NGBD - Mustang

[Tiga]

Happy Easter!!

I've had a chinese/ebay jaguar neck around here for a few years now and decided I needed a body to put it on. So I picked up this loaded Sonic mustang body last week. It's got a couple nicks but overall not bad. I really dig the color. Here's a pic of the body and also with the neck.

I'm thinking this is going to be good basis for an ongoing mod platform.

[Tiga]

So the first issue I have is the neck is a 22 fret with a 24" scale. Unfortunately it was made so the heel stops at the 21st fret and the 22nd fret is an overhang. That's not how a typical jag neck is designed. I'm concerned that it's not going to intonate properly - so my options are to shift the neck forward a little (which creates a gap but it's mostly hidden by the overhang), or to move the bridge. If I was just going to leave the existing bridge then moving the neck forward a little seems like the best option. However - this guitar is begging for some type of wiggle stick. Which means a new bridge so then moving it won't be an issue.

I was thinking of going with a top-loading half tele bridge and notching out the string holes - then adding some sort of bigsby-type tremolo.

Any thoughts/advice on this? Thanks!

[BatUtilityBelt]

That looks like a very fun mod platform, congratulations. I'd share your worry about intonation. I think my default idea would be to mount the neck solidly in the pocket so it's as stable as it can be, then pick a bridge and trem that will work, planning to fill and redrill and probably refinish the top if not the whole body after modding. A Bigsby is a lot of weight to add to a small body, but with a roller bridge, might be the easiest approach. Another thought is a Duesenberg Les Trem type (mounts where a stop tailpiece would), and still use a roller bridge. That's a lot less weight than the Bigsby, and I like either.

[Tiga]

I see that Nick in the States (have we heard from him?) installed a wigsby on a bullet mustang:


I'm not sure I want to get into routing - especially with the thin body. So I like the idea of top mounting but the Les Trem idea seems interesting. There's a Duesenberg knock-off made by Guyker- anyone here have any experience with it?

[Tiga]

So a little more on this one. I posted a few pics of the electronics - nothing special but all seems to work. The pickups appear to use two ceramic magnets. I installed the neck a little forward in the neck pocket to compensate for the heel/overhang issue - seems to work fine. I then worked on the nut and got it dialed in really well.

There were a bunch of uneven frets so I decided to do a full level (w/ fallaway) and crown/polish. It came out extremely well. This guitar now has the lowest action of any guitar I have with no dead frets or buzzing.

[Tiga]

So my next step with this is to add a vibrato. I ordered a bigsby b5 copy that should get here tomorrow. I went around and around on what bridge to install and was initially leaning toward a tune-o-matic roller bridge - but honestly didn't want to deal with all the holes that would be exposed and grounding wire, etc. So I decided to try something a little different first. I had one of these laying around from an old project:
https://www.guitarfetish.com/Top-Mount- ... p_759.html

I then took a dremel and metal cutting wheel and notched for strings. I still have to do some filing to shape and smooth the notches I cut. I'm hoping this works.

[Tiga]

An update - I installed the bridge and vibrato. The results weren’t great. The bridge went on well but even though I went to great lengths to get vibrato lined up right - it’s over so slightly off kilter - ugh. Also the vibrato is noisy - there is some slop in the main string shaft and it makes a clunk noise. I know these are cheap copies made in china - but I have an identical model on my IYV Mosrite and it works flawlessly. So I may send this one back and order another one in hopes a I get a good one. I’ve thought about picking up a real bigsby model but that would double the cost of the entire guitar LOL.

Jury is still out on the bridge - the saddle on the high E string isn’t very smooth and the string pings. Going to try to file it and see what happens. The saddles don’t appear to be the most stable when used with the bigsby as I can pick up the some very slight movement. The guitar isn’t holding tune well at all - but not sure if that has anything to do with the bridge/bigsby or the fact it’s has a crappy plastic nut and cheap SX tuners.

I think the plan is first get the saddle smoothed out, remove/return the bigsby copy and order a new one - with hopes that the replacement one is solid. I’ll dowel the holes and re-position/re-drill for the new model. If I can get that aligned right and working properly I’ll move on to the nut and tuners. Depending on how things go I may go with a roller bridge in lieu of the modded bridge I’m using now - we’ll see.

I will say I really like the look of this guitar and it feels great to play. Very comfortable - make me think I might like a higher-end mustang at some point.

[andrewsrea]

Happy NGBD!

Looks cool and great color!

Try a drop of machine oil or teflon tuner lube on the creaky part of the string shaft. Then put on an old set of strings and drive your family crazy by working the vibrato bar while you watch TV. Sometimes these glitches wear themselves in.