What Bass is This?

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thegummythegummy Frets: 4389


Anyone know what model it is?

I've never seen a Fender with that pickup config.
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Comments

  • Looks like a vintage mustang with a changed guard and pickup?
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  • idiotwindidiotwind Frets: 387
    I think it's a Musicmaster
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  • KKJaleKKJale Frets: 982
    edited July 2022
    Musicmaster Bass. 
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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24579
    idiotwind said:
    I think it's a Musicmaster
    Yep. I concur. Refinished i would say, but the telltale is the pick guard shape, and the pickup position. 
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14324
    Impossible to discern when the photograph does not show on a mobile telephone - not even as a Dropbox or Imgur hyperlink.
    Be seeing you.
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  • thegummythegummy Frets: 4389
    Cheers guys! Never heard of it so interesting to find out about a Fender model I wasn't aware of. I wonder if there are others.
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  • poopotpoopot Frets: 9098
    Yep... musicmaster bass... I’m looking at that picture and others on the internet via my mobile phone ;)
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  • thegummythegummy Frets: 4389
    poopot said:
    Yep... musicmaster bass... I’m looking at that picture and others on the internet via my mobile phone ;)
    Funkfingers is using this bad boy:


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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14324
    Ironically, that is the only photograph in this Discussion that I can see.

    The same thing is happening in the FS: listings area. It is probably saving me a fortune. I cannot get GAS for gear I cannot see.
    Be seeing you.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71961
    Musicmaster Bass, late 70s. They used to be very cheap, as they were the bottom-of-the-range beginner model - but are now considered vintage, and hence have gone up in price a lot. (Although still not silly money for a 70s USA Fender.)

    The pickup is a Mustang/Musicmaster guitar pickup, with six magnets under the cover! But it works perfectly well for four strings. The bridge only has two saddles, which can make intonation higher up the neck a bit iffy.

    If you want to get the same sound, the Squier Affinity Bronco Bass is very close - including the ‘guitar’ pickup and two-saddle bridge - but has a slightly nicer pickguard shape. 

    The pickup is in fact exactly the same size as a Strat pickup, so you have a near-infinite range of replacement options, including much more powerful ‘rail’ humbuckers, if that’s what you prefer...

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • ICBM said:


    If you want to get the same sound, the Squier Affinity Bronco Bass is very close - including the ‘guitar’ pickup and two-saddle bridge - but has a slightly nicer pickguard shape. 

    The pickup is in fact exactly the same size as a Strat pickup, so you have a near-infinite range of replacement options, including much more powerful ‘rail’ humbuckers, if that’s what you prefer...
    I am still seriously considering a Bronco. The shell pink one is lovely... 
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71961
    UnclePsychosis said:

    I am still seriously considering a Bronco. The shell pink one is lovely... 
    The black one my friend bought for his Mrs is really good - not just for the pittance they cost, but simply good... almost as good as his MIM Precision. A nice full/bright piano-like tone with plenty of thunk on the low strings, the controls work properly over the full turn range and the wiring is tidier and less noisy than the MIM PJ Mustang Bass which was four times the price. The only thing I had to do to improve it was to shorten and twist the pickup wires themselves - the rest was all shielded cable already.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • thegummythegummy Frets: 4389
    ICBM said:
    Musicmaster Bass, late 70s. They used to be very cheap, as they were the bottom-of-the-range beginner model - but are now considered vintage, and hence have gone up in price a lot. (Although still not silly money for a 70s USA Fender.)

    The pickup is a Mustang/Musicmaster guitar pickup, with six magnets under the cover! But it works perfectly well for four strings. The bridge only has two saddles, which can make intonation higher up the neck a bit iffy.

    If you want to get the same sound, the Squier Affinity Bronco Bass is very close - including the ‘guitar’ pickup and two-saddle bridge - but has a slightly nicer pickguard shape. 

    The pickup is in fact exactly the same size as a Strat pickup, so you have a near-infinite range of replacement options, including much more powerful ‘rail’ humbuckers, if that’s what you prefer...
    That guitar pickup fact is very intriguing.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71961
    thegummy said:

    That guitar pickup fact is very intriguing.
    It just goes to show that the polepiece alignment is almost irrelevant for pickups - as long as the strings are within the overall field of all the magnets they will still produce a good signal. Rickenbacker did the same with the 'Toaster' pickups used in the neck position of the 4001 bass - they're identical to the guitar pickups.

    With the Musicmaster and Bronco it's really useful, as you can put almost anything Strat-sized in there if it doesn't have staggered poles which will stop the cover going on properly. I've fitted original Musicmaster basses with a couple, one a Duncan Hot Strat Stack and the other an EMG SA. The EMG sounded fantastic, almost like a miniature MusicMan.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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