Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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vistavision
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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by vistavision » Sat Nov 24, 2018 6:47 pm

MrFingers wrote:
Fri Nov 23, 2018 4:23 am
FFS Fender, how hard can it be NOT to add a Jazz-Bass pickup to any of the basses when they don't need it? You've already got the MiM PJ Mustang for that, why does the American model needs to be massacred as well? :k
They're probably straight from the same CNC machine. Some go to Corona, some go to Ensenada. Might be a way to get the price down.
I'm sure some Fender dealer in '64 looked at the new Duo-Sonic II and thought, "That's not a Duo-Sonic. That's a Mustang".

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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by Johnny Alien » Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:45 am

Looks like some of this info is being scrubbed from the web.

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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by Jazztastic » Sun Nov 25, 2018 1:16 pm

vistavision wrote:
Sat Nov 24, 2018 6:47 pm
MrFingers wrote:
Fri Nov 23, 2018 4:23 am
FFS Fender, how hard can it be NOT to add a Jazz-Bass pickup to any of the basses when they don't need it? You've already got the MiM PJ Mustang for that, why does the American model needs to be massacred as well? :k
They're probably straight from the same CNC machine. Some go to Corona, some go to Ensenada. Might be a way to get the price down.
Seems very likely. They've done it before.

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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by zeero9 » Tue Nov 27, 2018 4:46 am

Johnny Alien wrote:
Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:45 am
Looks like some of this info is being scrubbed from the web.
Ha, I was just having thoughts along these lines given how much time has passed and we still haven't gotten any official announcement from Fender. I see the listings have been removed from Thomann. Winter NAMM it is.

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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by Marc » Tue Nov 27, 2018 3:45 pm

It’s possible that there is phase switching circuitry on the six string via a push pull pot on the volume or tone. I guess it wouldn’t be hard to retrofit if not.

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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by niksureal » Mon Dec 03, 2018 12:09 pm

i didnt read every post in this thread so forgive me if its been covered but... did anyone catch the the mustang vibrato? it looks different. anyone know the story on this?
in the description of the guitar, it says: "Classic Mustang trem system yields haunting vibrato and a wide degree of pitch control"
but its obviously not the same.

Image

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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by Danley » Mon Dec 03, 2018 12:58 pm

That was touched on. I really hope the photo isn't representative and the real thing will use anything other than a cheap Squier vibrato.
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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by dren68 » Mon Dec 03, 2018 1:27 pm

niksureal wrote:
Mon Dec 03, 2018 12:09 pm
i didnt read every post in this thread so forgive me if its been covered but... did anyone catch the the mustang vibrato? it looks different. anyone know the story on this?
in the description of the guitar, it says: "Classic Mustang trem system yields haunting vibrato and a wide degree of pitch control"
but its obviously not the same.

Image
I think someone mentioned the fact that it didn't have "Fender Patent Pending" on it. I just assumed it was just a bad Photoshop mockup, but after looking at the photos you posted, I see it has an extra row of screws and the extra hole on the cigar. I didn't notice those before. Could that mean it has a third spring in the middle? Maybe they've re-designed it. The hole for the trem arm looks different, too. Interesting...

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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by Danley » Mon Dec 03, 2018 1:59 pm

Good eye :)
King Buzzo: I love when people come up to me and say “Your guitar sound was better on Stoner Witch, when you used a Les Paul. “...I used a Fender Mustang reissue on that, dumbass!

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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by pikmin » Mon Dec 03, 2018 3:03 pm

They are talking about this new bridge and trem design here : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IvVJ_EH1D ... e=youtu.be

And you can also hear the guitar here : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vl5hfuTWK ... e=youtu.be

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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by scottydanger » Mon Dec 03, 2018 3:12 pm

pikmin wrote:
Mon Dec 03, 2018 3:03 pm
They are talking about this new bridge and trem design here : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IvVJ_EH1D ... e=youtu.be

And you can also hear the guitar here : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vl5hfuTWK ... e=youtu.be
Oh good I'm glad they finally released something semi-official because I got to play one of these last week and it's been killing me keeping my mouth shut. The guitar rips, it's super comfy and sounds great. If I didn't just buy an MIJ this year I'd be allll over this.

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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by dren68 » Tue Dec 04, 2018 5:20 am

pikmin wrote:
Mon Dec 03, 2018 3:03 pm
They are talking about this new bridge and trem design here : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IvVJ_EH1D ... e=youtu.be

And you can also hear the guitar here : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vl5hfuTWK ... e=youtu.be
I'm not sure how I feel about that first video. I would have liked to have a little more information on the redesigned tremolo system other than "Let me show you a few things here". Also, I thought it was a mistake in the photos, but it looks like the bridge is supposed to be on backwards? Those new tuners look interesting, but not much info on those either. And why jumbo frets?

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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by Embenny » Tue Dec 04, 2018 5:52 am

Yeah, in the Reverb writeup they mentioned "updated Mustang bridge and vibrato" which is exciting.

I may be overly optimistic, but if the bridge has a 52-53mm spacing it could be a proper Staytrem stand-in for those of us in North America.

As for the dynamic vibrato, I can't wait for someone here to post a photo of the guts on the underside, and a review of how it works. We've been overdue for a USA-made Mustang vibrato.
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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by Jazzmastervsjaguar » Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:33 am

So I am assuming there is no room for the Dynamic Stamp due to the 3 extra screws above the cigar bar. Looks like there is 3 posts holding the cigar tube also (see the extra hole in the middle). The hole where the arm attaches also has some sort of nylon grommet (possible staytrem vibrato influenced design?)

I'm excited about this and it's been a long time since I've been excited about a new Fender. I actually like the 3 way switch. As much as liked putting the pickups out of phase I always seemed to knock the switches with there placement in the vintage models.

Maybe I'm in the minority but I think $1,000 (so used is going to be in the 700-800) range is actually not a bad price.

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Re: Fender American Performer Mustang & Mustang Bass

Post by ThePearDream » Tue Dec 04, 2018 6:57 am

Yeah, I'd swear that in the pic above, the string spacing looks slightly narrower on the new bridge. And in the photos on the Fender site, the position of the strings in relation to the fretboard edges looks pretty good to me. I'm cautiously optimistic that this bridge (and trem) could be winners.

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