Mustang's

[Infliktor]

What kind of pick uos are in these and what does this guitar sound like/good for

[Mad-Mike]

Here's my thoughts after playing 3 different mustangs (2 69" reissues, and a stock original 64')

The Mustang has standard single coil pickups, very similar to that on a Fender Stratocaster.  They sound a little different on that guitar though due to the pickup placement, angle, scale length, and the fact that the pole pieces are under a cover rather than exposed through it.  The neck pickup has an almost acoustic transducer type quality to it, while the bridge kinda sounds, at least to my ears, like a shortscale stratocaster bridge pickup, it's got the Jaguar's Tchack' type attack sound, but it's a little augmented by the bridge saddle and trem design.

So far I find they sound great and very tight and defined with tube overdrive or good saturated tube distortion.  Clean they're very glassy sounding in the neck and sort of a chunky sounding strat in the bridge, and both pickups on has a very different sound.  It's been awhile since I've played one so I don't remember much about the phase settings or both pickups in phase either, I usually just use the neck or the bridge on Stangs.

Basically put, a Mustang sounds like a Mustang, or a mid-late 60's Duo-Sonic with a trem.  The Jag-Stang comes kinda close, but the Humbucker changes things a vast amount (and mine having EMGs REALLY changes things).

[Pumpkin]

Pretty much what mike said,also mustangs with a HB bridge have an enormous amount of grunt when you use a dist or fuzz,the sustain is almost endless and it has this underlying sound quality that I've never heard anywhere else.Mustangs are sick,equal to jags and jazz' but on an entirely different level.
Never owned a reissue,only a 66 but from what i hear they are really good quality.I played one in a store briefly once and the pickups sounded cool, I'd buy a CIJ mustang if i wanted another one.But if you want a guitar for it's Trem ability stay with jags/jazz' as nothing comes close to it.

[Mad-Mike]

I dunno, so far every experience I've had with the Mustang trem has been a good one, and I use that bugger for the same purpose most people buy an ESP with a Floyd Rose, though it handles quite differently. 

I can get some incredible sustained harmonics out of the Mustang Trem, I think it's due to the saddles following the strings rather than giving out from under them ala Floyd Rose/Strat.  The trick is to tweak it "out of spec" to get that kind of insanity out of it though, and without a modified trem bar (bent a little downward), the trem bar is about 3-4" off the pickguard.  It's definatley a pretty amazing trem when set up.

[burker]

I dunno, so far every experience I've had with the Mustang trem has been a good one, and I use that bugger for the same purpose most people buy an ESP with a Floyd Rose, though it handles quite differently. 

I can get some incredible sustained harmonics out of the Mustang Trem, I think it's due to the saddles following the strings rather than giving out from under them ala Floyd Rose/Strat.  The trick is to tweak it "out of spec" to get that kind of insanity out of it though, and without a modified trem bar (bent a little downward), the trem bar is about 3-4" off the pickguard.  It's definatley a pretty amazing trem when set up.

hm... I never really use my mustangs trem cause it puts it out of tune to much, perhaps you could write up a guide to setting them up?

also I have to say both pickups on, out of phase is my favorite mustang sound.