NBD - Fender Pawn Shop Mustang

[JapanAxe]

Well my GAS is currently sated by this little beauty. I undertook a fairly mammoth road trip with my mate Diz on Sunday, first heading down to pick up a Serialiser box from OBBM, then a quick toasty and coffee in Farnham before Guitar Village. Unfortunately their example of this model turned out to be faulty (hardly any output, tone control not working), so after Diz had tried out a Fender Blues Deluxe amp, we embarked on the arduous trek to Hammersmith where we parked up and took the tube to Tottenham Court Road. I had phoned ahead to make sure Wunjo had one in stock, and when we got there I was not disappointed - the bass was just as fruity-sounding as the one I'd tried there before. Within a few minutes the decision was made, and off we trotted. In the excitement I kind of talked myself out of the free set of strings that shop-chap Laurence was going to chuck in!

I have officially taken possession today (it being a [i]special day[/i]), and love it to bits. As my preference is now for flats, I tried it with an old set of D'Addario half-rounds, but sadly the D string was knackered to the point that it would not intonate. Action fettled to my liking, strap-lock buttons fitted - many hours of pleasurable playing lie ahed.

The pic shows my new treasure in front of its companions as listed below.

Edited December 17, 2013 by JapanAxe

[theyellowcar]

Very very nice. I keep looking at these and thinking "I must try one"

How does it sound compared to the P I spy in the background? I imagine it being similar but with a little more thump and a bit cut out of the mids?

[Immo]

One of the coolest them Fenders. My favourite humbucking pickup next to Peavey's T-series humbucker (as seen on T-40 and T-45). Cool pinstripes and overall mood this bass gives. Pawn Shop rocks.

P.S. Don't you forget to edit your signature, now that you mentioned it!

[Lozz196]

I keep thinking of these, at some point gonna have to try one out.

[JapanAxe]

[quote name='theyellowcar' timestamp='1387309141' post='2310591']
How does it sound compared to the P I spy in the background? I imagine it being similar but with a little more thump and a bit cut out of the mids?
[/quote]

That's actually the Sandberg Cali VM4, which is like a P but with a MM pickup by the bridge. It does sound very P-like, and yes there is more thump, and no lack of mids. It would be unfair to call the Mustang pickup a 'mudbucker', but having tried the Mustang with half-rounds I am probably going to persevere with rounds, as I don't think flats would give it enough tonal range. (My other fretted basses have active options.)

[quote name='Immo' timestamp='1387310563' post='2310620']
Don't you forget to edit your signature, now that you mentioned it!
[/quote]

Oh yeah! Took the Mustang off the GAS list but forgot to put it in the [s]boast[/s] basses list.

[Immo]

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1387321380' post='2310800']
Oh yeah! Took the Mustang off the GAS list but forgot to put it in the [s]boast[/s] basses list.
[/quote]
Oh, no! Now your [s]boast[/s] basses list is too long and it has to be displayed in two rows on my 1024px wide netbook screen!

[JapanAxe]

[quote name='Immo' timestamp='1387359659' post='2310978']
Oh, no! Now your [s]boast[/s] basses list is too long and it has to be displayed in two rows on my 1024px wide netbook screen!
[/quote]
Time for a bigger screen!

[gsgbass]

Wow! Big congrats. I like the Mustang in the Olympic White. Best of playing with it. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/8JHSxou.png[/IMG]

[JapanAxe]

[quote name='gsgbass' timestamp='1387413458' post='2311818']
Wow! Big congrats. I like the Mustang in the Olympic White. Best of playing with it.
[/quote]
Yep, really enjoying it. Looking forward to changing the strings to something kinder on the fingers though!

[JapanAxe]

Bought some D'Addario XLs from Dingus and fitted them just before going away for Christmas. This has resulted in a great improvement in feel. Result!

While I was away I popped into [url="http://www.northeastguitar.co.uk/"]Steven James Guitars[/url] in Middlesbrough and tried a couple of other basses for comparison.[list]
[*]Fender CIJ Mustang RI (split p/u) - nice to play, decent sound, but not the full-on girth of of the PSM's humbucker.
[*]Squier Tele Bass - plenty of HB power, but can't help thinking the p/u placement is a bit extreme, and Fender have missed a trick where they could have located a single HB in the sweet spot.
[/list]
So, even happier with my purchase! I haven't given up on flats completely for this bass, but getting the right combination of scale length and gauge is not easy. The ideal fit would be La Bella Deep Talkin' set [url="http://www.labella.com/products/760fs-tb/"]760FS-M-TB[/url] (the TB stands for Through Body) but can you even [i]get[/i] these in the UK?

Edited December 28, 2013 by JapanAxe