't understand the snobbery about Japanese made Fenders. I honestly can't fault their quality on any level at all.

All setup was ok, playability was great and was great aestheically.

The only possible weakness is the trem which does go out tune fairly easily if used to harshly. Sometimes I can play for 3 hours without tuning, other times I am tuning every 15 minutes. Go figure.

Otherwise, everything is very well held together. Tuners seem ok. Strap buttons etc are fine. Completely trust it- it's my main playing guitar. I'm paranoid about gear breaking during gigs (after a mis-hap with an amp a while ago...oh the humiliation...) so I never gig without a spare guitar and amp.

I've heard that basswood dents easily but I haven't noticed that to be the case yet.

Fender are fairly ordinary with customer service, even being put to shame by far eastern companies. Fender are just another huge corporation, interested in money alone. I know companies exist only to make money, but other companies manage to make consumers feel more secure. Fender isn't Leo making guitars in his garden shed anymore. Although their website has improved in the last couple of years.

As above for other gear- Fender Japan all round. A strat, a Jag, the Mustang. A Fender USA Lead 1, an MIM Cyclone 2 and an Ibanez Talman. I sometimes prefer the sound of other guitars, especially the strat and the Talman, but the Mustang is just so playable, it's not funny.

I've been playing forever but I'm still pretty ordinary. But I love anything with 6 strings. This guitar is a great mixture of playability, sound quality and build quality.

2005 '69 reissue Mustang, made in Japan. Same features as every other Mustang: 24 inch scale, two single coils with on/off/phase switches, and a funky tremolo bridge. Basswood body makes it very light, which makes my back very happy. Mine is a beautiful custard yellow, which Fender calls "Vintage White." Nice dark brown tortoise shell pickguard, it's so dark it is almost black. I got this one second hand, but the previous owner had only owned it for six months after buying it new. He had played it a few times, and the guitar had spent most of its time in the case. Came with a nice Fender gig bag.

The two single coils were bright and thin. Typical Fender sound, but without the jangle of a strat nor the twang of a Tele. Very usable, but nothing extraordinary. The neck pickup was my favourite, it had a nice bluesy sound when used with a touch of gain. The bridge pickup wasn't bad, but was very thin. Both pickups sounded good on clean settings. The two pickups together in phase was my favorite sound. Rich and full, this was the setting that worked best with heavier distortion. The two pickups out of phase was too weak and thin to be of any use for me. Overall not bad, but one major complaint: the output was very weak. I think each pickup is something like 4.5 k. I think Fender would have done the right thing if they had included pickups that were hotter instead of these ones. Output was so weak that a pedal was necessary for distortion, as there was no way these pickups could drive the front end of an amp into natural overdrive.

One very positive thing about the sound: very little hum. Despite the fact that the pickups are single coils, the hum was almost non-existent. After looking under the guard, I saw that all the cavities are lined with shielding paint.

I ended up replacing the pickups with Lace Sensors (blue in the neck, red in the bridge). What a difference! Thankfully, the Mustang pickups are the same dimensions as Strat pickups, so there is a wide selection of aftermarket upgrades that will fit this guitar without having to route new holes or cut up the pickguard.

The guy who sold it to me told me that he had made no adjustments other than change the strings in the six months that he owned the guitar. I don't know if the setup was done at the factory or at the store, but it was perfect for me. No buzzes, intonation spot-on. The kluson style tuners hold the guitar in tune as well as any fancy modern sealed tuners that I've ever used. I don't use the trem, so I can't comment as to whether it stays in tune after using the whammy bar.

The fit and finish are the best that I have seen on any guitar. Simply incredible for this price range. I own several American guitars that each cost several times what this Mustang goes for new, and none of them are as flawless as this one, not even my Gibby Les Paul Standard. Literally not a single ripple or bubble in the finish. The best fret job I have ever seen: no dead spots, no sharp edges, no high frets. And the nut is perfect, something that's rare for a guitar out-of-the-box in this price range. If the Japanese can do this for a mid-price guitar, why can't Fender and Gibson do this for their expensive American made instruments?

Seems as solid as any Fender, in other words it's probably indestructible. Hardware looks like quality metal, not the cheap pot-metal stuff you see on some instruments. The finish is some kind of plastic, and it appears to be quite tough. I haven't gigged in years, but I think it would easily withstand live playing.

The electronics did look a little cheap, though. The pots were the size of a watch battery, so when I changed the pickups I changed out all the electronics for CTS pots, a Switchcraft jack, and a Sprague orange drop capacitor.

I haven't owned this guitar long enough to give a score for this category.

The previous owner had only had the guitar for six months, so it was probably still under warranty when he sold it to me. However, I doubt that the warranty is transferable.

I wouldn't bother trying to deal with Fender, if any problems come up I'll just take it to a luthier, so that I don't have to mail the guitar to Fender's factory to have it fixed.

For the price, this thing is an amazing bargain. Sure, you'll probably want to change the pickups, but even after this extra expense, I still feel that I've gotten more than my money's worth.

I have to say, though, that I'm surprised that Fender never offered the Mustang with higher output single coils, or a humbucker in the bridge. Most of the new generation of Mustang fans got into this guitar after seeing their favourite punk and grunge bands of the 90s using them, so I think that it's safe to assume that a lot of people using this guitar are using it with heavy distortion. From what I've seen on the net, most people upgrade the pickups as soon as they buy a Mustang, so it would have made sense for Fender to offer more powerful pickups as an option.

It's too bad that this guitar was only offered outside of japan in a choice of two colors (vintage white and sonic blue). If you look on the Japanese web sites, you can see Mustangs in a whole variety of colors, including most of the classic custom colors. They even have some new competition color schemes, like Ocean Turquoise! How cool is that!?

A completely stock 2005 reissue, crafted in Japan, Fender Mustang in 'vintage white' (they call it vintage white, but to me it looks more yellow). Standard Mustang body shape, with the unique Fender Dynamic Vibrato, only found on this guitar and it's sister the Jag-Stang. The neck, in my opinion, is the greatest aspect of this guitar. A (possibly) maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. Silky feel and it fits into my hand perfectly, even though I am quite large handed, the small nut width and relitavely shallow depth to the neck allow me to use it in ways that would not be possible on a Les Paul or even a Stratocaster. An absolute dream to play. 22 frets with good upper access means that the whole fingerboard can be used. Two covered single coil pickups with in and out of phase switching allows a large range of sounds to be achieved. The basswood body means that the guitar is light, so can be played for long periods without any aches or pains, as well as giving a huge amount of resonance, especially unplugged.

The Mustang is perfect for my style of music, which is somewhere in between blues and rock, sometimes venturing to heavy rock, and the guitar adapts brilliantly to each style. Amplified I use it through an origional 1960s Hiwatt 100 watt custom valve head, with 2 1960s/70s 2x12 wem columns. Used with a Dunlop Crybaby and an Electro Harmonix Big Muff distortion you can get a truely 60s sound. Beautiful. The guitar only has one downside I can see, and that is that there is a slight earth buzz whenever the pickups are out of phase with each other, but not very noticable. 2 single coils means you can't get the crunch you would with a humbucker, but it suffices.

I like the action on my guitars to be low, and this one came perfect. The pickups came set up properly and I havn't had to make any adjustments. The only flaw on the guitar is 2 small cracks in the laqer coming down from the neck socket. Purely superficial, and I've noticed that it is common to a few Fender guitars. The up side is that because of this I got it at discount price. *thumbs up*

Although small, this guitar is tough. I have gigged it and it has withstood everything I have thrown at it. The hardware is durable, and even the tremolo doesn't put it out of tune (just don't pull up on it). The only problem is that the strap buttons often come loose. This is because basswood is soft compared with mahogany or maple, so it is advisable to get the screw holes filled with a harder wood and re-placed. Apart from that it is a very dependable guitar and I would, and have, gigged it without a backup. I havn't broken a string either, in 2 years of owning it (touch wood).

Never had to deal with Fender because the guitar is great as is!!

I'm 15 years old and I've been playing guitar for just over 8 years now. My first guitar is a gibson 335 copy, which is still my backup guitar (if needed). Since I bought the Mustang nearly 2 years ago I have hardly put it down. It is the most playable guitar I've ever used and I will never let it go. It's simply too good. If it were lost or stolen I would cry my eyes out. These guitars are no longer available in the UK, so I would do everything I could to get another imported from Japan. I love the guitar as a whole, especially the playability. I would have this guitar any day over nearly every other sort of guitar.

The absolute greatest thing on this guitar is the neck. It is soooo smooth and you can really play fast on it due to the 24' maple neck and rosewood fretboard. The tremolo in my opinion is the best one i have ever used that isnt double locking and you can use the wammy bar a lot without it going out of tune (unlike a strat). Another great feature that i stated earlier is the phaser switches which can make it so you can sound like a tele or a strat

Let me start off by saying that this guitar has one of the most unique sounds you will ever hear. It's pickup switches are actually phaser switchers so you can get a nice telecaster like twange out of it or a strat like sound. If you are a blues, classic rock, grunge, punk, or alternative player you will love this guitar. Don't buy it if you want to play metal it just doesn't have a heavy enough sound. Like other reviews have said this baby plays CRYSTAL clear on the clean channel and you do tend to get some single coil buzz and hum with the distortion turned on and the tone all of the way up.

all in all its sounds like a strat with a little bit more edge for those who have never played one

When i got this guitar from musicians friend the action was already set up super low so it was perfect for me. I did raise the pickups a tad just because of personal preference. I have to admit this is one of the best looking guitars i have ever seen and the sonic blue looks so awesome. Only thing i don't like about the pickup switches is that they are right were i like to rest my hand when i sweep pick so it's a little irritating but does not affect my playing.

Considering that kurt cobain used this guitar you can depend that it wont break because it is pretty solid. Only way you can break it is if you slam it into a half stack or a drum set like kurt, lol. I would always bring a backup to a show though.

Haven't dealed with fender and i won't have to because they make quality guitars.

I would consider myself to be a pretty good guitar player. i've only been playing for a year but people usually think i've been playing longer. I play this guitar through a ds-1 boss distortion and a rogue 120 watt amp. You can get a really cool sound if you use the ds-1 distortion on the amps lead channel. Only bad thing i can say about this guitar is that the single coil buzz is a little annoying (i've heard worse) and it sucks for playing heavy metal

This is a 2005 CIJ Fender Mustang. It has 22 frets, and has the usual things that come on a Mustang. However, when I got this used, the original owner swapped out the original pickups for SD Strat Quarter Pound Pickups, so I have no experiences with the stock pickups.

The body is basswood, and the neck I believe to be maple. The bridge is a Fender dynamic vibrato, and the scale I believe is 24". With my purchase I got a gigbag, and all the original warranty information on both the Stang and the pickups. Not to mention the phase switches for the pickups which make sounds no other guitar can. For what I paid, you cannot beat this.

This guitar is perfect for parts of my style. I have other humbucker guitars for heavier music, but this Mustang is perfect for classic rock and blues type songs and is my #1 guitar in that setting. The pickups are noisy, but with single coils, that is pretty much expected. The sounds isnt rich, and isnt full, but that isnt what the Mustang is about. This guitar is about a raw sound that very few guitars can imitate. As I said before, this is a great guitar for classic rock and blues type stuff. The clean channel sounds are incredible. If you want to be the sickest shredmaster on the block, move along.

Everything seems to be perfect. The action is a little high, but for playing blues I prefer it to be. The pickups seem to be in the right spot, I assume the bridge to be routed correctly. The only flaw I notice is a slight ding on the backside of the guitar which really doesnt mean a damn thing.

This guitar is built well. It is one of the pieces I intended to carry around with me for the rest of my life. It is remarkably dependable, but I would never gig without some sort of backup.

Never had to deal with Fender.

This is a great guitar. If you buy a Mustang, atleast know what one sounds like before you throw cash at it. For what it is, this is a great guitar at a fantastic value, and one of my absolute favorites.

Mine is a re-issue Japanese one with a light blue body and brown scratch plate.

All i can say it has many nice features! the tremolo bridge i really like, because it is floating as well and the controls are great with the 2 switches for the different pickup effects, and the two other knobs for the volume and tone.

Together all these feature work well! i fine the mustang stays in tune really good to even with alot of bending and whammy bar use.

The Sound is good! again it depends what your are looking for, i have added a roland pickup as well, but the factory sounds are really cool and nice.

I have my action really low and their is no fret buzz at all on this axe.

I made some ajustments! i lowered the action right down and the bridge was little a high, but this was just to suit my tastes.

The neck is perfect and the scale size, i wish was on all standard size guitars, it make speed so much easier i have medium hands with medium size fingers.

I dont think players with fatter fingers could play on it very easy but i would imagine even players with bigger hands with medium size fingers could really get some amazing stretches on this axe.

The finish is really cool! and it is a great looking axe, and all is very well made.

Looks ok! but have not had that long so cant really say.

Never used!

I have several other guitars, and they are nice and they have the longer scales sizes, but i can adapt ok, but this axe is wonderful, i can sweep and alternate as fast on it.

It took a few weeks for me to get use to the scale size, so give it a bit of time.

If lost or stolen i would cry my eyes out! because it is so great to play.

Thank You! Fender!!

Fender Mustang Reissue 2005. Crafted in Japan reissue of the 69 although it is different paintjob from the era. It has a short scale neck which is nice, two pickups with phase/off/on selectors for each which does change the sound but does not add much variety. One volume KNob and one Tone Knob. Solid Basswood Body finished in Sonic Blue with brown tort pickguard, one of the best looking guitars i think. Has the unique Mustang Vibrato Bridge which works fine just do not use the tremlo bar. The tuners are type in which the string goes down into the it not through and the work fine and the guitar stays in tune well i have not yet had trouble with it. Came with free gigbag and allen wrenches for bridge adjustment.

The guitar has great sound, the neck pickup is full of bass and mid tones while the bridge has lots of treble which on its own sounds awful but together balance out. It fits my playing style welll i like to play led zeppelin,Jimi Hendrix,Lynyrd Skynyrd and Nirvana but mostly my own songs, which consist of blues rock. I am planning on upgrading the bridge pickup but i am not sure as to what yet though.

The action was set low but doesnt buzz and is real nice. It was intonated well to the low E string was slightly flat but a minor adjustment fixed that. I have not encountered an flaws in the guitar yet and im satisfied with it.

This guitar will defenitily withstand live playing everything is in good quailty hardware that will last years as the vintage ones have proved. I would not gig without a back up because i could break a string etc.. it is very dependable

Have not had to deal with Fender

I play this guitar through a Rogue 120 watt combo amp which i purchased because it was loud, it does not have high quality tone, and is kinda of muddy sounding but my Mustang still shines through. Besides a better bridge pickup i am content with this guitar the neck is its greatest aspect being more comfortable and fun to play on then any other guitar i have ever played (consisting of strats, LP,SG,Tele,Epi,various no names) except Jags, and Jagstangs which have the same neck.

Beautiful sonic blue color with white perloid pickguard. Not sure of the year, but it's "Crafted in Japan" as opposed to "Made in Japan". I got it direct from Japan at a great price. To be honest, it's the looks of the Mustang that really drew me in. Basswood body which means it's quite light; I can play this guitar all night and my back/shoulders don't get tired like they would with a Les Paul. The neck is very nice, very smooth. Everything is standard as you would espect from this reissue model.

I'm not crazy about the in-phase/out of phase switch as I can't tell a huge difference between the two. The original tuners aren't that great, especially when playing hard ala White Stripes, Sonic Youth, etc as they go out of tune fairly quickly. And, to me, the neck pickup has a pretty non-descript sound to it; I plan on changing this to a stacked humbucker. I really like the bridge pickup though. You get a great sound when palm muting and when played clean or with overdrive it has a distinct, pleasurable sound.

I ordered this gutar straight from Japan and when I opened the package and stumed a G chord the guitar was in tune! Good action- maybe a hair on the high side when getting below the 8th fret but nothing to fret over (haha). When adjusting for volume or tone the nobs are noiseless (no crackling). The pickup switches, too, are noiseless.

This is my rock star guitar and I'm not worried about dings or scratches. That said, I do take care of my guitars. I've had no problem with electronics or the body and, with respect, am sure this guitar will last many, many years.

Self taught for 7 years. Other than new tuners and an upgraded neck pickup, this guitar is perfect for me. I play White Stripes, Pearl Jam, Velvet Underground, as well as some Roy Orbison and the like. I play through a Vox mini-stack and can get both a nice clean sound as well as a gritty overdriven sound. This is a fairly dynamic guitar, depending on your amp. It's certainly not the right choice for everyone though. This guitar covers a wide variety of rock and that's what I use it for.

A 1993, 69' Oylmpic White, W/ red guard. Standard Mustang everything, except stock pickups have been replaced with two of the Seymour Duncan JB Jr.s. No frills anything, no trem bar, but non-locked tremolo. possibly 500k pots? The electronics were probably replaced when the guitar was first purchased, they are aged, and the pots seem crappy.
However the neck is in immaculate condition, the whole thing seems like it was played very little and then just sat in a closet for a few years.

Well first of all, I bought this guitar as a project guitar. Its pickups had been replaced with two of the single sized humbuckers. The toggle swtiches still work however, and produce a few different sounds, none are very extreme or different from the others. I like the single coil sound, and plan to replace the pickups in this thing with some of the Antiquity duo-sonic or mustang pickups because I want those tinny snarling with electric hum sounds. The humbuckers are very mellow, middle and low end, and have little high drive almost throatier than my other guitar a 96? Epi- Les Paul?
I bought this thing to drone, and thats what it does, although at some point it will MUCH more. Love the dark 80s, forget that indy stuff its all just lifting from the 80s masters.
I would say though, that the double humbuckers really dont fit this guitar. Rating withheld because it's not finished yet

Fantastic! the action was set incredibly low when I received it, and with further tinkering the intonation is also incredible. Just sexy. There is some rust here and there (im not sure it was cared for that nicely...) but it just adds to the beasts character. The floating bridge assembly seems pretty nifty to me, and I have only minimal problems with it knocking the guitar out of tune. I found if you set the bridge all the way back, when you use the bar and pull back up carefully the bridge will return to the same place, leaving tuning almost perfectly the same. No prejudice against japanese guitars now, this thing is Solid. Those weird mustang tuners are also kind of fun, although they make string replacement extremely slow. The pickups, tuners and bridge are all kind of tarnished, but I have no problem with it. The finish is sexy Nicotine white with that maroonish red pickguard, oh MAN. The finish is Very deep and glossy, as is the neck. Smooth.

The guitar seems like an excellent player, I figure with some minor part replacement It would function fine live. Unlike most people on here, apparently I'm not in a world famous touring band... heheh but it will be seriously fun to play with my music buddies late at night.

none

Hey, I bought this guitar because it was exactly what I wanted, so what do you expect as a rating, 10. When I was a kid I had a stratocaster copy, a Cort? then I graduated to a Les Paul (epiphone) when I was a older kid. I just decided that the Les Paul just really wasn't the right ride... I'll probably sell it at some point when I'm finished tooling the mustang. Have been playing for about 8/9 years, and would recommend that anyone who wants to get weird with themselves to buy a mustang If its under $400. I don't uh.. actually have an amp although I just got a big ugly silvertone on Ebay, which should arrive sometime soon.
I've been using this computer/mixer setup thing, dont ask it works fine though.
-Anyway, this is a fantastic and unique guitar.

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.

this is the update to my old review...
I locked the trem. down for more solid tuning and better sustain...
I put a Seymoure Duncan JB jr. in the bridge. it sounds awesome!
I pulled the shitty excuses for tuners that fender had on there and added Schaller backlash tuners. It stays in tune forever. I could tune it and have a 4 hour band practice, come back the next day and do it again, and still be in tune. My buddy had to tune his Gibson SG standard every other song...

i play a lotta punk, anong other things. this works for it all. I use a superfuzz that i built through a fender deluxe 85 with a peavey scorpion speaker. it sounds great if you put a lot of work in it. Definitely change pu's

The action is alright. It is easy to play and it has good feel, but i think SG's and good Ibanezes have crisper and more solid action. Not bad, though

i have had this thing for three years and it's going strong. Honestly, i've NEVER broken a string on it. I've beaten it pretty good at shows and practices, even threw it. I play hard on DR 9's, and they won't break. the rounded saddles help a lot. Seriously, you could go on a killing spree with this thing and it would still have all the strings on and in tune. Little dings are common, cause the wood is kinda soft... Chrome got kinda crappy, but that's my negligence and abuse...

how the hell should i know. Once those whores get your cash, they're probably not to hesitant to tell you to go blow yourself, though.

After all the mods, i love it. If it were stolen, someone would be getting a battery acid enema if i don't get it back...
I've played for almost 5 years. I have a cyclone with an EMG 81, an epi SG in project stage, and i've played tons of other guitars. I still like this one, though. I like it a lot better since i modified it. Also, dan can tell ya that I'm here to help if you need it. I've got tons of diagrams.

Not sure what year this was made, but I think it was from back in 96' when they reissued this (69 mustang version) and the Jaguar. I got it a little knicked up, but it never effected it's sound. Its got 22 frets and has a Sonic Blue finish although it kinda has some sea foam green in it. I love the color, I wish I could have it for every Fender guitar. It has a red pickgaurd and with all the metal hardware, it just looks retro and vintage. For pickups, I liked them but didn't prefer the brigde single coil. So I got a Red Fender Lace Sensor and it sounds great and very hot tone. I'd reccommend putting U.S. lace sensors in because they don't take away from the original look like a humbucker would and they just fit the guitar. I am also looking to replace the neck with a gold lace sensor. The woods are basswood(body) and a one piece maple neck with vintage tuners. I don't see why Fender doesn't upgrade these kind of tuners on their American models. They are very low maintenance and hold their tune just as good. I love how u just cut the string it lentgh and then stick in down into the hole rather than through it. That way, you never have to worry about loose strings or getting poked in the fingers. The brigde is a floating vibrato tailpiece and brigde in one. you can take the whole thing off if you want and its got a wrap around style tailpiece. If you could make it hardtail somehow, this thing would never go out of tune. It the only thing I hate about. I've seen custom models with the same bridge hardtailed so I know it is possible. they should really make this guitar over in a America, it is so underrated. And the frets are smaller and the action is very low, but its great to play and sounds good for many styles. I play everything from Hendrix to Weezer to Incubus on this thing so it is very versatile. I'd make my own custom Mustang model if I could. The pick up selectors get in the way of up and down strokes but they offer lots of options.

I play this baby through a brand new Marshall AVT50 and it is surely a match. The lace sensor has a great humbucker high output tone and the Marshall has the bass I always wanted. I'd like to try it through a Mesa/Boogie sometime too, just to see how great it would sound. But the clean on this guitar is so crisp I really love it. I play in band with originals and covers and it suits everything we play, which is mostly alternative and rock. The pickup combos are great too, some are very subtle but noticeable while the neck and bridge are opposites in sounds.

the action is great but the frets could be bigger. I like the medium jumbo frets and just the distance between each of them could be scaled larger. The basswood body is very soft so it knicks up easily and my finish is very cracked. I am looking to upgrade to an alder body, but I worry about getting that great sonic sea foam blue color. Its the coolest Fender color around. The finish is great and the body is a nice size and fit.

I play this thing live all the time in my band and record with it and I am always pleased. It is a very good live guitar and I can't wait to see the options the Marshall has to record with. It has a nice jack that emulates a stack sound so that would be nice to hear the Mustang through. Its tooken many a hits and has its battle scars but it always gets back into tune so its reliable, but I still would like to replace the body sometime and the pickguard.

Considering this model is only offered in Japan at the moment, some of Fender's staff might not know too much about it, but I am sure there is someone who can guide u in the right direction with this guitar.

I had this guitar for 4 years I believe and I have been playing for almost 7 years so I know what's up guitar wise. As I said, I own a Marshall AVT50 amp and have a chorus pedal and Crybaby wah for it. If it were stolen and I had enough money, I'd call up Fender to order a Custom Model and guard it with my life. Plus, I'd track down who ever took it and beat them. I love the look and feel and just the vintage coolness of it but the modern tone and Lace sensor bridge pickup. I wish it had the same bridge hardtailed, so someday I will just take out the springs and drill the damn tailpiece into the guitar and that will be the end of it. Otherwise, a damn fine guitar.

Made in Japan,1996 50th anniversary. 22 frets 1 vol.,1 tone two lace-sensor single coil pickups each has thier own selector switch.
Basswood body i believe??? Thick SEA Foam BLue with red tortise shell pick guard. Floating bridge, stock tuners, rosewood fretboard.

I've had this guitar for 4 years. I play mostly '77 style punk rock/emo hardcore to 80's New Wave???(a mixture of everything I like)
The set-up I have as of now is Mustang to Line 6 AX2 212. The guitar sounds great thru this amp although I don't really like the amp to much. It sounds excellent thru a Sovtek All-Tube Mig 100 and with overdrive. Its only noisey by ungrounded equipment??? It has all different tones>>> if u only have the neck PU on its sounds all thick/fat & bluesy.but if the PU selectors are opposite you get kind
of a thin rubbery tone that sounds really neat...but my favorite setting is having both PU selectors to left, its a good mid tone not too fat, not too thin...THe only thing that I'd change on this guitar
is the bridge pickup, I'd like to put in a good humbuker???

When I first bought this guitar I raised the pickups a bit,but that was it....about four months after I had it one of the PU selector wires fell off,but i haven't had a problem since???? the action is low
and very flexible which is good...the salesman that sold this to me said I might wanna change the tuners but I haven't and i've never really had a probalem w/ it going out of tune while playing a show or practicing???

this guitar has seen a number of live shows and numerous practices...
I've never brought a back up to a show because my only other guitar is a LEs Paul Special(and i have to re-sotter the wires back on every couple months)The hardware still looks all shiney and clean(no pitting)the finish has a few chips but thats only cuz of my stupid playing...I replaced the strap buttons with straplocks along time ago
cuz i get kinda jumpy when playing... I doubt I'll gig with a backup(unless i'm playing big venues????)

I never had to deal with Fender???

I've been playing almost five and a half years, and my only other guitar is my epiphone L.P.special and I've had that for only about 2 years, and I still play my mustang all the time plus I use it for recording and live shows(i don't really know why i have the LP???)
If somebody ever stole this i don't know,I'd probally have to beat the SH*T outta them!!!! I love the way this guitar looks, the color is absolutley beautiful, the sound is amazing...the only thing i wish it had is a Sovtek Midget 50 to plug it in to!!!!!!***if you ever get the chance to own one,don't pass it up!***

A 1996 Japanese made "50th Anniversary" reissue of the classic 69 Mustang. It has a cream white body with a red mother of pearl pick gaurd. Everything is stock on the guitar, I have considered replacing the pickups but then it wouldn't retain the wonderfully warm "surf guitar sound" that it was designed for. I hear a lot of people saying that they feel that the pickups are weak, but this guitar has such a range of sound that can be obtained from the two 3-way switches that I have been able to get any sound I desire, it is just a matter of figuring out the switch configuration and fooling around with the amp. The neck is a thin 22 fret, which I love. The only flaw I can find in this guitar is with the whammy bar. For one it doesn't screw in, so if you move around on stage you might run the risk of losing your bar. Secondly the tuning keys don't lend well to heavy use of the whammy, I have noticed the guitar will not stay in tune if you use it.

The sound that can be produced from this guitar is phenominal. I have heard people say that they feel the pickups in the guitar are weak, but I have never felt a need to replace them. The Mustang was made to produce a "surf guitar sound", but with a bit of messing around this guitar can accommodate any style of music. I play in a political rock/punk band, which relies on a strong distorted rythm and good leads. The sound I can get from these pickups is amazing. I use an old Laney 50 watt all tube head through a Crate 4-12 cab. The distortion is straight out of the head, I only use a channel switcher, no distortion pedals. I can see that people could be annoyed with the amount of noise the pickups can produce, especially out of a tube half stack. I have learned to use feedback almost as another instrument, so an accasional hum is not really a concern for me. The sound can range anywhere from a twangy poppy sound, so an almost scary growl. With some patience and experimentation with the switches and the amp you can get any sound you want. From a warm mellow clean sound, so a gut wrenching distorted one this guitar has more variety than any other I have owned, or even played.

I have had a slight problem with how the neck was set up straight from the factory, the action was too low. I have played vintage Mustangs, and the action can be played alot lower than the reissues. So I had to fool around with that when I first got it, but I don't mind having a "meaty" feeling guitar when I play. From what I understand the action on these guitars straight from the factory is notoriously too low, so I don't pay that much mind. As for everything else I have no complaints, this guitar preformed just as good now, as it did straight out of the box.

This guitar has withstanded 4 years of punk shows. I have beat the shit out of this guitar and never once has it failed me. It has been kicked off of guitar stands, nocked off my amp, and even fell off a car once (while in the case) not to mention all the wear and tear 4 years of crazy shows will due to a guitar, and never once has it failed to preform perfectly. The only problem I have had in this respect it with the bridge. On the high E side the adjustment bolt that holds up the bridge fell out at a show once, it is now being held up with a nickel. I replaced the strap buttons for a pair of store bought locking strap buttons, this gives me more assurance that the guitar won't come flying off my shoulder when I am jumping around stage. As far as dependability goes, this guitar is second to none. I have never brought a back up guitar to a show, and as long as this guitar is with me I dont think that I ever will. In fact usually when a guitar player on stage needs a backup I hand him mine. It never fails to preform. I can't stress enought how impressive the durability of this guitar is.

I had a local guitar shop fix the actio on the neck when I first go the guitar, the warranty covered it. Other than that I have never had to get it repaired, and barring some horrible accident I don't think I ever will have to do that.

I have been playing guitar for about 7 years. Aside from the Mustang I have owned a classic 60's strat, and a Westone Electra, which was an 80's heavy metal style guitar. I own a crate 1-12 amp, and a half stack that I have mentioned before. I used to use a boss distortion petal, but I felt that the distortion straight out of the amplifier suits the Mustang better. If this guitar was stolen or lost I think I would cry for about a week, then find the person that took it and kill them. If that didn't work I would buy another one. I love the way this guitar feels and plays. It is nocitably lighter than most other guitars out there and it feels and sounds so great to play. Before buying this guitar I looked at some strats, I looked at a Jag-Stang, and some Jackson guitars. I chose this one for its sound, appearance, feel, and affordability. If I could change one thing it would be the tuning pegs, which for anyone that owns this guitar they know you have to pre-cut the strings and feed them down into the peg. I always end up poking my fingers with the ends of the strings and hurting myself. Aside from this minor inconvenience this guitar is a God-send. I couldn't imagine a better guitar for the price that I payed, and I never sell this guitar.

stock item small frets, 22 scale neck, 2-3 way PU's 1 lace sensor pu in the neck and a seymour duncan little 59 i put into the bridge postion. originally another lace sensor. a reg mustang but damn pretty! sonic blue w/ red tortoise

i love the sound from this guitar. and it went through the roof once the seymour duncan little 59 was put into the bridge. this was done becase the bridge pu was a little weak. but the sound is amazing. i play lots of types of music and it all sounds really good with the 8 possible PU combos.

the action is really good once u get it into a place where it doesn't buzz. if its put low enough it will buzz no matter what which kind of pissed me off to be honest. no matter what i did i would find myself fretting out at only the 12th fret! grr oh well just put the action up a little bit and u r fine. the only problem with that is u have to unstring it basically to take out the bridge because unlike a gibson tunomatic things are harder to get at.

reliable as hell. u can slam the shit out of her and she still keeps going.

never had to deal thanks god.

i love this guitar. its super light and has a fantastic sound. but i give it a 9 because of the action. but once u get everything where u want it its the perfect guitar in my opinion. i love this guitar damnit! its just soo perfect. and it sounds soo great through distortion such as the DS-2 and awesome through just about any effect. i have yet to find an effect or amp this thing doesn't sound great with. have fun and have a nice day. :-P

1995 made in japan. 22 frets two single coils. very thin neck

This is actually my friends guitar. anyway I play hard rock and metal.This guitar is completly unsuitable for both those styles.I tried it in a crate blue vodoo amp head with carvin 4x12 cabnet. Noisy on some settings. It has a rather bright sound. clean sounds alright but distortion sounds like shit. I played it through a boss overdrive/distortion, metal zone and a digitech rp -5.very crappy pu's

The action was way to low from the factory. you could'nt even play a power chord without fretting out above the 8th fret.

This guitar sucks. the knobs loosen out of place all the time, same thing with the pickups. this guitar has been repaired way too many times.

i've been playing for 6 years so I can judge guitars pretty good. I did'nt want to come sounding like someone bashing this guitars name for no good reason but it's true this guitar sucks. for $450 you can by a much better guitar. thank god I did'nt buy it. the reason my friend bought it was because he wanted a kurt cobain sound. i actually read an interview in which kurt cobain says he like the mustang because it has a thin neck,sounds like crap and is a bitch to change the strings.

Two Fender single-coil Pickups, volume and tone knobs, two three-way pickup switches (in-phase, off, out-of-phase), short scale neck.

I got this guitar for one reason -- It sounds JUST LIKE Johnny Winter on his first Columbia Album. (This is the album I learned blues from in '69. Highly recommended CD).
Johnny made that album using a Fender Mustang and a Fender 12-string converted to 6-string. To get the sound that's on that album, play the Mustang through the NECK pickup - but EQ for a trebly sound. (On a Fender the knobs should be bass-2, Middle-10, treble-10). The result will be that clanging bell-like tone that Winter was known by. It's a great sound, but moreover - it is DISTINCT. People have heard so many repetitions of the SRV Strat neck-pickup sound, or the balls-to-the-wall bridge-humbucker sound that it is very hard not to be categorized when you use them. The Mustang neck-pickup lead sound is sublimely bluesy, and thank God, different.
(Note, Winter later used Gibson Firebirds, again running the NECK-pickup through a trebly EQ. This gave a similar, perhaps more trebly sound that was great for slide.)


The way to get Winter's

Very solid and well set up Wood feels nicely heavy, maybe alder. Great action. Feels just like my friend's Mustang that I knew when I was a kid.

Durable Fender guitar. Everything very solid.

I'm sure Fender or any local quitar tech could service it.

This is a great blues guitar with a unique sound. Many of the entries below mention replacing the pickups with Duncans, Rails, etc. I hope they're taking good care of the original pickups -- They sing so bluesy when pushing a Fender mid-wattage amp.
Listen to the first (black) Johnny Winter CD "Jonny Winter" to hear what Mustang neck pickups can do for leads.

i think mine was made in 95' or something. I bought it new and it's still completely original so you can read about the pickups and switches and stuff in the other reviews. Same thing goes for the wood, electronics, bridge,...

I love this guitar. I've kinda build my style around it i guess. I play simple lo-fi indie pop stuff but i also like to make sonic youth-dinosaur jr-pavement sort of noise. The 2 switches are great to play around with and the humming that goes together with some of the settings doesnt really bother me. The pick ups are ok for me but i might replace the brigde pickup some time. What i love about this guitar is it's body size and design and it's really thin neck. I use the floating tremelo only for freaking and stuff and i tend to torture my guitar on gigs but it stays in tune and doesnt have a scratch. oh yeah some guitarist that use the trem a lot might find the trem bar on the mustang annoying cause you have to screw it so it's locked and you can't move it around like u can with a strat. a detail i guess

Wheni bought mine , it had some problems with the frets that werent filed properly or something. The people at the store where a i bought it took care of it and also raised the actions. the machine heads and switches look solid.

Rock solid

the shop where i bought mine, repaired it free of charge. Don't know about fender.

I also have an old squire strat and some other crappy guitars i restored. I'm currently out of practice amp but i still have my orange amp and marshall cabs. for effects i have a boss ds-1, a rat, a lovetone big cheese, a lovetone meatball, dod vibrothang, ibanez wah-fuzz and lots of other fuzz boxes i rarely use. Compared to other guitars, this one fits my style best. Maybe the pickups might have been a little better for the price, it's the best. If it was stolen i'd get me another but then id look for another color, 'cause my plain white body depresses me. (I'm still talkin' about my guitar!)

it's a japanese made 1996 model with 22 frets and a short scale neck..after all, it is a short scale guitar! there's 2 single coil pick-ups connected to two 3 way switches...there's also a master volume and a master tone control knob. it's got one of those fender floating tremolo bridges which makes the guitar look quite retro. it's got tons of features and you'll spend hours trying to find your sound.

the stock pickups that it came with really suck! if you ever buy a mustang, replace those pick-ups!!! on my model, i put in a dimarzio fast track mini humbucker in the bridge postion and it really makes the guitar come alive. i get a really bright clean sound with this guitar but when it's hooked up to my boss ds 2 distortion pedal, it's a distorted monster! the sound is good but it's not for everyone. i like the sound to a certain extent, but i've heard better.

i just love the look of this guitar! it's sonic blue with a red tortoise shell pickguard. i personally think that this guitar is one of fender's best guitars. there was absolutly nothing wrong with this guitar in terms of defects...everything was nicely set up professionally.
however, this guitar is very hard for me to play mainly becuase it has a short scale neck and the distance between frets is rather small. this guitar is for people who have long thin fingers.....hmm i wonder why kurt cobain played this!

everything on this guitar will last for eons! except for one thing! the frets! i don't know what it is, but it has terrible frets on it! i don't play too often cos i switched to bass, but the wear on the frets is extrodinary especially the first few frets! i used to have a squier strat and it never had any fret wear and i played it more! but over all, the body is sturdy, the neck is sturdy everything is great except for the damn frets! i can depend on it, but i sure as hell wouldn't use it for a gig cos i have a hard time playing it due to the short scale neck.

the warranty is 3 years long although i haven't had any problems or tried to contact fender, i'm sure their customer service is top notch.

i love this guitar...i really love the look of it, but that doesn't help if i can't play it properly! all i can do is strum out power chords! if it only had a full scale neck like a start then i would love it. this guitar is for people with small hands/long fingers! why do you think kurt cobain used one and why do you think that all these girls use them? small hands/long fingers! but overall it's a great guitar. it has great sound, but i wouldn't by another. i'll just buy a strat. but since i play bass now, i won't touch a guitar!

'69 reissue mustang
Guitar made in 1996 in Japan. Two single coils tone and volume knobs two pickup selector switches. Sonic-Blue with Tortoise shell pickguard.

Regardless of what you may read elseware the stock fender pickups in this guitar are terrible, you will definately have to have them replaced. I have two Mustangs and two Jag-stangs and I have had all the stock pickups changed for this reason. You can't do wrong by placing at least one Hot-Rail in a Mustang.

Apart from the cheap pickups this is perhaps the finest guitar Fender has ever put out, the neck is perfect and the standard contours in the body really help playing. I my experience Mustangs are also substansially lighter in weight compared to a Jag-stang.
There is no real difference between a reissue Mustang and one from the 60's

I have owned both Mustangs for around three years now. Considering how cheaply I purchased them for they have payed me back with countless hours enjoyment.

If something goes wrong with your guitar, you best bet is to find an authorized dealer in your town

This is a wonderful guitar, it is a pity that in the last few years by playing this guitar you look like a Nirvanabe.

It's a 1996? japaneese guitar, mine's sea foam green. Two passive pu's that you have some serious-assed control over. 2 three-way switches control the pickups, giving 2 humbucker sounds (Switches in opposite positions of each other), 2 out of phase HB's (switches in same pos. on both) or 2 different single coil sounds from each (other switch in middle[off] other in left or right pos.). Now those pickups are whipped. There is a vibrato that kills sustain to a degree, but still rules.

I play rock, metal, and grunge, all on a mustang. I have a 505 and a Peavey rage amp. You can play thin thing with any style. The pu's are kinda weak, though. It sounds awesome, and I'd bet some EMG's or a Duncan would make it god.

This guitar was set perfectly when I got it used, and nothing was changed on it by the old owner. The only thing I changed was the bridge height. I raised it because the e string hit the other frets in bends, killing the note. I also temporarily took the pickup covers off because I can. It is the most beautiful guitar i've ever seen.

I replaced the strap buttons with leather locks so I wouldn't drop my baby. This guitar can take a lot of shit. The LAPD could probably use them as bullet proof vests to stop AK-47 bullets, then have a pig jam session with em. I could probably use a hammer if i couldn't find a pick. Like a rock.

I've never dealt with em, but i'm sure the are incompetent jackasses.

I've been playing for 2 years and i already have the guitar i'm gonna be buried with. I think it's up there with SG's, my other favorite. I've got a LP copy W/ and EMG 81 for hard distortion. If anyone stole my Mustang, I'd kill them and sell their posessions to get a new mustang, os one from the 60's. If you want a faithful, playable guitar... BUY A MUSTANG. Strats suck. I can get a schematic of the wiring if u need it.

This guitar was made in Japan in '97. Fender has dis-continued the reproduction of the Mustang, and replaced it with the "Cyclone". That pissed me off. They have also stopped making the Jag-stang, because Japan is not there manufacturer anymore, it is now mexico. It has 22 frets, a thin neck, 1 tone knob, one volume knob, two single coil pick ups. It has two sets of sliding switches for turning on or off the pickups. And the classic fender floating tremolo.

I play punk/grunge rock and trash metal. It is very good for both of them. I replaced my bridge pick up with a Seymour Duncan Hotrails, and the sound is much warmer. Before it was a little weak sounding, but still was GREAT! The sound is mostly in my effects pedals (EH big muff, EH small stone DS-2). I absoulutly love the sound. I can get good distortion ranges from thick warm and rich, to thinner and "poor". I can also get a great sounding clean tone with it.

When i first got it, the pickups needed to be adjusted a little. It was excellent other than that.

This guitar should last for a long time. It is a pretty good light weight wood...and if you think not, some gutars are made out of plywood. The finish was very well done and complete. It is a solid, well made guitar, especially for something made in Japan.

Never had to.

Once again I love it. I own other guitars, but this is my favorite. I would kill anyone would took it, or even scratched it....it's my baby.

There are many good features to this Japan-made guitar. 22 fret rosewood fretboard (7.25" radius), maple neck and basswood body. 1 tone, 1 volume knob, 2-2 position slide pickup selectors for two great sounding single coil passive pickups. Unique Mustang floating tremolo which I enjoy, and vintage tuning knobs. Small frets, no case included but looks great in tweed.

All I can say is - damn. This guitar sounds GREAT! The two single coil pickups are all you need. Amazing clean sound and great distortion sound, no matter what kind of music you play. I play rock, blues, grunge, punk, etc., and it suits all my needs for each one. Best are it's midtones, but has great variety of what it can do. Overall fat tone.

This guitar was almost perfect when I got it. It buzzed a little at the bridge, but I had dampers installed with the springs and that was taken care of. Otherwise, nothing was wrong at all, and once broken in, nothing should ever go wrong.

This guitar is extremely reliable. I've banged it up (by accident of course) and it can take a beating without even a single scratch on the finish. You can majorly thrash with this guitar and it will NOT go out of tune. You can definately depend on it and I have played many-a-gig without need of a backup. Break this baby in and she'll do you wonders.

I'm not really sure what to say here, but I think the warranty is like 5 years or something. I've never had a problem with service. If you break something, chances are it'll be hard to find replacements without ordering them specifically.

This is my favorite guitar of all time and one of the best I've ever played. I love the feel and the sound and everything about it. I LOVE THE FENDER MUSTANG. If you are considering, by all means try this superior axe. I've been playing for 3 years, and I own plenty of gear. I have no complaints, and if it were stolen or lost, I would destroy everything in sight in a fit of rage and go immediately buy a new one. That's all I have to say.

Made in Japan. 22 fret rosewood fretboard. Thin maple neck. Small frets. Volume knob, tone knob, 2 slanted passive single coil pickups. A three way pickup selector switch for each pickup. In phase, out phase, and off. Basswood body. Mine has a Sonic Blue finish with a red pearl pick guard. It's got a pretty phat 60's style body. Crappy sounding floating tremolo. Vintage tuners. This guitar stays in tune pretty good as long as the strings are broken in.

Lots of noise with single coil set. When both pickups are either in phase or out phase its got a great humbucker sound. This guitar's pretty much mid-toned.

Great action. Really light guitar. I bought this guitar used and everything was adjusted perfect. A couple small scratches on the back.

Play live with it. Throw in at the drummer. Shove it through a monitor. It won't break. The only thing that could possibly break is the neck. It should be a little straighter.

never 66

uhh, it's pretty damn good.

mine was made in japan and has 22 frets. It has 1 tone and 1 volume control...and two 3 way selectors that are above the pickups which will bust your knuckles if you play really hard. I bought mine used and someone put in a seymour duncan lil screamin deamon in the bridge..the other was the stock pickup i assume. The floating bridge is nice and ive never had to adjust it. The guitar is really light and comfortable to play..

When i bought it used, all the wiring was aweful... proably becuase whoever put in the duncan pickup, didnt have a clue as to what they were doing..so i redone the wiring and it now sounds great. I mostly play punk, grunge and some skacore ...and i dont think theres a guitar made that better suits my style. It sounds great thru every amp ive heard...even my shitty 5 dollar hondo amp. Its unbeleivably quiet when your in distortion and not playing. It has a good thick sound.

Everything was ok... the wiring sucked... but thats what u get for getting a used guitar, i seriously doubt you would have problems if you bought it new. The bridge had two pennies on each side keeping it at a fixed distance... I still have the pennies there cause its the perfect height...and it stays that way no matter what. The guitar looked like it was brand new... not the slightest defect or scratch. But i eventually banged the paint up a little, but solid metal objects will do that to any guitar.

This guitar will withstand a beating.. its been played live on several occasions by my friends punk band... and they play reallly hard, not only did he never break a string...( which is amazing ) but it stayed in perfect tune for the whole show. the strap buttons occasionally came loose, so i superglued them in. no big deal. This guitar is 100% reliable... it has yet to fail me or my friends band once.

N/A i bought it used

I started playin on a piece of crap guitar... and when i played the mustang in the store.. i was in love. Ive played very expensive guitars and i wouldnt trade my stang for one if my life depended on it. Its the guitar of my choice regardless of how "cheap" it was. If something unfortunate were to happen to it, after i quit crying i would go straight to the music store and by another one.. brand new that is.

mine was made in '96 and still looks wonderful. it has 22 frets that feel perfect. 1 volume,1 tone control and a 3 way selector switch over both pick-ups. the pick-ups are just basic passive fenders i guess but they kick ass regardless. i'm not sure what woods were used but that doesn't matter. i have a real smooth sonic blue color with a red pearl pick guard. it's sweet. it has the floating tremolo deal that completely rocks the house except it detunes kinda quick. it has the tuners that fender puts on it's high-end strats. it's short scale is kinda convenient. it came with some hex keys which help.

my style of music ranges from ozzy to hendrix to pink floyd and so on. and the pick-ups work good with it all. the clean sound is outragious. i use a fender princeton chorus amp, vox wah, and a boss fuzz pedal and it meshes quite well. the only time the guitar gets unwanted noise is when the pick-ups are out of phase. but if you just start playing that goes away.when they are in phase they're the shit. they sound clean and crisp and make you drool

the guitar needed a few minor adjustments when i brought it home but it wasn't hard to do. i lowered the action and it's awesome. the pick-ups were fine. i still haven't needed to mess with them. all the controls and hardware and everything were fine, i haven't had to mess with them either

i could kick the shit out of the guitar and it would come back wanting more. i wouldn't bring a back up anywhere. i really don't worry about it to much except keeping it all waxed up

lifetime warranty(i think)

i've been playing for a number of years and this is the best i've owned so far. i have 2 other stratocasters and i can tell that they're jealous of my mustang. if somone even ATTEMPTED to scratch my mustang i would kill them. if anyone ever stole my guitar i would kill there family past, present, and future.if i couldn't do that i'd run to the nearest music store and buy another one.i love the whole guitar equally.the only thing i'd change is that i'd get an EMG SE pick-up in the bridge

made in japan, 22 frets, solid top i think, volume and tone, then for each pickupthere are three positions, allows hibucker, sound or single coil plusout of phase, ecxluding tone , 9 different tonal choices, s/s pu, passive I think, basswood body, dunno about finish, mustang body needs-no more description about body, dunno, about bridge if it helps thereis a floating bridge, middle to thin sixe neck, slightly smaller than strat scale

great versatility!, some don't ike sound, and there seems to be great contraversy between artists and what theu think, It has a great single coil thin sound, but a very rich humbucker sound that is beautiful, some say its not for performers, I use it and love it, UI use fender blues deluxe, sounds great on most amps,it is single coil though, and neck pickup is slightly wamer than the average neck, but still beautiful tone, mostly just use dt.

near- perfect, takes a little bit to get the bridge from buzzing, but it stops anbd at first is out of tune, You need to break this guitar in

Its a fender, like a boss is to pedals, a fender is to guitarts, you cant break'em, I ve hit accidently against walls multiple times, not one visible scar, strap buttons never budged in 2 1/2 years,never played gig w/ out backup, but never needed one,perfect finish

never-sorry

would easily buy it again, once again I would like to say dont listen to the famous musicians always, some say it sounds like shit, some love it, I love its versitility lightweight sound, neck, look etc, It may or may not suit your sound, DSont just buy it because Nirvan aor smashing pumpikins etc used it,they probably played different years or most likely fixed them up, Cobain did, jus t try it, you may love it, you may hate it, I love it, please write to me w/ comments or questions