Fender Mustang: Trem?

[Silence Kid]

So I have it floating and up-bend results in me (only?) going about forty cents sharp on the low E, so less sharp on the other strings. Pressing the bar down again, returns me to in-tune.

Should I consider myself lucky, or can anyone do better with the Mustang trem? The thing is, I remember it being better than that, but it's possible my standards were just lower back then... I pull this thing out and seriously try to play it every couple years, maybe.

(It's really frustrating to google/YouTube anything about the Mustang trem... It's all about "look, I 'fixed' it by taping it together/putting a bunch of bolts on it/setting it flat against the body. It's hard to tell whether anyone has *actually* had success floating it and staying something like in tune.)

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Fender Mustang: Trem?

I heard that more tension on the springs helps, using the bottom notch on the posts under the bridge. It DOES seem like everyone's answer to the problem is "deck the cigar tube."
Other than that I think it's all just the basic vibrato system stuff. Properly cut nut is probably #1, lube on ALL friction points, smooth saddles, use properly installed new strings and stretch them well. Play with the break angle over the nut on the low E, i've heard people say some systems work good with few windings/shallow angle, some work better with more windings on the post.

Worse comes to worse, take it to a *good* tech, i.e. not guitar center.
If that fails still, always depress the bar after pulling up. I don't use trems much but got kinda used to doing this on strats.

Leo Fender was basically making a student guitar with the mustang, and he was not a guitar player. It's probably not gonna be perfect.

BTW I have a squier Jazzmaster and the trem is good for a little flutter at best, it's a pain to set up, and most people's response to the issue is "get a tune-o-matic or a Mastery". So I feel your pain somewhat. If I was a whammy guy I'd probably not pick an offset fender as my first or even second choice.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fender Mustang: Trem?

I have a Squier Jazzmaster, a Fender Mexican Jazzmaster, and a Fender Jaguar; the Squier trem was terrible and detuned the guitar a step or so.

But I upgraded it to a US trem, and now it's one of the most stable floating trems I've ever used. Better than any six point Strat. The US trem on my Jaguar is rock solid floating, and has excellent feel, and the Mexican trem isn't so much worse; it was just that terrible Squier no-name trem that was bad. And I use nines on all those guitars! I don't find the setup on Jazzmasters/Jaguars difficult.

This Mustang, on the other hand, has alway bugged me for one reason or another. I've done what I can do with the nut, clearing the slots by running strings through; perhaps time for a luthier.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Fender Mustang: Trem?

Are you installing the strings with a lock tie?

Do you know what I mean? Like when you wind the string over the rest of the string for the first loop and continue below as normal for the rest of the length?

I had a 70s mustang. I loved the trem but it almost always lost some degree of tuning when I'd use it.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fender Mustang: Trem?

I took it apart again, with a bit of sandpaper totally sharpened the somewhat worn "knife edge" bevels on the trem plate. Polished and applied some graphite (ugh, pencil, fine.) Did something similar to the posts, tuned it up, plugged in my tuner. Down-bend. Fine, as it has been. Bent up... The stupid thing stays in tune now Tried it a few more times, didn't convince myself it was still an issue. Success. The sad part, two thoughts sprung into my head at that moment:

-It's perfect. Put it away. In its case. Forever. Take the trem bar out. Never. Touch it. AGAIN.
-(...But first, document this on YouTube )

Link forthcoming I guess. It should be obvious but it's probably not totally healthy for me to continue to own this guitar, it frustrates me so. To answer the question above, nope, I didn't lock the strings. I cut the strings about an inch past each Kluson post, to minimize friction/overlap on the tuning head, except for on the high E and B, where I didn't cut the string (as it needs to clear under the string tree anyway.)

 

[Southbound Suarez]

Re: Fender Mustang: Trem?

I have a FR installed on my custom built lefty PRS clone guitar, and in the trem cavity is installed a "Goldo Backbox". It's the last word in tremolo stabilization whilst still being able to use your whammy (and stay in tune).

joe.emenaker.com/TremStabilizers/BackBox.html

For vintage accurate springs for Fender tremolo units I'd recommend this...

http://www.rawvintage.com/eng/item_springs.php

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fender Mustang: Trem?

I once had custody of a Strat Plus with the same device; works well for sure. But for better or worse... A Mustang looks like this:

I do wonder how adaptable the "Trem-Stay" would be to a Mustang setup, it'd definitely take some fettling. My short list of how to improve this stupid trem:

-Lower the bridge baseplate edges, so you can raise the bridge and increase tension relative to the tailpiece height, without causing strings to rub/bind against the base
-Allow direct adjustment of spring tension (as the stock design only uses tailpiece height to determine overall tension... Which is also a function of trem up-bend/down-bend, as you can't just add springs easily. This is actually incredibly stupid imo, but it was a student guitar, after all)
-Make the cigar/tailpiece smaller; it's gigantic and gets in the way of picking
-Hardened steel/titanium baseplate and posts (to avoid the wear mine obviously had)

I guess at the point that all that is addressed, you have a far more complex device than say, a two point Strat trem. But the advantages of the Mustang trem:

-A grand, grand amount of range; can be set up to slack like a Floyd if you want to (but not floating.) Even when I had the up-bend problem, I could dive-bomb all day and stay pretty well in tune.
-Divebombing does not affect string height, so your volume doesn't fade out if you use the trem
-Very smooth action
-The sound; the springs are so loose it adds a little warble to whatever you play, especially if you hit it hard, and saps a lot of sustain away, adding to the guitar's already plinky character (obviously this is a taste thing)
-Only a front-route required (yeah I'm fishing)

It's a poor man's Kahler, in other words. Eh. You should probably go with the Kahler. On one level it's part of what's cool about the guitar, but I can't imagine any student ever dealing with the stuff you have to put up with on a Mustang, just so you can sound like a cross between a Jaguar and a Strat.

 

[Southbound Suarez]

Re: Fender Mustang: Trem?

If it were my guitar, I would look at artists who use one with little to no issues and look for articles where the guitar techs for these artists expound further about setups or tricks used for said guitar(s) to address inherent instability issues.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fender Mustang: Trem?

It might be buried in all the TLDR above, but I do seem to have it working at the moment. I just wonder about the longevity of the trem knife edges I filed; it's already a fifty year old piece of metal.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Fender Mustang: Trem?

Good thing you sorted it out. Got any glamour pics of the Mustang in question? I luvs me some offset fender pr0n.

 

[dylangreg]

Re: Fender Mustang: Trem?

But I upgraded it to a US trem, and now it's one of the most stable floating trems I've ever used. Better than any six point Strat. The US trem on my Jaguar is rock solid floating, and has excellent feel, and the Mexican trem isn't so much worse; it was just that terrible Squier no-name trem that was bad. And I use nines on all those guitars! I don't find the setup on Jazzmasters/Jaguars difficult.

*dusts off thread*

I've joined the Mustang frustration club :nervous: I just got a new MIJ Traditional 70's Mustang and am having the aforementioned issues. Where did you get a US vibrato? You'd think new Japanese stuff would be a decent build quality, but I guess not. And I'm also afraid that the replacement Fender offers is just another Japanese one?