I wanted an interesting – but not too technically challenging – guitar project to give me an alternative to my trusty Jazzmaster when recording guitar overdubs. I liked the idea of a shortscale and since the Mustang circuitry is a little less complicated than the Jaguar I bought up a Japanese-made body and neck and set to work.
Generally the build isn’t a huge departure from the 1965 reissue that Fender currently sell, although I’ve gone for CIJ hardware (tuners, bridge, pickguard and tremolo) to make sure the parts are all compatible and fit correctly. There are some small yet significant differences between the USA and import instruments that aren’t necessarily noticeable to a player but can be problematic when building one.
The body is a ’65 reissue in olympic white, so has a creamy off-white finish but I can’t say what wood was used. There’s space routed out for the standard single tone and volume rotary knobs, input jack, two three-way slide selector switches and two single coil pickups. The cavities have copper shielding and there’s the routing for the standard Mustang tremolo assembly. The neck is maple, with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, what appears to be a 7.25″ fretboard radius and feels noticeably shallower next to my Jazzmaster. It’s a shorter 24″ scale length too, so despite the lack of tummy and arm contours carved into the body it’s very comfortable to play.
The body of a Mustang is slightly thinner than is usual for Fender guitars, so I found the longer 42mm neck bolt screws were a bit long. In the end I used shorter 36mm screws which seem to hold the neck on fast without boring too far into the neck (I was worried about longer screws protruding through the fretboard!).
The Japanese Fender Mustang trem differs from the USA versions in that the posts connected to the trem springs have three rather than two slots. The springs are nigh on impossible to move from one slot to another without the aid of pliers, so I left them on the end slot (the lowest one, furthest away from the trem plate). As it turned out, this is fine for the gauge of strings I’m using.
My Jazzmaster came with both the original bridge and a Mustang bridge (fitting Mustang bridges is common among Jazzmaster owners who don’t like the stock bridge saddles) so used that spare Mustang bridge, which fits into the mounting cups perfectly. There are small gaps between the saddles, which is common for Japanese Mustangs, but the saddle heights match the radius of the fretboard. No problems there.
I had to adjust the height of the stopbar, which in turn alters the angle it leans and hence the angle of the tremolo arm. This requires an Allen wrench, which is the same size as the one needed to adjust the grub screw holding the arm in place. Mustangs are notorious for going out of tune when the trem arm is used frequently, so I don’t see myself using it much.
Many shortscale owners use a gauge of strings thicker than normal but I’ve fitted the same gauge (0.10-0.46) that I always use. It gives the familiar feel under the fingers, but the shorter scale length makes bends and single note lines easier to do. I could go up to a set of .11s and experience a similar string tension that I’d get from a set of .10s on standard scale, but I like the comfortable, more ‘elastic’ feel that the lower string tension gives. It’s a matter of personal preference and playing style really.
The tuners are standard Mustang ‘F’ tuners, which means each has a white plastic ‘bean’ button instead of the usual metal, an embossed ‘F’ on the reverse and are held in place with two screws at opposite corners. The collet bushings are rather snug in the holes, but a bit of gentle persuasion (a few firm taps with the butt of a screwdriver handle!) set them in place without protruding too far out of the holes to get in the way of the strings.
The white body paint, white tuner buttons and, as I found out, relative expense of the tortoiseshell effect pickguard made me think of alternative pickguard colours. In the end I decided against the commonly-seen tort and ordered a white pearl. It will mean the entire guitar will be white, but hopefully it’ll look classy and a bit different.
Next up, when the parts are delivered, the fitting of the pickups and electronics!