Fender Mustang Bass
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mustang Bass | |
|---|---|
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| Manufacturer | Fender |
| Period | 1964 ā present |
| Construction | |
| Body type | Solid |
| Neck joint | Bolt-on |
| Woods | |
| Body | Alder |
| Neck | Maple, āCā Shape,(Gloss Polyurethane Finish) |
| Fretboard | rosewood (9.5ā Radius/241 mm) |
| Hardware | |
| Bridge | Strings-Thru-Body with 4 Individually Adjustable Saddles |
| Pickup(s) | 1 Special Design Split Single-Coil Mustang Bass Pickup |
| Colors available | |
| Currently Fiesta Red and Vintage White, previous colours in the past. | |
The Fender Mustang Bass is an electric bass guitar model produced by Fender. Two variants, the Musicmaster Bass and the Bronco Bass, have also been produced from time to time using the same body and neck shape.
The original Mustang Bass was introduced in 1966, two years after the Fender Mustang guitar, and was the last original bass designed by Leo Fender before his departure from the company. Like the Mustang guitar, the bass version featured a short scale, 30" for the bass. It also featured simple electronics, consisting of one split-pickup (similar to the P-bass), one volume, and one tone knob. The standard finishes were red and white. In 1969, both the Mustang guitar and bass were issued with 'Competition' finishes, i.e. red with three white stripes,a thicker one in the middle, surrounded by two thinner ones, Lake Placid Blue with lighter blue stripes, etc. The bass was available in various finishes, such as black and sunburst. The original Mustang Bass was built in the USA until 1981. The subsequent reissues are manufactured in Japan.
The Musicmaster Bass variant was also introduced in the mid-60's and was originally marketed as a student model. Rather than the split-coil design of the Mustang Bass, it featured a single-coil pickup, which was actually a 6-pole Stratocaster guitar pickup under a solid plastic cover. Production ceased around the same time as the Mustang Bass. The Musicmaster Bass was reissued briefly in 1997 under the Squier brand name, however it was discontinued after only one year of production and was ultimately replaced by the Bronco Bass.
The Mustang bass has been reissued several times over the years by Fender and is currently still in production as of 2007.
- Gary Jarman of The Cribs uses a Mustang bass.
- Nicolas Godin of Air uses a Mustang bass.
- Joshua Dixon of The Corners uses a Mustang bass.
- Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones used Mustang basses in the late-1960s and early-1970s.
- Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads used a Mustang bass in the early days of the band.
- Denny Laine occasionally used one during his time with Wings, when lead singer Paul McCartney would switch from bass to piano or guitar.
- Chris Murphy of Sloan frequently uses a Mustang bass.
- Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea learned how to play bass on a Mustang.
- Dee Dee Ramone played many shows with a Mustang bass.
- Holger Czukay of Can (band) played a Mustang bass for much of his time with the band.
- Simon Green, a.k.a. Bonobo, plays a Mustang bass with his touring band.
- Trevor Bolder of David Bowie and The Spiders from Mars used a Mustang Bass among many other basses.
- Aaron Knight of Electronidoll plays a Fender Mustang on the album, "The Headphone Flavor"
- Alan Lancaster of Status Quo used Mustang in 60s and 70s.
- Richard Hell of Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Heartbreakers and Television played a Mustang bass.
- Tom Garwig of MudPuppy and Full Nelson plays a Mustang bass.
- Tomethy Furse of The Horrors plays a Fender Mustang as well as a Danelectro Longhorn Bass
- Louisa Collington of The Cravattes plays a cream and maroon Fender Mustang bass
- [1] Laura Lui aka supermiffy (Canadian/Scottish Musician) of Licker plays a Fiesta Red Mustang.
- Paula Pierce of The Rage (later a founding member of The Pandoras), played a Mustang bass live and when recording from 1976 to 1978.
- Eric Stout of Raining & Ok plays a 1976 Sunburst Mustang bass].
