Factory Original Long Scale 1972 Fender Mustang

[BTL]

It would be interesting to learn if the neck swap was intentional and executed poorly or a paint/assembly error that was overlooked or covered up. I have been looking for an example of an unfinished Strat and an unfinished Mustang neck side-by-side. What's the length of a Mustang neck from nut to heel? If it's anything close to 18 3/8", it's easy to imagine how the mix up might have occurred.

I just went and measured my 64 Mustang and a standard RI Jazzmaster, nut to heel:

Mustang: 450mm / 17.71" / 17 23/32"
Jazzmaster: 465mm / 18.30" / 18 5/16"

So that's only 15mm = 0.6" = 19/32" difference...super easy one to miss on a hectic production line/busy factory

That's what I was thinking...a simple decal error in the paint shop. If the final assembly crew only strummed a few open chords after setup and before shipping, it's easy to imagine how this one made it out the door.

As noted earlier in the thread, G&L shipped quite a few 20-fret JB Tribute bodies with 21-fret necks in error. It happens.

[ThePearDream]

Yup easy mistake to make if you are playing basic chords close to the nut in a factory assembly line. I think it is also pretty telling that all of the hang tags and case candy are accounted for, yet there is no sort of paperwork or anything about it (or the case) being a special order? People who save that stuff, save everything.

Someone cared enough to pay extra money for a custom Mustang, but didn't' care about it not working? Yeah right.

[BTL]

“Factory Original Long Scale” sounds so much better than “Factory Defect”, especially in the world of vintage collectibles.

The fact that it sat for decades unused in a case as part of a collection makes discovering the issue so much less likely.

Maybe the defect will be so apparent that Fender will honor the original warranty and make a new replacement neck with the same serial number. Now THAT would be a helluva' good story.

[countertext]

I’m not sure what the discussion is for. Buy a loaded ‘72 Strat body and a nice ‘72 Mustang neck and PROBLEM SOLVED.

[BTL]

A '72 Strat repro body in CAR with racing stripes, a pearloid pickguard with this neck? Yes, please!

[Rob]

A '72 Strat repro body in CAR with racing stripes, a pearloid pickguard with this neck? Yes, please!

Stangocaster?

[BTL]

A '72 Strat repro body in CAR with racing stripes, a pearloid pickguard with this neck? Yes, please!

Stangocaster?

Maybe with Mustang pickups and bridge? It would be a weirdo, no matter what. Or, you know...just leave it as a factory defect. Maybe it's more valuable that way.

[øøøøøøø]

Interesting guitar!!

Someone mentioned Occam’s Razor earlier, but I’m also a fan of Hanlon’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice that which could adequately be explained by incompetence.”

In other words, the guitar itself doesn’t set off any “fake” alarm bells to me. The most reasonable possibilities appear to me to be:

1) someone at the factory fucked up and grabbed the wrong neck, and it somehow made it all the way through without anyone noticing (not as unlikely as you might think)

2) someone ordered a custom-order long scale mustang and the person responsible for fulfilling the order didn’t understand all they should have about guitar construction physics (“well hell, all ya gotta do is…” — also not inconceivable in the 1970s in a company newly-acquired by a broader corporate conglomerate)

3) The guitar was special-made for a purpose where visual look was extremely important, but functionality didn’t matter at all. Promo video, trade show display, photo shoot, TV/film, etc.

I’m not sure which of the three is most-likely, but possibilities 2 and 3 would correlate neatly with the “special” stamp, all three seem highly plausible, and all three seem to me vastly more likely to me than nefarious intent of any sort.

[Hellion]

Years ago, I drove an old 1971 Triumph TR6. Most fun I have ever had in a car, when it wasn't in the shop. Back then, imports were rare in the heartland, so I had to take it out of town for parts. One of the shop gurus told me a story that British Leighland had experimented with a methadone work program for junkies to learn a trade. He said that over the years he had seen major parts installed improperly or even upside down.

When you think about what was going on at the time these guitars were being made, it's a wonder there weren't more mistakes.

[sal paradise]

Years ago, I drove an old 1971 Triumph TR6. Most fun I have ever had in a car, when it wasn't in the shop. Back then, imports were rare in the heartland, so I had to take it out of town for parts. One of the shop gurus told me a story that British Leighland had experimented with a methadone work program for junkies to learn a trade. He said that over the years he had seen major parts installed improperly or even upside down.

When you think about what was going on at the time these guitars were being made, it's a wonder there weren't more mistakes.

Vietnam vets making guitars high on opium???

[surfin_bird]

Didn’t read this whole discussion…
But! 10 years ago I bought a maple mustang neck:
1978, seems legit but it’s 25.5
I assumed it is a “fake” but this makes me rethink about this unused neck in my closet.
I’ll post pics when i’m back from holiday

[CCOffset]

Didn’t read this whole discussion…
But! 10 years ago I bought a maple mustang neck:
1978, seems legit but it’s 25.5
I assumed it is a “fake” but this makes me rethink about this unused neck in my closet.
I’ll post pics when i’m back from holiday

This sounds very promising! I'd love to see it. Please post pictures when you can.

[46346]

3) The guitar was special-made for a purpose where visual look was extremely important, but functionality didn’t matter at all. Promo video, trade show display, photo shoot, TV/film, etc.

this is my guess. the 'Special' stamp seems to mean "anything goes, this is not for production" as much as anything else. even though most 'Specials' seem to play in tune.

Fun artifact for sure!

[UlricvonCatalyst]

My guess is this was a one-off made by Johnny Cash. Seems the most likely explanation, as JC was seldom seen with an electric guitar, so probably didn't really know what he was doing.

[Paco]

This thread got kind of crazy super fast! But guys this is OSG, an always classy bunch of people pouring love and knowledge over beautiful, even deeply flawed and unplayable machines

I really get the feel that this weird and groovy baby was made specifically for marketing purposes, photography in specific would be my best guess, as someone mentioned before. Maybe the short scale made it look weird or even smaller when pictured in certain angles, and in comparison with its biggest brothers this would kind of make sense (?).

We are all making guesses here, but there are small but significant clues that I just wouldn't throw out as mistakes or coincidences. I honestly believe it to be fully intentional. Does that fully makes sense? No. Nothing around this guitar will make complete sense, I find that remarkable at least.

I love it also. It would take a guy like Arto Lindsay to make something out of this un-tunable marvel, it's like an instant "no wave" machine