I purchased this guitar because I always loved the look of Jimi Hendrix’s flipped over (upside down) Stratocaster. Jimi, being a left handed player would flip his right handed Stratocasters over. I thought this looked very cool but unfortunately, I never felt comfortable when playing a left handed Strat strung for a right handed player. This left handed Mustang however, looked the part, felt more comfortable when played right handed (flipped over) and was priced right. Before Nirvana (Kurt Cobain often played a Fender Mustang) exploded on the music scene, Fender Mustangs could be had for a mere $350 - 400. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the neck felt to me on this Mustang and I instantly fell in love with the 24” (Strat has as 25.5”) scale length. I replaced the bridge pickup with a hotrail style humbucker (same dimensions as a single coil) and then she really screamed.

The Fender Mustang was introduced in August 1964 and was essentially a Duo Sonic with a Dynamic Fender Vibrato. After 1976, the serial numbers were found on the headstock (earlier ones had the serial numbers stamped on the neck plate) as part of the decal. These have the "S7xxxxx," "S8xxxxx," and "S9xxxxx" serial number sequences. The "S" stands for "Seventies" (and later "E" stands for "Eighties") and the second digit denotes the year of the decade (i.e. S7=77, S8=78, and S9=79). All Mustangs made in the '80s carried the "S9xxxxx" serial number. The Mustang line was discontinued around 1981 or 1982 after CBS recruited a new management team to "re-invent" Fender. William Schultz was soon named President, and developed a five-year business plan based on the idea of increasing Fender's presence in the marketplace by dramatically improving quality and making a significant commitment to research and development. Ironically, CBS decided to divest itself from the non-broadcast media business and sold Fender to Bill and a group of employees in 1985.

I purchased this guitar when I was in graduate school from a local left handed player, Lou. The signatures you see on this guitar are of my friends, classmates and colleagues that I had the pleasure of getting to know during my graduate studies. Not that I needed an excuse to buy a guitar, but you have to admit that it was a great excuse to purchase this cool guitar. I love the neck on this guitar and I actually installed this neck on my Strat. It looked cool but because the Mustang has the shorter 24” scale length, versus the 25.5” scale length of a Stratocaster, the Strat would not intonate with this neck attached.

The knobs are Strat replacement knobs, the original Mustang knobs were solid black with a white marker line and the pickups are not original. To my ear, the original pickups were thin and lacked power so I replaced them with a Duncan mini humbucker in the bridge and a single coil in the neck. The pickups are controlled by slider switches, ON-OFF-PHASE for each pickup. These switches are located on the pickguard close to the upper edge of the pickup. The location of the switches is a little awkward and I do occasionally hit them when playing. The controls are minimalist and include a single volume and tone. This Mustang looks cool and constantly impresses people who play her, she really does sounds great, especially with the aftermarket pickups. The tremolo is very low tech and in fact I never use it. I have found that the guitar will go horribly out of tune when the tremolo is used, even when using only a light touch. The other really frustrating part about setting up a Mustang is the bridge. The height adjustment screws can only be accessed after you remove the bridge, thus you have to do a lot of guess work which becomes old very quick. I do not recommend this for people like me, who have no patience.

These little things aside, I am proud of this little bargain guitar. She can hold her own and you have to admit that a left handed guitar flipped right handed looks cool…the big headstock shape found on mid to late 70’s Fenders also adds to her Jimi Hendrix vibe.