Tempo Mustang Copy

I bought this guitar off my uncle (for 5 bucks!) who purchased it from my Dad in the 70s. It was covered in dirt - I literally disassembled and reassembled the guitar in order to clean it all out! There were no serial numbers, dates or locations of manufacture anywhere.

It is essentially a cheap copy of a Fender Mustang. It has 20 frets, a very thin body (just under 1 inch) with a huge swimming pool rout underneath the pickguard for the 2 single coil pickups. Although the pickup selector switches look like those of a Mustang, they only turn individuals on and off - there is no out of phase option. Hence, the combinations are like a Tele - bridge, bridge and neck, neck - although this guitar has the useless option of both off.

The body is figured quite nicely from pine, although its thin nature makes for an exeptionally weak neck joint. The pitch of the strings is very easily shifted up or down a whole tone just through the normal rigours of playing that a neck must survive. The bridge is very similar to that of a Mustang, but, also like a Mustang, should only be treated as an ornament as the vibrato bar - even under moderate use - will set this guitar out of tune. The body is finished in a canary yellow colour with chrome parts (the chrome is flaking off) and a three layer mother-of-pearl pickguard. There is also a 'competition' stripe, like a Mustang.

The neck is very thick, like a baseball bat, and is made of mahogany. Unlike a Mustang, the neck scale is 25 inches, just like a Strat. The frets are very small and made of brass, while the inlays are mother-of-pearl dots, some of which have fallen out. The huge, faux-CBS headstock adds to the neck's heavy weight and causes the neck to nosedive if you let go of it. The tuners are very poor in quality, all mounted on a single strip of steel with the gears exposed to dust, humidity, etc. The tuner knobs are plastic and look very cheap.

The low-quality single coil pickups are poorly aligned with the strings and consequently deliver a very low output. Playing metal or blues licks is impossible on this guitar for it has no sustain at all, but the swimming pool routing lends it a nice acoustic quality which is transferred to the amp. Playing 'twangy mud' chords ala Stone Temple Pilots' 'Plush' is quite pleasurable with this guitar.

This guitar is very noisy in comparison with my 1996 Fender Stratocaster or, of course, my humbucker-equipped Ibanez Jem. These, however, are professional quality guitars and comparing this old cheapy with them is clearly unfair.

The tone knob offers quite a lot of variation, but this is perhaps too extreme - going from excessively bright to flubby and muddy with little room in between.

I can't comment on how it came from the factory, but the poorly designed neck joint, pickup alignment and electronics provide all the tell tale signs of a cheap guitar.

It is amazing that this guitar has lasted as long as it has! Yes, it is a simple design and in theory should be robust, but I feel it is only a matter of time before the neck joint snaps off from the body.

I would NOT use this guitar for a gig.

No comment.

I have been playing for seven years and heave played many kinds of guitars, ranging in quality and purpose. I bought this particular guitar to tinker with, examine, pull apart, put back together, play around with - a toy more than an instrument.