Fender Mustang Special

This past year, Fender put out a new series of guitars called the "Pawn Shop Series". The idea was to put out instruments that never were, but should have been. The series takes its cue from the often terrible period of the late 60's and early 70's, where bizarre combinations of bodies and necks came together for what seemed like the hell of it. (just google fender "Swinger", "marauder" or "electric 12" to see some glorious examples) This seems like an odd place to birth new guitars, and I think there's little argument in that. Sure, there's plenty of cool things that happened in the period (despite what the purists may say about the CBS buy-out) but overall it's not looked at as the best time for the company. But there's also something to say for innovation and not being stuck in the same rut, so at least Fender is trying...which is more than I can say about many other bigger brands. For the most part, in my opinion, the pawn shop series is a bit of a miss. Many of the models look like bastard children of other famed instruments, and a few just look like your drunk dad's recollection of guitars from the past. There are a couple hits though, and today I'll talk about one that's well worth the money: The Mustang Special.

The Mustang may have started as a student guitar, but it has now officially become the well loved axe of working musicians, and indie bands the world over. With the pawn shop series version of the mustang, fender has made some cool adjustments that make it even more desirable and a lot of fun to play. Firstly, they've done away with what I would consider a pretty awful tremolo. I've never been one to use a trem too much but even an occasional user like myself will find the system on mustangs (and jazzmasters/jaguars) to be touchy at best. Instead, you get a hardtail! So no tuning issues to stress about. Obviously if you want the trem, this is a disadvantage. However it does open up the possibility of other after market tremolo's that you can install, which in most cases will be much better!

The second nice change is the swapping out of the two single coil pickups for fender's "wide range" humbuckers. These are the same pickups you find on the 70's Telecaster deluxe, which have a really unique sound over standard humbuckers. I find them to be a lot more "punchy" and less warm. These pickups have a nice attack and clarity to them, and can be on the brighter side as well. This comes in handy when coil tapping, which the mustang special is also equipped with. Two sliders on the side of each pickup allow you to select either front or back coil, or the full humbucker. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm not often impressed by coil tapping, but thanks to the brightness and volume of these pickups, the single coil sound is pretty damn good. 

The rest of the electronics are very straight forward...a 3 way toggle for pickup selection and a single volume and tone. These simple options combined with the coil tapping allow for a lot of different tones in one convenient package. The guitar is a shorter scale (24") and has only 22 frets, so this may not be a shredder's delight or if you're too used to a longer scale found on a strat or tele. Also, the smaller body size may not be your cup of tea, particularly if you're over 6 feet tall and don't want to feel like a giant playing a kids guitar. But if those little things don't bother you, this is a super flexible and fun guitar to have in your arsenal. It's also made in Japan, where guitar building is certainly up to par with american 

standards. 

The Mustang special comes in 3 classic colors (sunburst, lake placid blue and candy apple red) and comes with a gig bag. At $849, it's also pretty damn well priced! 

As always, feel free to leave your thoughts! 

K.

Comins Guitar Craft Series

Bill Comins may not be a name immediately recognizable to you, but to many "in the know" guitarists he is a well respected luthier, and craftsman of very high end archtop jazz guitars, nylon string acoustics and some solid bodies. Mr. Comins produces a limited number of pieces each year, and the price range is certainly out of reach of the average working musician or hobbyist. With that thought in mind, he began working with a South Korean guitar manufacturing facility on an affordable instrument to sell here in the U.S. The result is the Guitar Craft Series, two models of semi hollow guitars that are absolutely fantastic! Mr. Comins has designed the instruments himself and set a strict series of standards that the manufacturer must adhere to. Each guitar gets personally set up and inspected by him before they send off to the shop and it certainly shows. The guitars play perfectly out of the box, with a nice low action and would please even the most picky guitar player. The look of the instruments is another nice surprise, combining classic and modern aesthetics for a very sophisticated look. Little touches like the black, rubberized tuning machine heads, and the bound body, headstock and neck, make the guitar look much more expensive than it's price tag reveals. 


There are two models to choose from, with 5 colors available. The GCS-1 features a laminated flame maple top, laminated sapele back and sides, with a center block of solid wood, and a rosewood fingerboard. The GCS-1E is the same model but gives you a laminated spruce top, and an ebony fingerboard. These are hardtail guitars but you can add an optional bigsby, in case you need your tremolo fix. 

The pickups are custom made Kent Armstrong humbuckers, with a volume and tone for each one. One of the tone puts is push/pull and allows you to coil tap the humbuckers. I've never personally been a big fan of coil tap..I find that they never quite produce the sound that you want. Rather than get that true single coil "quack", you often just end up with a quieter pickup. As far as coil tapping goes however, these do a far better job than I've heard on other instruments. The humbuckers have quite a lot of punch and warmth to them, allowing for a more distinct and present tone when cut in half. 

Now, there may be some of you out there who see "made in korea" or "made in china" and this immediately turns you off to a guitar. I'll go into this notion a bit more in depth in another post, but I'm a firm believer in judging by how the guitar feels and sounds, and not where it's made. So many factories across the world are now making very high quality guitars, and I would count these as among the very top. The look, feel and sound are all top notch and so much more than one might expect from a non US made instrument. For those of us who want a classic looking, super versatile semi-hollow guitar and can't quite afford the price tags on a Gibson, or even a Collings, these axes fill the gap perfectly. 

The Comins Guitar Craft Series retails at $1599 for a hard tail, or $1899 with a bigsby. Both models come with a TKL hard shell case in a light brown tolex, that adds a nice bit of value to the guitar. More info on these guitars and all of Bill Comins' creations can be found at his website: www.cominsguitars.com

We have these for sale here at Rudy's, and I encourage you to pop by and check one out! I'll be happy to chat with you about them. Feel free to leave your thoughts as well! 

K.

Welcome!

Hi! Welcome to "Amplified Obsession", a daily blog about what's great (and sometimes not so great) in the world of guitars and related accessories. I'm Kyle and I'm a 30 year old who's been playing since 13 and hasn't lost any enthusiasm for it. I live in NY and work for Rudy's Music, a vintage and boutique guitar shop in NYC. I'll be giving my two cents on things that come through the shop, both old and new, and giving you the heads up on all the latest and greatest in the industry. I hope you'll find these ramblings interesting, and welcome any and all comments (civil ones preferably) you may have! We'll start tomorrow!

K.