Mustang project?

[Clint 55]

Should I undertake a Squier Bullet Mustang project? My other guitars are pretty legit and I'm missing the pawn shop tone that I'd get when I started modding Squiers. I want to do it legit this time. The pups I'm thinking would be CS Duncans. The neck a Ant Mustang as a mini humbucker and the bridge a Ant Jaguar as a full size humbucker. Then I'd refret it and change the radius to 11", change the tuners, saddles and nut. I think I would be able to do a good job. I would also have to route a pickguard. I would angle the neck and move the bridge towards the neck. The only thing about my craftsmanship that gets under my skin is it's really tough to get the string spacing perfect on nuts I build. Think I should go for the project? It would be challenging. Any input on the spex?

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Mustang project?

A Squier could be a good base for the project, but I don't think a Bullet would be your best bet. If you do decide to use a Bullet, I'd buy it in person, the necks can be very hit or miss.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Mustang project?

Well the Bullet actually has the spex I want. 24.75" scale, hardtail, and I'm guessing no finish on the neck. If I were to spend more, I'd just get a Warmoth 24.5" strat neck. Maybe I should just get a Warmoth neck and a custom pickguard and do it legit. Anyone know of a place that will make me a Mustang pickguard with an angled mini hum neck and a hum bridge moved forward? I can call pickguards.com on Monday I guess.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Mustang project?

I've never gelled with a Mustang, personally. Also the one in the picture has the neck humbucker in the wrong spot, so it's not going to sound right. Me, I wouldn't touch this project with a ten ft pole. But you and I have very different tastes.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Mustang project?

I'll second that low end Squier necks are a total crapshoot. After fighting the roller coaster track that was on my Affinity P bass, I put an Allparts neck I scored on the cheap ($75, woo-hoo!) on it. If I hadn't replaced the neck, it would've been OK with the Ant 2 P bass pickup, but with the new neck it's insane. Expecting the higher quality bridge that's on the way to help, as well.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Mustang project?

^ Ya, I'm leaning towards just getting a Warmoth neck. I know I will be happy with that. I noticed the Warmoth Strat 24.75" conversion necks overhang the pickguard a little bit to change the strat scale and the Bullet Mustang doesn't overhang. So that would mean I'd have to move the saddles back if I put the Warmoth Strat conversion neck on the Bullet Mustang right? Worse case, I'd have to move the bridge back which wouldn't be too hard.

I've never gelled with a Mustang, personally. Also the one in the picture has the neck humbucker in the wrong spot, so it's not going to sound right. Me, I wouldn't touch this project with a ten ft pole. But you and I have very different tastes.

I'm gonna try to put an angled mini hum in the neck. I'm not going for full fat. I want it kind of skanky for different sounds than my more legit guitars. Gonna move the bridge forward maybe a quarter or half inch. I had a Squier Mustang before that I liked but it was just a little too cheap to keep. With the routed out bridge, cheap nut and little frets. Also the Ant Mustang and Jaguar are some of my favorite pups ever and I want to build cs hot hb versions and put them in something.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Mustang project?

Methinx I'm gonna pull the trigger on this one. I need a pawn shop ax. Gonna go with the bullet body, Warmoth 24.75" Jazzmaster neck, and the cs Duncans. I think I'll get the Jazzmaster headstock because it's kind of big like a Mustang but not hella giant and ugly like the cbs headstock.

Does anyone know if the custom shop is on vaca? I'm going to try to call them on Monday.

Also what spex do you think about the pickups? I want them to be hot and balance volume wise. Maybe 11k of 43 for the neck and 16k of 44 for the bridge?

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Mustang project?

If you add a warmoth 24.75" conversion neck, the bridge will have to move back because the conversion neck is designed for bodies with regular 25.5" scale. After moving the bridge, then the bridge p/u route may not quite be in the right place. As an alternative, consider using a Warmoth 7/8 neck with 24 frets and 24.75" scale. It is not guarateed to be 100% exact fit, and will require some work. However it will be very close to having correct intonation when used on a mustang body, and you may not need to move the bridge at all.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Mustang project?

That might actually work well if I have to move the bridge back. I want the bridge pup to be forward a little bit for a warmer, skankier sound. I will consider the 7/8 neck but I would still have to do mods and chop off 2 frets anyways cuz I don't want that look on my Mustang.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Mustang project?

With all that work, you’re better off just going the Stratosphere route with Mexican body and a Musikraft neck IMO. If you’re going to refret it and re-radius anyhow, you might as well just save yourself the work and buy the neck the way you want in the first place, with warranty, extremely well-built, with stainless frets so you never need to refret it.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Mustang project?

^ Yeah I think I am going to get a nice Warmoth neck the way I want it. Gonna get the bullet body cuz it's a 24.75" hardtail and I don't want a trem route or kinda short 24".

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Mustang project?

Ah; you don’t actually want Mustang scale or Mustang bridge. That changes things quite a lot IMO. It’s a pain in the ass, and rarely ends up looking good, to change the scale length of a pre-existing guitar. And you’re just going to throw away everything off the body except for the finish anyhow. Why don’t you just build your own body? The wood would be cheap, and Mustangs are very easy to mill compared to Strats, or even Teles. And IIRC you like bare wood finishes anyhow. Why not get a beautiful piece of clear pine and make it out of that with a thin oil finish?

What you want is actually closer to a classic Duo-Sonic. It’s unfortunate that Fender/Squire now calls those hardtail models Mustangs, because they are really Duo-Sonics. It just muddies the naming conventions.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Mustang project?

Yeah. I would get a Fender Duo Sonic but those are expensive and still not to my exact spex. I'm going to keep the finish on the body because I like the sound of finished body and unfinished neck. Finish on everything is too nasal for me. I like everything unfinished as it makes it really clear but kind of middy also. I think finished body and unfinished neck will look good and sound good and be slightly skanky for what I'm going for.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Mustang project?

I bought the Bullet and Warmoth! Now just to track down the people at the Duncan custom shop and order the custom pickguard from pickguards.com.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Mustang project?

Cool, man. Looking forward to hearing how this comes out.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Mustang project?

I just did a full blown setup on one and it is a cool little guit.

The bridge is a weak point but that's easy to sort

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Mustang project?

^ Yep, that's why I'm going with a hardtail. The real Mustang bridges are rough!

Cool, man. Looking forward to hearing how this comes out.

Thx. I'm excited about it. It will be 2 1/2 months tho lol! I have my Fralin Hhh Strat incoming tho.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Mustang project?

It's a 12" radius stock, frets weren't bad except for the ends. Cleaned them up easy enough. Pickups are trash to trashy but that's part of the fun you're looking to have

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Mustang project?

Talked with Dennis at the custom shop on the phone and had to battle him a little cuz he said if you build those winds with different construnction it won't sound the same. I said that's what I want lol! Here's my email I sent him.

Hi Dennis, nice talking with you on the phone earlier. I'm Clint, the guy who wants An Antiquity Mustang neck as the wind with mini-humbucker construction and an Antiquity Jaguar bridge as the wind with regular full sized humbucker construction. I understand that these pups would sound differently than the original single coil versions but that's what I'm going for. The Ant Mustang and Jaguar are 2 of my favorite pickups but I don't like single coils that much.

Spex:

Neck: Antiquity Mustang wind with the construction of a mini-humbucker (not single coil size humbucker). I would like the exposed screws through the cover like on the Antiquity mini humbucker. 12k.

Bridge: Antiquity Jaguar wind with the construction of a regular spaced, uncovered, full sized humbucker (no stag mag). Regular white Seymour Duncan logo. 18k.

Both pickups: Double screw (no slug poles), black bobbins, 4 conductor hookup leads, short baseplates, antiquity treatment, no wax potting.

Thanks so much. I would be very happy if you could build these specs. Again, I'm shooting for the differences that different pup construction with these winds will yeild.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Mustang project?

How is a 12k Mustang pickup wound as a mini humbucker or an 18k Jag wound as a full size humbucker still either of those original things?