Ben Gibbard Mustang

duotone

https://shop.fender.com/en-GB/electric-guitars/mustang/ben-gibbard-mustang/0141332321.html

https://youtu.be/0qwJnyelGb0

“I’ve been playing 70’s-era Fender Mustangs for almost a decade and have found them to be the perfect guitars for my style of guitar playing. After five years working hand in hand with Fender, I am beyond excited to unveil my brand new Signature Mustang to you guys. As a front person I’ve often found myself frustrated with toggle switches while playing live. Therefore, we’ve built this guitar with the same modifications made to the vintage Mustangs you’ve seen me playing onstage. Creating this instrument has been a true highlight of my career. And I am honored that Fender took this project on and helped bring it to fruition. I hope you guys dig it! Xo Ben P.S. Check out Fender’s latest episode of Tracks to watch what my songwriting process was like for “Black Sun” using my Signature Mustang.”

https://youtu.be/EDRgDs15j8c

Whitecat

I kinda want one but want to see what the weights of them are - hoping the chambering means that they are light, but also worried that due to the swamp ash shortage they are using the absolute heaviest stuff to start with, wood that would be unusable on any other solid body...

guitargeek62

The problem is, you can buy an original for that money - or less if you’re patient! The new one’s probably a ‘better’ guitar though

Whitecat

guitargeek62 said:

The problem is, you can buy an original for that money - or less if you’re patient! The new one’s probably a ‘better’ guitar though

For sure they have ironed out a lot of the useless annoyances of the originals. I probably would prefer this, but beyond that, a better buy still is probably a Player Series hardtail Mustang which I've seen as low as £399 recently. I suppose there may be something magical about the Gibbard pickups that we have yet to discover though, but you could completely pimp out the aforementioned PS stang with Mojo pickups and hardware upgrades and still come in under the price of this.

Have seen a guy now trying to sell an 00's MIJ natural ash Mustang on Reverb for £1100 though with the tagline 'eat your heart out, Ben Gibbard' on the listing... sigh.

robdynamite

Yeah, but look how cool it looks!

robdynamite

I will say I dig the "disguised" pick up selector though.

barnstorm

Will be interesting to see exactly how/how much it's been chambered. Agree it's quite appealing on paper. I still hate the plastic truss rod sleeve, but at least here it sort of matches the natural body/black guard.

jpttaylor

robdynamite said:

I will say I dig the "disguised" pick up selector though.

Agreed, and it makes me feel less stupid for spending a minute looking at the picture thinking "wow he must just really love both pickups."

SPECTRUM001

Interesting...FWIW, I was told these are not going to be in the UK until June.

There appears to be a closer relationship between bridge and neck than other Mustangs I have heard - which I quite like. Per his NME interview, Ben has said this a guitar designed with *playing and singing in mind (ie less to think about).

*counts me out then !

JD50

The trem and switches is what makes the Mustang fun, for me anyway.

stickyfiddle

I’m not mega fussed on the looks but everything in both clips sounded really brilliant. I think the Mustang is the only classic Fender design I’ve never played. Must rectify...!

SPECTRUM001

Totally agree - I think it looks pretty unexciting, but sounds great.

guitargeek62

barnstorm said:

Will be interesting to see exactly how/how much it's been chambered. Agree it's quite appealing on paper. I still hate the plastic truss rod sleeve, but at least here it sort of matches the natural body/black guard.

Eh? Do you mean the walnut plug?

not_the_dj

Only guitar I’ve had with a rotary pick-up selector was a PRS, and that was a pain to use live (and most mod them out). 

richardhomer

Is it just me who hates the name of the guy’s band?

not_the_dj

richardhomer said:

Is it just me who hates the name of the guy’s band?

Is it just me that doesn’t even know what band he’s in!

SPECTRUM001

I didn't realise until a while ago the name is a song title from the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - and then I forgave them !!

Cranky

Chambered body and hardtail are cool.  But the disguised pickup selector is worthy of ridicule, I'd never buy an electric without a proper tone pot and I don't have any issues with traditional Mustang switches.

Vintera is still the Mustang for me.

barnstorm

guitargeek62 said:

barnstorm said:

Will be interesting to see exactly how/how much it's been chambered. Agree it's quite appealing on paper. I still hate the plastic truss rod sleeve, but at least here it sort of matches the natural body/black guard.

Eh? Do you mean the walnut plug?

It's a black plastic sleeve on the Mexican guitars that adjust from the headstock. Wouldn't stop me buying a guitar that I loved otherwise, but I do find it an eyesore.

stickyfiddle

I think my ideal would be a pickup switch in the JM location like the AM Pro Mustang has. But my main takeaway is that Mustangs sound great for that style

Musicman20

Thank god a normal band artist gets a guitar. Makes a change from all the normal blues guys.