1972 Fender Mustang

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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HNB
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Re: 1972 Fender Mustang

Post by HNB » Thu Mar 07, 2019 8:30 pm

Most people know I have a lot of guitars and I have had a few vintage ones. I haven't had any guitar with a neck like this. The paint finish feels way different than my other necks. It is worn and has dings and chips, but it also kind of feels smooth and waxy. (Not in a sticky way or anything.) It feels so cool I get drawn to it each day to play. It is pretty strange for me because I seldom play the same guitar on a daily basis.
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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Re: 1972 Fender Mustang

Post by HNB » Sat Mar 09, 2019 12:37 pm

Did some work on it today. It came with strap locks that I like to use, so I put those back on it. I unlocked the tremolo and put the springs back on. I took the neck off to shim it and found that it had a shim in already, but it was sideways in the middle. I put it back to the front of the pocket and used a piece of masking tape to secure it. I put new neck screws in because the original ones were rusty and I was worried they might snap. (I kept all the original rusty parts in a bag though....) When I took the guard off to put the black switches in I noticed that there was a crack in the wood. I put some masking tape around the crack and filled it with wood glue. Hopefully that helps bridge the gap and keep it sturdy. The black foam on the plates in the cavity was brittle and like a rock so I took that out. It was making the guard not sit flat when I tried to put it back down. I swapped out the input jack (because the original one was broken sort of. It would spin around when trying to tighten the nut.)

Got it all stringed up and it looked great until I plugged it in. The black original switches must be bad. They turn the pickups on and off, but they buzz like a mofo even with both pickups on and also they don't do in phase and out of phase like they should. I ordered new black ones anyways, so I will get those installed once they arrive. I used contact cleaner, but there is something up with them. I think doing my own from scratch is probably easier than trying to mess with these.

Here is how it is looking.

Image20190309_122153 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Image20190309_122158 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Image20190309_122206 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Image20190309_122215 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Image20190309_111444 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Image20190309_110302 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Image20190309_102915 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Image20190309_102905 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Image20190309_102849 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Image20190309_103909 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Image20190309_104339 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Image20190309_104420 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Image20190309_110644 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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HNB
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Re: 1972 Fender Mustang

Post by HNB » Sat Mar 09, 2019 2:53 pm

New switches in wired as stock but in and out of phase sound the same. Any ideas why?
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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Re: 1972 Fender Mustang

Post by kimson » Sun Mar 10, 2019 2:32 am

Man, that is a stunning guitar! Congrats!

Both the buzz and the phase problem sound like a grounding issue, btw. Maybe check everything's properly grounded?

And it should be pretty easy to fix the original slider switches: just take them (gently) apart and (gently) clean the contact surfaces with fine sand paper.

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Re: 1972 Fender Mustang

Post by HNB » Sun Mar 10, 2019 9:45 am

It is doing the same thing with the new switches. If the grounding wasn't connected wouldn't the pickups not make sound? Only thing I can think to do next is put a new ground and hot wire in to eliminate that as the issue. Here is a picture of my wiring. It is all as it should be as far as I can tell.

Image20190310_103907 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20190310_103928 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20190310_103944 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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Re: 1972 Fender Mustang

Post by Fiddy » Sun Mar 10, 2019 9:58 am

Kinda hard to tell from the pic... Going by memory, a ground is missing on the upper switch to the casing.

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Re: 1972 Fender Mustang

Post by kimson » Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:57 am

Yeah, too hard to tell. I'd whip out a multimeter and systematically check all ground points (pot & switch casings & ground lugs, jack, pickup tabs, brass shields, bridge/tailpiece & control plate) for continuity.

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Re: 1972 Fender Mustang

Post by HNB » Sun Mar 10, 2019 11:30 am

tribi9 wrote:
Sun Mar 10, 2019 9:58 am
Kinda hard to tell from the pic... Going by memory, a ground is missing on the upper switch to the casing.
It is there. The ground wire goes to the upper right corner to the switch and the other switch is grounded in the lower left corner. :)
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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Re: 1972 Fender Mustang

Post by HNB » Sun Mar 10, 2019 11:32 am

Here is a sound demo. It sounds nice, but the phase doesn't seem to be there... Weird.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG0gnYI1dbU
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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Re: 1972 Fender Mustang

Post by Gavanti » Sun Mar 10, 2019 1:38 pm

Man that thing is gorgeous. I hope you get your phase sorted.

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Re: 1972 Fender Mustang

Post by HNB » Sun Mar 10, 2019 8:25 pm

I redid the grounds and all the wiring prior to the video above including redoing the bridge ground since the original one was super rusty and I wasn't sure it was contacting the control plate. I went ahead and added a more typical ground to the thimble and soldered it to the back of the volume pot. I can tell the grounds are good because if I have a single pickup on and touch the switch screws, bridge thimble, or control plate there is a drop in 60 cycle hum as it should be. I am still mystified on why both positions sound the same. Even if I mixed the hot and ground for one pickup it shouldn't matter. It just means out of phase position would be opposite of normal but it would still happen.
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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