OffsetGuitars.com

Hi All

It's just a Squier, but I thought I'd post this here as I haven't seen much on here about the CV Mustangs...

It's in sonic blue, and I've had it a couple of weeks. I paid £299, which is a bit cheaper than most places in the UK.

It's the first Mustang I've ever owned, in fact ever played, but I thought it was worth a go at that price. I wanted something small and light, mainly to play around the house - a "couch guitar". Straight out of the box....



First impressions were good - no obvious blemishes, nice and light. Cool colour, but very light - looks white in some light. 9s on there felt like rubber bands. The neck is nice - slim, but not tiny - probably a little bit thicker than my MIJ JM. This is my first go with narrow tall frets (I'm generally a vintage fret fan), but it plays nicely. However, it sounds *really* good, much tougher and woodier than I expected.

I've tinkered with it a bit... I rounded the finger board edges a little and smoothed the fret ends (though they weren't too bad). The bridge wasn't awful at all, but I've replaced it with a Staytrem - I have those on my JM and Jag, and thought having a 9.5 radius one in the house would be a good move while they remain available.. Te nut needed quite a bit of tinkering - deepening and widening the slots and smoothing and lubricating them to help the trem, which at first was just a lever to make the bottom E retune to F! I've put the trem springs on the bottom slots (most tension) and raised the sausage to balance the posts vertical with 10s. Tuning is fairly stable now, much better, but far from bulletproof. I thought about putting 11s on (my Jag has 11s), but I like the easy feel of 10s on this one.

This is it now...





Overall, I love it - I'm definitely a Mustang fan now - and the Squier is really good for the money. Any further tips on helping keep the trem a bit more stable would be welcome!

Yeah, not much chat about CV Mustang on here for some reason. I'm curious about it, so thanks for posting.

How are the stock pickups? Do you get hum cancellation when both pickups are on? Is the vibrato useful?

I'm investigating to see whether I want this, a Bullet, a Vintera, or a Performer. I would probably refinish the body and upgrade the neck if I went Squier, but not sure about pickups or bridge.

I feel like a lot of people who want a Mustang on this forum already have one of the previous dozen iterations; no reason to run out and grab a CV in that case. Forgot if it was mentioned, is the body thickness the ‘standard’ thin Mustang, or the extra-thin Bullet.

Danley wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 14, 2019 6:51 pm

I feel like a lot of people who want a Mustang on this forum already have one of the previous dozen iterations; no reason to run out and grab a CV in that case. Forgot if it was mentioned, is the body thickness the ‘standard’ thin Mustang, or the extra-thin Bullet.

It’s original Mustang thickness.
I don’t think there’s enough space for the Vibrato on the Bullet body.

Mmm ...
I only have a Bullet Mustang which is amazing for the money and so easy to play but I’m GASing for a « real » Mustang .
And I think it’s a great time for Mustang lovers .
We have now Squier Bullet Mustangs, Squier Classic vibe Mustangs , Fender MIM Mustangs ( without trem with mustang pickups or P90 ) , Fender Vintera Mustangs , Fender Japanese Mustangs , Fender American Performer Mustangs and of course the real vintage Mustangs .

I live in Belgium and I think the one appealing to me now is the Vintera sunburst Mustang .
It’s a good price ( +/-750 € ) and less expensive than the CIJ ones with an Alder body and probably better electronics . And actually , I like Pau Ferro fretboards with sunburst , the one on my Jazzmaster is Beautiful.

In the other hand , I’m a pretty big Squier fan and I’m really curious about these CV Mustangs ...

A nice second hand Japanese one could be cool too but I never see them with a really interesting price .

Danley wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 14, 2019 6:51 pm

I feel like a lot of people who want a Mustang on this forum already have one of the previous dozen iterations; no reason to run out and grab a CV in that case. Forgot if it was mentioned, is the body thickness the ‘standard’ thin Mustang, or the extra-thin Bullet.

You could pretty much say the same about Jazzmasters and Jaguars, though. I think they're just even more niche than both.

There's a subset of people who'll pick up a Squier as a "completionist" guitar, and there's a lot of overlap between Jaguar and JM fans -- JM guys might pick up a Squier Jaguar just to try one out, and Jag guys vice versa, but the Mustang kind of stands alone.

I'd say between the three main offset types, it's easy to argue that the Mustang is the most relatively obscure (and the Jazzmaster the most popular).

I tend to pick up either of my Jazzmasters almost automatically/out of habit - Even when I called the Jaguar my ‘favorite.’ I used to sort of have a love/hate relationship with the Mustang, but somewhere along the way they just started to fit me really well and feel right. Def. not for everyone - took almost fifteen years having one for me to feel like a convert. There’s a VM hanging around a music store that’s been there for years near me, I should check for a discount now that it’s discontinued - but in general the CVs would seem more attractive on the surface to me.

Futuron wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 14, 2019 5:41 pm

How are the stock pickups? Do you get hum cancellation when both pickups are on? Is the vibrato useful?

The pickups sound really good, and are quiet, in terms of noise (I’m used to my JM and unshelled tele, mind). I’ve no immediate plans to change them.

They do look fairly cheap though, especially from below. The covers seem to be glued on (I didn’t try to yank too hard on them to be sure). One of the holes in the fibre base stripped on the bridge pickup so it dropped low into the cavity. I fixed it easily with some thick CA glue in the hole to give the screw something to bite, but they are clearly made to a budget.

They do seem to hum cancel when in phase.

The trem makes good sounds, when staying in tune. It works pretty well at the minute.

To anyone who wants to mod the Bullet Mustang, yes there is enough thickness to install the dynamic vibrato on a bullet brother. I know cause Ive done it

Thanks for the update, everything I've heard about the CV Mustang before has been about the neck profile & frets (which is irrelevant if I put a different neck on anyway). This and the Vintera are front-runners, but with the massive price difference I think I know which way I'll go.