JD01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:06 am
You know my solder-phobia won't allow this.
I haven't re-strung it and given it a good clean yet, but my initial feeling is that it actually plays really well and that I'm likely to keep it.
When I take it to the tech to get the 3 way toggle installed I'll likely also get him to do a polish and level etc to get it really nicely setup - I really like the tech I go to - my tele was the cheapest one I could find on eBay and was a fucking dog when I got it, but he made a really good job of it - I've tried millions of teles in shops and never picked one off the shelf that plays as nicely as mine.
The mustang is already way better than my tele was when I got it so he should be able to get it to a really good place for me.
Come on man, try it. As a guitar player you should learn and know this basic care and maintenance stuff. You're not dumb and it's not hard to do.
JD01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:06 am
You know my solder-phobia won't allow this.
I haven't re-strung it and given it a good clean yet, but my initial feeling is that it actually plays really well and that I'm likely to keep it.
When I take it to the tech to get the 3 way toggle installed I'll likely also get him to do a polish and level etc to get it really nicely setup - I really like the tech I go to - my tele was the cheapest one I could find on eBay and was a fucking dog when I got it, but he made a really good job of it - I've tried millions of teles in shops and never picked one off the shelf that plays as nicely as mine.
The mustang is already way better than my tele was when I got it so he should be able to get it to a really good place for me.
Come on man, try it. As a guitar player you should learn and know this basic care and maintenance stuff. You're not dumb and it's not hard to do.
I just don't have the time. I work 40 hours a week and have a 3 year old. I've got no problem with the design of it - working out what wire goes where etc. I just find the physical act of the soldering really frustrating and just don't have the time to learn to do it well. I generally pick up my guitar at about 8:30 at night and play for an hour then I get a few hours here and there over the weekend.
JD01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:37 am
I just don't have the time. I work 40 hours a week and have a 3 year old. I've got no problem with the design of it - working out what wire goes where etc. I just find the physical act of the soldering really frustrating and just don't have the time to learn to do it well. I generally pick up my guitar at about 8:30 at night and play for an hour then I get a few hours here and there over the weekend.
Yeah, and he does a great job. His house is right near the inland wave lagoon. I can agree a time/scope of work, drop it off, go for a surf, come back and have a sorted guitar with no stress or frustration. Win/win!
JD01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:06 am
You know my solder-phobia won't allow this.
I haven't re-strung it and given it a good clean yet, but my initial feeling is that it actually plays really well and that I'm likely to keep it.
When I take it to the tech to get the 3 way toggle installed I'll likely also get him to do a polish and level etc to get it really nicely setup - I really like the tech I go to - my tele was the cheapest one I could find on eBay and was a fucking dog when I got it, but he made a really good job of it - I've tried millions of teles in shops and never picked one off the shelf that plays as nicely as mine.
The mustang is already way better than my tele was when I got it so he should be able to get it to a really good place for me.
Come on man, try it. As a guitar player you should learn and know this basic care and maintenance stuff. You're not dumb and it's not hard to do.
^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^
EDIT saw your response and those are perfectly good reasons to not do it.
personally IU find working on my gits to be a relaxation time but I can see it not being that if you're strapped for time
JD01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 3:44 pm
Ergh... how do you get this shit off. A normal cloth and a bit of pressure isn't cutting it.
20220901_191301.jpg
I use a wood safe soap and an old toothbrush. A toothbrush is a small handle with bristles that the rest of the world uses to clean their teeth.
Anyway, a wood safe soap, like this:
Use that soap with a toothbrush, scrub till it's clean, then use mineral spirits and fine steel wool to final clean the fretboard. Use a small screwdriver to scrap the grime from the fret edges. Dry it very well, then re-oil.
First impression since I've got this cleaned up and had a play on it.
It's really fun, something about the short scale just feels like I'm just messing about. Can't quite explain it yet. Maybe it's just a new guitar and I'm fucking about.
Bending is very easy indeed... frets feel a bit grungy though
I'd forgotten how much tricker it is to restring a guitar with a floating bridge.
It's clearly very well made. I've not taken the neck off but I think it's about 25 years old. I play on a fair few new guitars in shops, and the fretwork on this is amazing. No ropey fret ends. This was MIJ and its much better than my new MIM bass which the shop are going file down for me when their tech is in.
JD01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 6:23 pm
frets feel a bit grungy though
Did you steel wool the fretboard? That usually gives a slight polish to the frets. It at least swipes the gunk and tarnish off of them. If you really wanna make it feel nice give them a proper polish.
JD01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 6:21 am
Once I've spent some time with this and got used to it I think I'm going to take it to a tech to get a 3 way toggle switch installed.
aren't those sliders 3 position so you can run either polarity?
So you can run them out of phase ...... I wouldn't get rid of that to have a 3 position
JD01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 6:23 pm
frets feel a bit grungy though
Did you steel wool the fretboard? That usually gives a slight polish to the frets. It at least swipes the gunk and tarnish off of them. If you really wanna make it feel nice give them a proper polish.
Instead of steel wool that can cause problems with metal filings getting attracted to the pickups try these which are for polishing frets but I also use them on grungy fretboards
they also have a 5 piece set that adds 1500 and 2000
Nice, short scale is the fun size and that looks nice too.
I wanted a Mustang with P90s bu was given one with humbuckers. Mine, Squire, has the toggle switch. As I usually play with just the bridge pickup I'd be happier with the switches as they are out of the way.
I'll have to settle with my Guyatone Mosrite for P90s but will need to get a bridge pick up for it.
AFTER I finish the old Coronet short scale bass resto that's been on hold whole the builders are in.
So... Mustangs. Been playing it a lot lately, small frets, short scale - everything I normally avoid in a guitar. But I love it. Its so easy to play, its like having a cheat code. I re-recorded the choruses to Even Flow using it 'cos its the only guitar I have with a whammy bar.
Its much lower output than either my Tele or my Crimson, I ended up using a TubeScreamer into the Han-Taun into the Crunch Channel of my amp (I never normally use two pedals!) but it goes into quite a nice musical feedback. My tele tends to go into quite a nasty uncontrolled microphonic feedback.
JD01 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 3:44 pm
Ergh... how do you get this shit off. A normal cloth and a bit of pressure isn't cutting it.
20220901_191301.jpg
I use a wood safe soap and an old toothbrush. A toothbrush is a small handle with bristles that the rest of the world uses to clean their teeth.
Anyway, a wood safe soap, like this:
Use that soap with a toothbrush, scrub till it's clean, then use mineral spirits and fine steel wool to final clean the fretboard. Use a small screwdriver to scrap the grime from the fret edges. Dry it very well, then re-oil.
Channeling my inner @muttley here and advise naptha (lighter fluid) 110%. I took his recommendation on it a while back and i'll likely never use anything else ever again.
Having just done some tech work on a guitar with the most disgusting accumulation of fingercheese i have ever seen i had a super easy job of going at it with a dose of naptha, scrub, razor blade the really caked on stuff and get in near the frets and then naptha again and then condition.
super easy JD. get you a razor blade and lighterfluid.
OK, sent the Mustang off for a little holiday with my favourite guitar tech.
Got it back on Friday, he just did a the fret levelling/polishing and got the slightly awkward bridge system really nicely set up.
Action is still nice and low and its super-easy to play but nothing grounds out when I'm bending, intonation is really good.
Only drawback with it really is that I'm not that keen on the pickups, particularly the bridge pickup - the neck pickup is nice, its pretty stratty and they sound good together. Think I might see if I can get the bridge pickup replaced with a P90.
Anyone know of a pick-guard which has the angled neck-pickup of the Mustang but also with a slot for a P90? If not I'll have to get the tech to cut it out - would probably be OK. He's pretty good. The neck pickup is very low output I think, would there be a problem if I had a big mismatch in output between bridge and neck? I think the pickups are only 5.7k.
