Fender Mustang Bass

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Fender Mustang Bass
Fender Mustang Bass 30.jpg
Fender Mustang Bass, color: Olympic White
General
Type Electric bass
Manufacturer Fender ; USA ( Japan )
production 1966–1981, since 1998
Construction and materials
Scale length 30 inch (762 mm) short scale
Body Solid body made of alder
neck Screwed maple neck
Fingerboard Rosewood , 19  frets
saddle Synthetic bone , width: 38.1 mm
Mechanics 4 × left, open
Footbridge / bridge Fixed, one-piece string-through-body bridge made of metal with individual saddles
Pickups and Electronics
Pickups

1 × split coil

Tone control passive
  • 1 × volume
  • 1 × height panel
Unless otherwise stated, the data comes from the manufacturer's website (as of December 15, 2013)

The Fender Mustang Bass is an electric bass with a short scale . He is since 1966 the American musical instrument manufacturer Fender Musical Instruments Corporation manufactured.

history

Two years after the electric guitar model of the same name, the Fender Mustang , the Mustang Bass appeared. Just like the guitar, the bass should serve as an inexpensive entry-level instrument, which was part of the product range under the instruments Fender Precision Bass and Fender Jazz Bass .

In order to make the bass easier to play even for smaller hands of children and young people, Fender used a shortened neck with a short 30-  inch scale for the first time . The electronics corresponded to that of the Precision Bass with a split pickup in a single coil design ( single coil ) and a tone and volume control (2 × 250 k potentiometer log. Plus 0.5 µF capacitor). Initially only available in white and red body finishes, the so-called competition finish was introduced for guitar and bass in 1969 . In addition to new colors such as the already from the Fender Stratocaster known Lake Placid Blue (an intense blue metallic ) containing Competition finish a " racing stripes " that should remind the design of racing cars.

After the sale of the Fender company to the CBS media group in October 1964, company founder Leo Fender retired in the course of 1965. Although the Mustang Bass was only launched in 1966, it was designed by Leo Fender. The Mustang basses, along with the guitars, were among the last instruments that Leo Fender helped to develop.

As part of the thinning of the Fender product range by CBS at the beginning of the 1980s, production of the bass as well as the guitar was discontinued in October 1981. After the Mustang electric guitar was reissued, the Mustang Bass was returned to the range in 1998. The new edition (reissue version) produced in Japan was initially only available in Japan. Since 2002 it has been available worldwide in at least the colors red and white. In Japan the bass is also available in blue and as a competition model in several colors.

construction

The Mustang follows as already the Precision Bass the fundamental design principle of the Fender company: At a massive body of alder one is neck from Maple screwed. The neck with the unusually short for Fender 30 inch -Mensur has a fretboard made of rosewood with 19 frets . The tuning machines are in a line on the upper side of the asymmetrical headstock . The instrument's only pickup is - similar to the Precision Bass - a so-called split coil pickup . This construction with two separate coils for the E and A as well as the D and G strings suppresses hum and interfering noises due to the polarity of the two pickup halves. Tone and volume controls are screwed onto a chrome-plated control plate, similar to the Jazz Bass. The strings are threaded from the back through holding sleeves in the body (fastening through the body ). In contrast to the jazz and precision bass, the Mustang basses from 1966 to 1981 had metal plates connected to earth under the pickups and on the bottom of the electrical compartment. They should also serve to attenuate background noise.

The bridge of the Mustang Bass is technically interesting. Leo Fender was a consultant until 1970 when Fender was already part of CBS, and he also worked on the Mustang Bass. The bridge construction with a double-angled base plate, strings fixed to the body from the rear and foam rubber dampers that can be individually adjusted with a knurled screw can be found almost exactly like this on the Music Man StingRay Bass , Fender's first construction after the contractual non-competition clause expired in 1975.

The Mustang Bass in music

The Mustang Bass was initially intended as a beginner's instrument. Many well-known bass players began playing on a Mustang. However, because of its easy playability and characteristic sound, the Mustang Bass also became popular with professional musicians.

In contrast to the large precision and jazz basses, the short neck of the Mustang Bass made the instrument just as handy as an electric guitar. This was beneficial for short musicians or guitarists who switched to bass. On the other hand, the typical sound fits in with the contemporary tastes of the 1960s and 1970s: In terms of its basic tone, not dissimilar to the Precision Bass, the Mustang Bass sounds a bit duller and warmer with a clearly defined tone. This made the bass particularly popular in Motown and early disco music of the 1970s, but also found its supporters in contemporary rock music .

Famous musicians who used the Mustang Bass included Bill Wyman ( The Rolling Stones ), Tina Weymouth ( Talking Heads ), Alan Lancaster from Status Quo , and Dee Dee Ramone from the Ramones . Jesse Murphy brought the typical sound back into current music with the band Brazilian Girls . Another player on the Mustang bass is Lucy LaLoca from the band Tito & Tarantula .

literature

  • Tony Bacon: Guitars - All models and manufacturers . London / Vienna 1991, ISBN 3-552-05073-6 .
  • George Gruhn, Walter Carter: Electric Guitars & Basses - The History of Electric Guitars and Basses . ISBN 3-932275-04-7 .
  • Richard R. Smith: Fender - A sound makes history . ISBN 3-937872-18-3 .

Web links