Mod_Machine Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Hi all - nothing major build wise and will all be covered in one post so i dont bore you into giving yourself chinese burns. Ive always wanted a mustang bass - simple as....but cant afford one.... simple as! Had a little fun doing a Jedson Telecaster project so decided to look into building a mustang! Quickly found a couple of people doing conversions to the squire broncos and thought why not...deadline was yesterday as needed to decide if good enough to play when we headline O2 acad this weekend. Actually finished a week early and got to use in two rehearsals to even out any flaws. BEST THING ABOUT THIS IS THAT EVERY PART WAS SOURCED USING BASSCHAT AND ALL FUNDS WERE RAISED THROUGH SELLING ON BASSCHAT - now that surely proves what a useful resource this is! Whether its your cup of tea or not im really chuffed with the final outcome and as thats most important i especially want to really thank the following B'Chatters who have all done much more than expected in sourcing and producing parts :- Tazza1 - Really affable fella and a good chat BassDoc - Genius, flexible and patient. And did i say a genius? 2 X 18 - Cheers for pandering to my weird requests for measurements! Spaz91 - popped up just when i was about to change my plans and responded to everything quicker than i breathe. So plan was for an all black mustang influenced project (rather than copy) to contrast with the all white Jedson short scale. I knew there would be some difficulty sorting out some mustang pickups for it without importing from usa (ive lost too much stuff on import and taxes push prices up pointlessly - finally i hate waiting!) So plan WAS to get some p bass style ones. Fit a mustang pickguard. Change the bridge for an over sized style one similar to those used on the Ibanez jet king and some large elephant ear tuners. A quick wanted message and a black bronco with single ply white guard was found... [attachment=75683:squire_bronco.jpg] Everything worked well and the neck and intonation were good. Already decided to keep the bridge and tuners at this point as 'if it aint broke why try to fix it'. So decided to fit a large bridge cover instead. Put out a wanted message for a mustang pickguard and control plate. Got a response for the control plate, which was bagged and got pretty much the next day! On the off chance i asked the seller if he had any other parts and low and behold - he had mustang pickup sitting around so flogged that to me at a very good price. I was beaming all day! As there was no come back on the pickguard i looked at getting one sent over from USA. If i was fitting a standard pickguard i would have to drop it down from the neck about 5mm, thus exposing the body between the end of the pickguard and the start of the neck, and angle the control plate slightly to ensure that the cavity was covered. In turn this would cover all the existing screw holes from the previous scratch plate. It wasnt ideal and if you do a google search on how it looks you will see it can look a bit naff - but what else could i do...... Low and behold a pm arrives from Bass Doc offereing to make me one up. I sent over what can only be described as mad ramblings of what i was after and he agreed to do the work. Even though he didnt have access to my bass he would try and make the adjustments necessary to accomodate the drop away below the neck so it all fitted nicely. These changes were compounded when the template pickguard was found to be greatly 'deformed'. Yet when i got it only the most minor filing was required to fit like a glove - amazing piece of work. At this point i now seemed to be going down the route of a straight 'look a likey'. All that was left then was the large F engraved bridge cover which again was going to be a US import - when i stumbled accross a B'Chatter selling a full bass who had decided to let some of the bits go indivdually...including an F bridge cover. He also threw in a black thumb rest and low and behold everything was in place. Stuck it all together and this is how she looks.... [attachment=75684:mustang_full_body.jpg][attachment=75685:mustang_body.jpg] I know the oversized bridge cover may be a matter of taste, but i like chrome and its my bass! Ultimately this isnt for me to sell on but becasue I want one! The only thing not from basschat was the new set of Fender short scale XLs. Used it last night for rehearsal and lovely, middy and constant accross the fretboard. The Tone knob actually changes the tone! Ive found that im actually bybassing my hartke bass attack entirely to get my ideal sound all im using is a marshal compressor (more about my playing style i think!) edged more towards the HIs and the hartke amp eq flat/central with a little of the lows backed off and the highs slightly upped. Its solid and i prefer it to my Jedson (of course) and the ibanez in looks, comfort and sound. Chuffed and cant wait for the O2 acad to really get into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bass Doc Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Congratulations on a splendid conversion.......I especially like the custom made pickguard (but then I wood, wooden eye). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tait Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Wow, this is really cool mate! It looks a lot better now, you could hardly believe it started out as a fairly cheap bass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Nice job, looks very cool. Hope it performs well at the 02 bash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazza1 Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Karl - What can I say? That looks absolutely fantastic. You've done a really great job on that & I feel quite proud that that was once my bass! I was surprised when I got it that the intonation was OK even though it was a 2 saddle bridge. I'm glad you're going to put it to good use. Hope the gigs go really well for you mate. All the best Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I think that looks absolutely fantastic mate. Fancy picking up a Mustang pickup for it! Must be rare as hen's teeth! In fact, visually speaking, I think the pickup makes the project personally. It wouldn't look right with a Precision in there to my eyes. Basschat is ace, no question. I've had incredible help and advice off people on here and have bought some brilliant bits of rare and well priced gear as well. It's always good for selling too. Those people who moan they can't sell stuff normally have prices which are too high in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Very, very nice, good job there. Also great to hear lots of positive BC comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilby Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I'm gobsmacked. Superb job. I'm also a bit gutted as I have pretty much the same plan in mind,(except that I had dismissed the idea of mustang pickups due to scarcity and US cost) even had the bridge cover in mind! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 looks really nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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