Fender Mustang Bass

Fender Mustang Bass, Color: Olympic White

1 × Split Coil

The Fender Mustang Bass is an electric bass with a short scale. It is manufactured since 1966 by the U.S. musical instrument manufacturer Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

History

Two years after the eponymous Electric Guitar Fender Mustang Model Mustang Bass appeared. Like the guitar, the bass should serve as an inexpensive beginner's instrument, which was settled in the range of products under the instruments Fender Precision Bass and Fender Jazz Bass.

To make the bass even for smaller hands of children and adolescents in better playability, Fender sat here for the first time a shortened neck short scale of 30 inches a. The electronics corresponded with a split single-coil pickup in construction ( single coil ) and one of sound and volume control ( 2x 250 k potentiometer log. UF capacitor plus 0.5 ) to that of the Precision Bass. First, only in the body paint white and red available, the so-called competition was in 1969 in Guitar and Bass introduced finish. In addition to new colors, such as the already known from the Fender Stratocaster Lake Placid Blue ( an intense blue-metallic ) finish the competition included a " racing stripes ", which was reminiscent of the design of racing cars.

The Mustang bass with the guitars belonged to the last instruments that were co-developed by company founder Leo Fender. After selling the Fender company to the media company CBS in October 1964 Leo Fender withdrew during the year 1965. Although the Mustang Bass in 1966 came on the market, he is a purebred plant Leo Fender.

As part of the thinning of the Fender product line by CBS at the beginning of the 1980s, the production of the bass as well as guitar in October 1981 has been set. After the new edition Mustang electric guitar and the Mustang Bass was again added to the program in 1998. The new edition produced in Japan (Reissue Version) was initially only available in Japan. Since 2002, it is offered at least in the colors red and white world. In Japan, the bass is also available in blue, as well as Competition model in several colors.

Construction

The Mustang follows as already the Precision Bass the basic design principle of the Fender company: At a massive alder body, a maple neck wood is screwed. The neck with the Fender unusually short 30-inch scale length has a rosewood fingerboard with 19 frets. The tuning machines are located in a line on the upper side of the asymmetrical headstock. The only pickup the instrument is - similar to the Precision Bass - a so-called split coil pickup. This construction with two separate coils for the E and A, and the D and G string suppressed by the opposite polarity connection of the two Tonabnehmerhälften hum and noise. Tone and volume controls are similar to the Jazz Bass screwed on a chrome regulator plate. The strings are threaded from the back by holding sleeves in the body (through the body- attachment ). Unlike the Jazz and Precision Bass connected metal plates are located at the Mustang bass from 1966 to 1981 with mass below the pickups and on the bottom of the electrical compartment. They should also serve the attenuation of ambient noise.

Music Of historic interest is the bridge of the Mustang Bass. Leo Fender was at this time - as Fender was already too CBS - worked until 1970 as a consultant, and he also worked at the Mustang bass. The realized here bridge construction with double angled base plate, fixed from behind in the corpus strings and by thumbscrew individually adjustable foam rubber dampers found himself almost as well on Leo's first self-construction after the expiry of his non-compete clause in 1975: the highly successful Music Man StingRay bass.

The Mustang Bass in music

The Mustang Bass was initially intended as a beginner's instrument, which is why many well-known bassist on a Mustang began their careers. Due to the comfortable playability and because of the characteristically designed sound of the Mustang Bass but was also popular with professional musicians.

The short neck of the Mustang bass made ​​the instrument is in contrast to the large and jazz Precision bass similar handy as an electric guitar. This was an advantage for musicians with short stature or guitarist who switched to bass. On the other hand, the typical sound of the short scale length inserted well in the taste of the 1960s and 1970s one: In the root of the Precision Bass not unlike the Mustang Bass sounds through the short scale somewhat duller and warmer at a yet clearly defined sound. This made the bass especially in the Motown and early disco music of the 1970s, popular, but also found in contemporary rock music his followers.

Famous musicians who exert their Mustang Bass among other things, Bill Wyman ( The Rolling Stones), Tina Weymouth ( Talking Heads ), Alan Lancaster of Status Quo, and Dee Dee Ramone of the Ramones. Jesse Murphy has brought this sound with the band Brazilian Girls back into modern music. Another recent player of the Mustang bass is Lucy Laloca of the band Tito & Tarantula.