1966 Mustang

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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JohnHenry
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1966 Mustang

Post by JohnHenry » Sat Jan 11, 2020 5:34 am

I hopped the Mustang train the other day. Now I have bought a Mustang from 1966, which has a humbucker in the neck position, and I would like to mount a suitable bridge pickup as a single coil to it. The humbucker is a PAF type from DiMarzio. Any suggestions?

Plus another question: Are there any good replacement tremolo systems for the Mustang on the market that does not require drilling and routing?

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Danley
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Re: 1966 Mustang

Post by Danley » Sat Jan 11, 2020 5:58 am

For the vibrato, I don’t know of any alternates. Even the American Performer vibrato would require routing. The key to making them play in tune is to use the farthest-out/highest tension spring notch, and make sure the pivot points are sharp and don’t have wear. It’s possible to file them sharp again if needed, with some patience. I also recommend cleaning and lubricating the pivots with white lithium grease; just don’t get any on the finish.

Whatever you do, the Mustang vibrato has an extremely loose feel. I recommend not turning the vibrato posts while the strings are on the guitar, as this can increase wear.

Can’t really help with the pickups as that’s too much to taste, I’ll let someone else chime in there.
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: 1966 Mustang

Post by Surfysonic » Sat Jan 11, 2020 3:12 pm

Congrats on your '66 Mustang! I can't speak to the vibrato info, but I can recommend the pickups I put in my Squier Vintage Modified Mustang - a set of Seymour Duncan Antiquity II The 60's Myth For Mustang pickups. You can buy the bridge or neck pickups separately.

I also own '65 and a '66 Mustangs and find the SD Antiquity II's comparable to those guitars by my ears. There are other great pickups out there - Lollar or Fralin make great pickups. Highly recommend you do some research and figure which pickups sound best to you. Good luck!
The doofus formerly known as Snorre...

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supersonicjazzmaster
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Re: 1966 Mustang

Post by supersonicjazzmaster » Sun Jan 12, 2020 8:02 am

Congrats on the Mustang! Yeah!
I can highly highly recommend those Q-Pickups!
https://reverb.com/item/5667811-mustang ... -duo-sonic

They are cheap and mega good sounding!
Test them.
I tested and I am not interested in others...
For me it´s a sound question, not money. I love them because of the sound mainly!!


To the trem system I can´t say anything. My experience is, that the old vintage ones work perfect to me.
It starts... when it begins.
Ralf Kilauea

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mgeek
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Re: 1966 Mustang

Post by mgeek » Sun Jan 12, 2020 10:53 am

JohnHenry wrote:
Sat Jan 11, 2020 5:34 am
I hopped the Mustang train the other day. Now I have bought a Mustang from 1966, which has a humbucker in the neck position, and I would like to mount a suitable bridge pickup as a single coil to it. The humbucker is a PAF type from DiMarzio. Any suggestions?
put the Dimarzio on ebay and get a nice set of single coils ;D

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Re: 1966 Mustang

Post by Con-Tiki! » Thu Jan 16, 2020 12:26 pm

mgeek wrote:
Sun Jan 12, 2020 10:53 am
JohnHenry wrote:
Sat Jan 11, 2020 5:34 am
I hopped the Mustang train the other day. Now I have bought a Mustang from 1966, which has a humbucker in the neck position, and I would like to mount a suitable bridge pickup as a single coil to it. The humbucker is a PAF type from DiMarzio. Any suggestions?
put the Dimarzio on ebay and get a nice set of single coils ;D
that's not a bad suggestion.
I have a '66 with a really early duncan rail pickup in the neck.
I used a pickup from a '78 strat in the bridge. The 70's strats have flat-pole pickups (which fit under the solid covers, and are a little hot).
I think two work well together, kinda Keef sounding.
(Christopher, also)
I've been to one World's Fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing i ever heard come out a pair of headphones.

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Danley
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Re: 1966 Mustang

Post by Danley » Thu Jan 16, 2020 12:56 pm

I like hotter pickups in Mustangs, but there is no guitar I can say I prefer a humbucker in the neck (especially if a single is in the bridge.) There are few single coils that output-wise would keep up with a humbucker, even a ‘vintage-output’ one, let alone a DMZ of some sort.

Rose pickups made me a custom Mustang set around the Buff Beauty model- singles at around 10k neck/14k bridge. They’re great and balance well.
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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