Jean-Luc Pickguard

No problem there its when the courier brings a blummin' great box to the door if the missus is around at the time. She didn't notice my vintage pro t-bird once I had it in the house as it she can't tell the difference between it and my pro-v five string t-bird. I also managed to sneak in the JMJ mustang as I already had a white mustang and a musicmaster the same daphne blue colour as the JMJ - perhaps she thinks the JMJ is the offspring of those two.

I do this, but I'm self-employed and work at home.😳

Reading MoJo's "I've done a very stupid thing" thread, I though to myself "Why would anyone do that, I wouldn't buy a bass by mistake or on a whim like that", however yesterday I was looking for a case for my Epiphone vintage pro thunderbird, and found a vintage pro including a case on ebay at what seemed like a very low current bid, with the auction ending in less than an hour. I watched the auction and the bidding stayed low, so I couldn't resist putting in a sneaky 'lowball' bid in the dying seconds fully expecting to be outbid by the current high bidder's maximum bid, or by someone else sniping. I was quite surprised when I won the auction, and have paid for it, but now I have the dilemma of getting this humungous box delivered at a time the missus won't see it, plus hiding it until I decide what to do with it. I really don't need another sunburst vintage pro t-bird, so I'll probably set up the bass and sell it on, just keeping the case for my existing t-birds. The case looks a little battered but appears to be structurally fine - hopefully just needing some of the tolex to be glued down. Who else has bought a bass unexpectedly on a whim without really thinking it through first?

Given that Fender used to make the Ashbory bass, and have not ventured into the u-bass-type-thing market, A range of solid-bodied uke basses, fretted, similar to the kala sub range, but using scaled down versions of the classic Fender body & headstock shapes would be cute as a button and totally awesome. They could call it the 'Fender Pocket Precision bass' & 'Pocket Jazz bass'

I've just thought of another mustang-related one. Fender fit their own 9050L stainless flatwound strings on the JMJ mustang, but they only make a longscale set. They are the only stock strings I've ever kept on a new bass, & I liked them so much I also put a set on my CIJ mustang switching allegiance from TI-JF324s which were my favourites for the last 10 years or more. Fender really should make a mustang-specific version of the 9050L set.

Not mine I'm afraid - It is from the 1976 Fender catalogue. I wish I'd kept my copy - there were some great pics in it.

Like this?

Maybe if fender made their mustang bass cases with silver tolex like the 60s ones I'd feel happier about spending £170 on one. As far as I know no one makes a shortscale bass hard case to fit a mustang bass that costs less than £170, and mustang cases never seem to be available secondhand. The first company to offer a decent hard case to fit a mustang/musicmaster/bronco bass for under £100 would get my money.

Could that be a DiMarzio Pickup? or are there any other P-bass pickups with hex adjustable poles?

Its a common scam. There's absolutely no point in replying to these criminals. Delete the email & move on. If he messaged via gumtree, report him.

I'm surprised that the JMJ is discontinued already - it is still listed on Fender.com. I wonder how many were made in total 🤔

I'd send it back TBH

Mine doesn't have any dings on the neck - apart from the ones around the headstock to simulate the damage you get crashing it into a cymbal (or singer) The gigbag that comes with it is not a short-scale specific bag, but one that fits a jazz or precision

Thanks for the suggestion, I remember copydex from school - its the one that stinks of tramps' trousers if I recall correctly. That could work, along with using thin strips of the tape rather than one long piece. I can't remember whether the odour is likely to stay or go away once the glue is dry though.

Ugh! you'd probably catch something nasty from playing it.

I think it is genuine. The lollipop tuners were used 1966-68, so the shape of these is correct for '69 and they have Fender embossing in the backplate. Also the Japanese mustangs use gotoh tuners which require smaller holes in the headstock the japanese ones didn't have matching headstocks. On the photo of the back of the headstock the maple looks glossier than I would expect so the back of the neck may have been refinished or oversprayed at some point, but the checking on the front of the headstock looks genuine. To tell with more certainty whether it is a genuine sixties neck we'd need to see a pic of the heel end of the neck - on a 60s/early 70s one the rosewood fingerboard will be curved and appear to be applied like a veneer wrapped over the curved top of the neck (like my '72 musicmaster), whereas on a reissue the fingerboard will have more of a slab appearance - like on my CIJ mustang & JMJ Mustang. There is some checking on the body which suggests a laquer finish rather than the poly finish of the reissues and the hardware has a patina. The pickguard could be a reissue as an old celluloid pearl one would have gassed out and show a nice warm colour, some shrinkage and discolouration under and around the tug bar (like my '72 musicmaster). The mutes on the bridge were never fitted to reissues as far as I am aware.

update - this has not been a total success as the adhesive of the tape doesn't stick well to the polyester webbing of the strap and after leaving it overnight the tape actually fell off, so some additional sticking agent is requires. If tape was cloth it could probably be sewn, but its like thick parcel tape or sellotape so sewing would probably cause it to tear. Not sure what to use to give additonal stickage - maybe some kind of contact adhesive? Any ideas?

I have stuck it onto the area where it is needed. The adhesive seems to be very good, on a par with carpet tape and the rubbery dots are nice & grippy. Just tried the bass briefly and there is no longer any trace of neck dive. I'll have to see how it works long-term - it it comes unstuck or starts to peel, but initial impressions are good. If I redo it I might try sticking a load of one inch strips about an eighth of an inch apart instead of a single long piece to try to minimise any wrinkling that occurs when the strap is flexed.

I recently bought a daphne blue Fender logo strap like this one: It looks great with my '72 Daphne blue musicmaster, however I'm used to using Suede straps or ones with a similar grippy reverse side. Due to the webbing on the back of this one, my feather-light musicmaster does exhibit some minor neck dive which is not apparent when using a suede strap - My seafoam Levys Suede one previously used with this bass has been promoted to my JMJ Mustang and looks great with it as it is very close to the same colour. I figured that something grippy stuck to the inside of the new strap might help, and today while browsing the popular high-street emporium, 'the land of pound', I found this stuff - 'Stick 'em up non-slip rug gripper'. I don't remember how much it cost though. 😝 It looks to be about a gnats wotsit narrower than the strap and the grippy dots are a pretty close match to daphne blue, so I am hopeful that it should work well and not look out of place. I will be trying it later and I will report back here with my findings. There's 1.5m on the roll, but I think I will only need to use about 50cm on the strap.

The pics weren't available last time I looked, but they are back up now. I keep telling myself that I don't *need* another mustang, but the sunburst one looks rather tasty

Milli Vanilli

I dunno - if it was good enough for Jamerson...

I already have a CIJ olympic white mustang and a daphne blue JMJ mustang, plus a '72 daphne blue musicmaster, so I really don't need one of the vintera mustangs, but that doesn't prevent me wanting one. It looks like they use the same hipshot lollypop tuners as the JMJ which apart from working perfectly look great (yep - I'm that shallow).

I've tried a lot of compressors. My favourite is the TC spectracomp, which along with my tech 21 VTbass and thumpinator is an 'always on' pedal on my board.

PM'd!