Mustang Mod

Johnny_Paps

Johnny_Paps

Jan 27, 2019
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425
4,551
Philadelphia
#1
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Hello all,

Just joining the TB site. Wanted to share a project I am currently working on. If this is the wrong thread, please let me know.

I recently bought a 2016 Fender PJ Mustang in Capri orange from a guy on Craigslist. Paid $380 for it and it was practically brand new. I’ve always wanted one of these and I was excited when they produced these with the modern PJ construction. The short scale is awesome and fits me a little better than a standard Fender bass.

So I’ve played it for a while, enjoyed it but I want to hot rod this baby out. I can never leave anything alone factory spec

I have a jazz bass my father & I modified a few years ago that has a music man pickup in the bridge position. EMG MMTW with the push pull option. Nothing in the neck position, blank pick guard. I’ll save that one for another thread if anyone is interested.

With that said you know where this is going........


I bought a set of Seymour Duncan SPB3 quarter pound pups for the neck position. I also got a Duncan SMB-4D musicman for the bridge.

I got a music man template from BestBassGear and it doesn’t fit exactly. The edges are more rounded than this Duncan pickup.. That’s the first dilemma. Second is the CTS pots are too big for the Mexi control plate. And third is the setup I’m going for the last tone pot won’t fit in the control cavity. Always gonna be something holding you back, but that’s what I love about projects (not really).

I got this cool vintage pearloid pick guard for it too. Without the dumb 3 way selector. If anyone has a PJ mustang bass they want a different guard on I can point you to a great guy who does them. He can do them any style and they are exact.

So here’s what she looks like now. And I will post updates as I go on.

Enjoy!
 
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#6
Pilgrim said:
Exactly what I was going to suggest.

Just keep in mind that the minute you take a router to that Mustang body, it's worth half as much. There would be a good argument to use pickups that fit the existing routs.
Click to expand...

True. Well there’s no turning back now.. When I think of mustangs I think of that “pawn shop special” style that’s been fit to the player. That’s what I love about them.
 
#14
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I ended up wiring it last night myself, couldn’t wait no longer.

Plugged it in this morning and it sounds great. I think I like the quarter pounders more than the musicman. But the blends are rich. Can’t wait to take it to the practice spot and crank it.

So I used most of the wiring from the original configuration. Also swapped the capacitor. Worked out pretty good. I’ll keep tweaking it as I play it more.

Thanks for checking it out! And thanks for all the insight!
 
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#16
Whoah, so it can be done... I've been dreaming about putting a MM pickup into a Mustang PJ bass too. Would love to hear any tone samples you have! interested to know if it's possible to get both a P bass tone and that Stingray "zing" tone out of this little bass.
 
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#17
93tilInfinity said:
Whoah, so it can be done... I've been dreaming about putting a MM pickup into a Mustang PJ bass too. Would love to hear any tone samples you have! interested to know if it's possible to get both a P bass tone and that Stingray "zing" tone out of this little bass.
Click to expand...

It is possible! This SMB-4D pickup in particular is pretty “zingy” compared to the emg mmtw I used in the past. It resembles the tone of Flea imo. The quarter pounders need no introduction! I found a liking to p-pickups all the way up with the Mm pickup halfway. It’s a nice blend of tone. Here’s a track my band & I recorded in 2019 with that same tone I mentioned.

 
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#18
Johnny_Paps said:
It is possible! This SMB-4D pickup in particular is pretty “zingy” compared to the emg mmtw I used in the past.
Click to expand...
Nice!! Yeah, I'm also thinking of a ceramic MM style pickup. They just have that extra bite, and I can imagine that the blended tone of 100% neck and 50% bridge is great, plus the option to solo them gives you so many options. Is your bass still passive?
 
#19
Once you get all the mods done, for strings on this top-mount bridge I recommend the GHS Balanced Pure Nickels: flexible so the tone is consistent and the E string doesn't go thumpy, good tone all around, has enough tension that the strings don't go floppy and retain intonation stability, and being rounds, work with all playing styles.
 
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