NGD: Squier Bullet Mustang

UnclePsychosis

I've wanted a hardtail offset for ages, and when Squier brought these out at £115 brand spanking new it was too much to resist. 

I've only had a quick play at "sleeping children in the next room" levels but here's my initial thoughts:

Its very, very pretty. The blue is one of those impossible to photograph finishes which is slightly sparkly. I wasn't sure about the blue from the stock photos but I'm very glad I did---it's a great looking thing. 

The neck is very comfy. Nice satin finish, no sharp frets, no dents. Really like the neck. Its perfect for me. 

The electronics are pretty decent, given the cost. Both pickups are very usable (admittedly only at low volume thus far). No crackles or any excess noise. The only downside is that the taper on the volume and tone is a bit pants (as per every budget guitar ever). It sounds immediately Fendery to my ears, which is exactly what I wanted. 

The bridge feels solid (haven't adjusted it yet) and the tuners have a nice smooth, firm, action. Miles better than the rubbish that was on the last cheapo I bought. 

Setup out of the box is pretty decent---no fret buzz that I noticed but not too high either. I won't be adjusting the truss rod or saddles unless I have an actual problem somewhere later. The intonation isn't perfect (its pretty bloody close though) but I'm also bearing in mind that my other guitar is longer scale and strung with 11s so an element of the intonation is down to me fretting too hard. I'm going to leave it for a bit before tweaking anything. 

The only real downside is a bit of a weird one that I haven't encountered before. The frets are a bit "scratchy" when bending strings---you can feel the string scratching on the fret. Thirty seconds with the sleeve on my jumper suggests they will polish up ok and again I think the problem is made worse by my heavy handedness combined with short scale and light strings. 

So my initial impression is that this is absolutely stonking value for money. Chuffed to bits and that's just out of the box with the stock strings. Whack some aftermarket pickups in here and I reckon you could have a monster on your hands. The next Squier 51 or Joe Trohman? 

I know a few people here were tempted by these---definitely check them out, they're certainly not cheap rubbish (as they could have been at that price). 

UnclePsychosis

One other thing which I'm not convinced is right---but which I actually quite like---is that the pickup selector switch moves from pointing towards the lower horn to pointing towards the bridge. Not sure its meant to be like that but it works for me. 

thecolourbox

Oh wow looks lovely, interesting that you compare it to the Squier 51 in terms of quality/value ratio as I really liked the 51 I had but it just wasn't quite the sound for me - I now know I should have kept it and changed the pickups which might have helped!

Would the pickup holes fit with normal covered humbucker sized pickups do you reckon?

DulcetJones

That is cool, the only one of those I've seen so far was the ugliest mustard/yellow/orange color I've ever seen.  If I didn't just buy a modified squier mustang (off white with red pick guard) I might have wanted to hunt down one of these.

jonnyburgo

lovely, I'd be more than tempted to paint the front of the headstock the same colour

vale

it's looks neat close up. & you sound chuffed as with it, which is what ngd should be.

i'm strictly black, reds & white for guitars, but as glitzy 60s blues go it's very pretty.
that super-subtle glitter effect looks the same as my black jagmaster used to have. on the fender spec page for these new cheap jazzmasters the bodyshape is given as 'jagmaster' so maybe they are using the templates & finish types from that range.

how does the neck profile & radius feel. stock squier feel or thinner fatter different?

it certainly is a lot of guitar for the money. if the jm wasn't almost double the price i'd have taken by now. more bill paying & saving to do. but reassuring to know quality is there when i'm ready.

Bridgehouse

A polish will get rid of the scratchy frets. Next string change, mask up the frets and the pickups (important!) then use a bit of 0000 steel wool to smooth, followed by your fave metal polish. I use cape cod - comes in small impregnated pads.

Then a good buff with a lint free cloth. It will make a big difference.

vale

jonnyburgo said:

lovely, I'd be more than tempted to paint the front of the headstock the same colour

my thoughts too. though sparkly may be a more difficult match than standard.

lupinehorror

been very tempted by one of these since i sold my squier jaguar...very tempted. this isn't helping!
selling a few pedals so if they get shifted i think one of these is heading my way. offset goodness. HNGD

ICBM

That's ridiculously cool.

The pickup selector may be able to be turned round, if the cavity isn't the minimum possible size. Although working at that angle would be an advantage for me too, since I tend to bash them a lot when they're in that position and that might make it less movable.

TTBZ

That looks great! I'd have opted for the black but having seen those photos maybe I'd go for the blue now. Have fun with it!

Sesh

Christ. I was planning on this being a very rare (for me) new guitar month . I was 99% decided on what I wanted, and now a £115 guitar has sent my thinking skewiff. And threads like this don't help. Enjoy, though.

UnclePsychosis

Sesh said:

Christ. I was planning on this being a very rare (for me) new guitar month . I was 99% decided on what I wanted, and now a £115 guitar has sent my thinking skewiff. And threads like this don't help. Enjoy, though.

Try before you buy. You might not like it---or maybe I got lucky and the rest are dogs.

Jack_

I'ma enjoy picking one of these up for £60 used in the future.

Your photos of the blue make it look much more attractive than stock photos, it looks really flat in stock, but it's nice to see it's got some sparkle, especially as the colour choices are so limited.

UnclePsychosis

Jack_ said:

I'ma enjoy picking one of these up for £60 used in the future.

Your photos of the blue make it look much more attractive than stock photos, it looks really flat in stock, but it's nice to see it's got some sparkle, especially as the colour choices are so limited.

---Yeah, I wasn't desperately taken with the stock photos. I went for the blue entirely because my other guitar is black but I'm really glad I did now. The finish really is nice. 

Sesh

UnclePsychosis said:

Sesh said:

Christ. I was planning on this being a very rare (for me) new guitar month . I was 99% decided on what I wanted, and now a £115 guitar has sent my thinking skewiff. And threads like this don't help. Enjoy, though.

Try before you buy. You might not like it---or maybe I got lucky and the rest are dogs.

My kids are 12 and 7, and always want a strum on my guitars, so "buying one of the kids" has crossed my mind. My worry there would be if they liked it and wouldn't let me play!

rlw

Shame it's got the wrong logo on it -:)

littlethoughts

I hadn't even heard of this until today and now I'm going to go to the music shop this weekend. I love that finish.

paulnb57

£115? Sounds an utter bargain, what a great modding platform! If only I didnt have so many already!.....

paulnb57

Is it very heavy?

rossi

I just got a blue  one from PMT Norwich .Sweet so far and having a guitar liking grandson  it may well have a some real future hard use ;light and very playable .Like others have said the frets need a polish .I am playing at fairly low volume through a THR 10C and good so far .I do have small hands so should really have gone short scale decades ago .Its all a no brainer really .