NBD?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

New bass incoming. The tracking says it left Glasgow Yesterday and ETA at my address in London is by end of day today, but the latest entry on the tracking page is that it arrived at the DHL Sort Facility, East Midlands at 2:37AM, and with no later updates, so I assume it's still there at Castle Donington.

 

I ordered a couple of bits for it which arrived today, and I had a rummage in my bits box.

 

 

When I found the Fender Hi Mass Bridge in my bits box, I also found a Badass II I'd forgotten about, so I'll have to decide on which one to fit. Also I needn't have ordered the new thumbrest as I already had a spare one in the bits box.

 

I got a set of EB short scale cobalt flats from amazon warehouse - unused but missing the outer packaging.

 

A new colour co-ordinated suede strap should be delivered tomorrow, and a set of grolsch-style strap blocks is sitting here at the ready.

Edited August 24 by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

 

The Strap was delivered this morning and I've put it away safe with the other bits including the grolsch washer strapblocks.

 

The bass arrived at the DHL delivery facility London this morning, and it will sit there until Tuesday due to the bank holiday. I have decided to use the Fender hi-mass bridge as the Badass II looks a bit ratty as it is a nickel plated base with chrome plated saddles for some reason.

 

When I ordered the strings I mistaken thought that EB only made one set of short scale cobalt flats, but it turns out the set I have on one of my squier jag shorties is the regular slinky set with green details on the packaging: 45-65-85-105, and the new set I have is the power slinky set, with purple: 50, 70, 90, 110. I prefer low tension strings, and usually only buy the lightest gauge available of any type, so it'll be interesting to see how I get on with the slightly higher tension of this set. I'm hoping that there won't be too much of a difference in feel.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

My new bass arrived this morning, and I was pleasantly surprised to see DHL delivering on a bank holiday. After a quick inspection, I started customising it to my liking.

 

It’s a 2022 Sienna Sunburst Player Mustang Bass.

 

I played around with my SS Squier PJ Jaguar bass, which already has short-scale cobalt flats. However, I realised I don’t enjoy the cobalts on a short scale as much as I do on my Thunderbirds. So, after installing the hi-mass bridge, I rummaged through my box of ‘worn-in’ strings and found a set of short-scale LaBella flats with orange silks. I put these on and set up the bass. My initial impression is that it’s a keeper. I made a template to position the thumbrest using my spare JMJ pickguard and carefully drilled some holes with a miniature hand drill.

 

I’m very pleased with this bass. It offers something slightly different from my JMJs and feels and sounds great with the flatwounds. I was considering removing the switch and wiring it like a jazz bass, but I’ve decided against it. The switch provides three easily selectable sounds, including the bridge pickup soloed, which surprisingly is my favorite — at least through my practice setup.

 

Edited August 26 by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

The worn-in strings I fitted work really well on this bass. I am almost certain they are LaBellas, but I most likely bought them 15-20 years ago.

 

Using my dial gauge calliper, I get measurements of approximately 45-55-80-100 (give or take a few thousandths of an inch.) These measurements don’t appear to tally with anything LaBella currently offer though.

 

The silks are orange and the strings appear to be stainless steel. They are definitely a 30” short scale flatwound set.

 

I think I’ll have to contact LaBella to find out whether this is a set I am able to order.

 

I've done a bit of googling and it looks like the strings are 760FX-S which are actually 39-56-77-96 and sadly no longer available. I will have to look after the ones I have.

Edited August 27 by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Now I have had a chance to get used to the player mustang, there are a couple of issues/niggles with the electronics. Nothing major but enough that I'm going to attempt to fix them.

 

First, when switching to the jazz/bridge pickup soloed, sometimes this results in no sound whatsoever. The neck pickup and middle position are fine. After considering whether to replace the switch with a blend pot or another switch, I decided that I'd prefer a better switch, so I have ordered a short switchcraft one. I'm thinking that it might have been better to order a right-andled switchcraft, but I'll see how the short one is when it arrives. Cleaning or messing about with the existing switch wasn't an option as in my experience any fix will only be temporary.

 

The second issue seems to be a widespread issue with the player mustangs due to how they are wired. When the volume is at any position other than full, turning down the tone results in a big loss of volume. The best explanation for this I have been able to find is that these basses use a 50s style of wiring where the volume control is wired back to front, and the fix for this is to swap around the two wires at the volume pot: 1. from the output of the switch, and 2. to the tip of the output socket. I will try this mod, and replace the switch when the new one arrives, and report back on whether this fixes the issue.

 

Factory wiring:

 

 

Proposed modification - desolder the two wires marked red at the volume pot and swap their positions:

Edited Wednesday at 17:24 by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[BillyBass]

I'm not normally keen on sunburst finishes but this one looks really nice, congrats!  Let us know how the wiring proceeds.

[Chienmortbb]

I could not play such a short bass but it does look gorgeous.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I'm a sucker for a maple fingerboard on a Fender, and of the player mustang basses, this and black with maple, are the only finishes that I like enough to consider buying, and this came up at a price I'm happy with before a nice black one.

 

The grain and matching of the individual pieces on the body of this one are very good as well, although it doesn't show too well on my snapshots. In fact, the matching is so good that you have to look very closely at it to realise it isn't a one-piece body.

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 22:49 by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[Jackroadkill]

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

I could not play such a short bass but it does look gorgeous.

 

Same here - I'd love a Mustang with a full-length scale.

[Rodders]

I love the look of the finish and the neck but the pickups always look out of scale on these to me, one day I'll get hold of one of the CV Mustangs. 

[Rodders]

12 hours ago, Jackroadkill said:

 

Same here - I'd love a Mustang with a full-length scale.

 

I think one of the old Fender/Squier Bullet basses would fit the bill, I think they made Long scale versions with the Mustang pickups but could be 32".