Something borrowed, something blue

ICBMICBM Frets: 71963
As part of my ongoing rehabilitation from my broken elbow, I have been playing bass ;). No really, the consultant actually said it was a good way of stretching my tendons and muscles and measuring progress.

First I had a little 70s Satellite super-short-scale bass that @JezWynd sold me, which for a couple of weeks was all I could actually play, but I've got enough flexibility back now to go up a size. A good friend of mine has lent me this...



A '72 Mustang Bass. It has replaced knobs and the mute foam is missing, but is otherwise all-original and in very good condition for its age - not quite as perfect as it looks here, the finish is a bit more scratched than shows in the pic, the pickguard is a bit shrunk around the edges and there's a strange pinhole on the inside of the cutaway where it looks like someone has thrown a dart into it! (Hopefully not while it was being played...)

I had one of those 'Pawnshop' versions with the humbucker recently - I didn't really get on with it, it was quite heavy and felt 'lumpy' due to having a full P-Bass thickness body, and the sound was a bit dull. The Mustang is meant to be thinner, and this one feels and sounds far better - the little pickup sounds great and not 'small' at all. If anything it's surprisingly like a Rickenbacker - quite bright and piano-like, so I can completely understand why several of the well-known Rick players of the early 70s also used Mustangs.

The balance is also very good despite the small body and short upper horn - the neck is set so deep in that the front strap button is still beyond the 12th fret, which is ideal for me even as I am normally - I have short arms and any more of a reach to the first fret than that starts to get awkward. The worrying thing is that I like it so much I'm not sure I'm in that much of a hurry to recover and play my 4001 again :).

"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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