Showing posts with label Mustang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mustang. Show all posts

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Competition Mustang Re-issue and '68 Super Reverb


Here's a cool pair.  The guitar is a Japanese-made Competition Red Mustang re-issue, and the amp is a genuine 1968 Super Reverb.  Being a '68 means that though the amp has the look of a silverface, the insides are still the same as an older (and more desirable) blackface model.  I myself play a later Super Reverb from the early 80s, and I firmly believe that if you seek to play rock and/or roll music (as opposed to metal or hard rock), you can do no better than one of these babies.  The ten-inch speakers sound vicious when they break up, and the shattered glass roar you can unload still leaves plenty of room for the dynamics of the rhythm section.


We've had older Mustangs in before, but this one being a reissue puts it in a more affordable price range - ironically the reason why old vintage Mustangs and the like became so popular (and gradually less affordable) back in the 80s and 90s.  Of course, there are more virtues to the "student" offset models - the short scale and comfy slim neck are a boon if you've got smaller hands.  And of course, racing stripes rule.


We often take it for granted, but the amazing thing about Fender is the wide range of players that their products appeal to - from the snooty types whose noses fly up if it isn't covered in tweed and/or nitrocellulose, to the punk rockers scraping up enough to buy some scrappy Japanese Squier.  Of course, here at the shop we try our best to do the same!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

'71 Competition Mustang Bass



Here's another Mustang - a bass this time. Beloved of punk kids and rock icons alike, and the last bass designed by Leo Fender before he jumped ship. This one is part of the later "Competition" series, with the cool/cheesey racing stripe along the side. Short-scale playability and classy Fender looks have made the Mustang Bass a perennial favorite.






Friday, November 19, 2010

Amazing Find!

A guy came in today and this was his story: he had a guitar when he was ten. He played it for a few weeks and then the instrument cable crapped out. He must not have been that into it, because after that it got slid underneath the bed at his grandmother's house. And there it stayed, until about three years ago when his grandmother passed away and he found it again. It is, of course, an archetypal "grandma's attic" story - the kind that is becoming increasingly rare in the vintage guitar world. Sometimes it seems impossible that there would be anymore buried treasure like this out there in the world...

So anyway, the guy decided to sell it to us.

Drumroll please.....

Ladies and gentleman, I present to you:

Holy...

A cherry-red 1965 Fender Mustang. Showing some signs of age and those few weeks of use, but otherwise in fantastic condition. Original case - hell, original everything. Original strings. We happy?

"Yeah, we happy..."

Wait, it gets better. The guy also had the amp that his family bought with it, which just happens to be...


A 1964 Blackface Fender Vibro Champ. Original tubes. It works. It's getting hard to find these little puppies without cigarette burns in the grill cloth and big holes in the tolex. But the thing that, to me, really makes this a perfect "time capsule" find is the little extras...


A couple of old-school Mel Bay instructional books and some sheet music - "It Won't Be Long" from Meet the Beatles, among a few others. It won't be too much longer before finds like this are completely unheard of. This is a little slice of history. Here's a cool pic of everything...


And a few more:

L to R: Donnie Duncan, our in-house amp and guitar repair tech, local musician Allen Glenn, and Wood and Wire owner Mike Goe



We'll be checking and generally going through both the guitar and amp in the next few weeks, and hopefully we can document the process here. Check back soon for updates, and more sweet gear finds...