Ben Gibbard Mustang

Whitecat

Someone on the offsetguitars forum got one. TL;DR summary:

- 3 piece body, but it’s light - 6.5lbs
- volume taper is almost useless
- Ben’s signature is silkscreened on the back of the headstock
- the neck is huge
- it “sounds like Ben”

His ultimate conclusion is that it’s both worth it and not worth it. Yay! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

JD50

Musicman20 said:

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

...or a YouTube guitar product demo player.... it's like giving some bod on the shopping channel a signature bread maker.

guitargeek62

barnstorm said:

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.

Oh! How bizarre, that seems like a backwards step for sure!

cm01

Didn't have the foggiest who he was, so googled him and was pleasantly surprised ... 'Gold Rush' is one of my favourite tunes form the last few years

Whitecat

richardhomer said:

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

Just say “the guy from Postal Service” then when you forget his name.

DeeTee

Musicman20 said:

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

Now now, don't forget everyone in a metal band.

barnstorm

Whitecat said:

Someone on the offsetguitars forum got one. TL;DR summary:

- 3 piece body, but it’s light - 6.5lbs
- volume taper is almost useless
- Ben’s signature is silkscreened on the back of the headstock
- the neck is huge
- it “sounds like Ben”

His ultimate conclusion is that it’s both worth it and not worth it. Yay! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Can only assume that's someone used to diddy vintage necks, unless something's gone seriously wrong at the factory. The pics show that the edges aren't rolled at all, which might be making the difference in feel. On/off volume control is a real annoyance!

Whitecat

barnstorm said:

Whitecat said:

Someone on the offsetguitars forum got one. TL;DR summary:

- 3 piece body, but it’s light - 6.5lbs
- volume taper is almost useless
- Ben’s signature is silkscreened on the back of the headstock
- the neck is huge
- it “sounds like Ben”

His ultimate conclusion is that it’s both worth it and not worth it. Yay! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Can only assume that's someone used to diddy vintage necks, unless something's gone seriously wrong at the factory. The pics show that the edges aren't rolled at all, which might be making the difference in feel. On/off volume control is a real annoyance!

Could be. Those guys are used to Jazzmaster necks though which are generally “medium” at biggest. Maybe a lack of taper is contributing to that too. 

JD50

Whitecat said:

barnstorm said:

Whitecat said:

Someone on the offsetguitars forum got one. TL;DR summary:

- 3 piece body, but it’s light - 6.5lbs
- volume taper is almost useless
- Ben’s signature is silkscreened on the back of the headstock
- the neck is huge
- it “sounds like Ben”

His ultimate conclusion is that it’s both worth it and not worth it. Yay! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Can only assume that's someone used to diddy vintage necks, unless something's gone seriously wrong at the factory. The pics show that the edges aren't rolled at all, which might be making the difference in feel. On/off volume control is a real annoyance!

Could be. Those guys are used to Jazzmaster necks though which are generally “medium” at biggest. Maybe a lack of taper is contributing to that too. 

I'd imagine they mean huge in comparison to regular/vintage Mustangs.

I have a few vintage shortscales, Jaguar , Mustang and a Musicmaster.... the necks are very different to each other with the Mustang being particularly thinner, the Musicmaster is thick like my Les Paul Special.

Yasawas

Musicman20 said:

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

Already cringing in advance at the surely forthcoming Anderton's video where they open with several grim minutes of inappropriate noodling regardless.

In all seriousness though I agree, but Fender have a decent record in this regard imo - Coxon, Marr, Mascis (twice!), Corgan, Shiflett, Ranaldo/Moore, Morello, that guy I'd never heard of with the recent Musicmaster etc. Loads of 'em. I like that they continue to do it and especially that they do more than just Strat and Tele guys but nearly four figures for a Mustang is pushing it. And that's not a slight on their Mexican output, just more of my gut feel on where a Mustang sits in the range.

And from a personal standpoint I'm surprised how much of a Mustang's usual appeal to me is contrast-coloured pickup covers/slider switches and especially those shitty-looking plastic machineheads. I bloody love those.

SPECTRUM001

Yasawas said:

Musicman20 said:

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

Already cringing in advance at the surely forthcoming Anderton's video where they open with several grim minutes of inappropriate noodling regardless.

In all seriousness though I agree, but Fender have a decent record in this regard imo - Coxon, Marr, Mascis (twice!), Corgan, Shiflett, Ranaldo/Moore, Morello, that guy I'd never heard of with the recent Musicmaster etc. Loads of 'em. I like that they continue to do it and especially that they do more than just Strat and Tele guys but nearly four figures for a Mustang is pushing it. And that's not a slight on their Mexican output, just more of my gut feel on where a Mustang sits in the range.

And from a personal standpoint I'm surprised how much of a Mustang's usual appeal to me is contrast-coloured pickup covers/slider switches and especially those shitty-looking plastic machineheads. I bloody love those.

Yes I thought the same about its looks - but I guess he has gone for something similar to his vintage collection.

JD50

Yasawas said:

Musicman20 said:

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

Already cringing in advance at the surely forthcoming Anderton's video where they open with several grim minutes of inappropriate noodling regardless.

In all seriousness though I agree, but Fender have a decent record in this regard imo - Coxon, Marr, Mascis (twice!), Corgan, Shiflett, Ranaldo/Moore, Morello, that guy I'd never heard of with the recent Musicmaster etc. Loads of 'em. I like that they continue to do it and especially that they do more than just Strat and Tele guys but nearly four figures for a Mustang is pushing it. And that's not a slight on their Mexican output, just more of my gut feel on where a Mustang sits in the range.

And from a personal standpoint I'm surprised how much of a Mustang's usual appeal to me is contrast-coloured pickup covers/slider switches and especially those shitty-looking plastic machineheads. I bloody love those.

With regards to the sonic youth guys Ranalado and Moore, the SY tech made the guitars from Allparts necks bodies then Fender made sigs of them, kind of weird like Fender make a Fender of a fake Fender?

..bit like the Slash Les paul I suppose.

Whitecat

Ok, a year and a bit later and I've got one here now thanks to Guitar Village's "Summer Sizzler" sale! GV always had one of the nicest examples in the country but I think they knew it and the price was basically full RRP-at-release less a derisory 10% off during the last BGMS, but for this sale they took a solid chunk of cash off the price making it cheapest in the country by a little bit.

My notes:

Neck at first fret is around .920" (can't get an exact measurement with the strings on but seems to be around that) - and it doesn't taper out a lot. So it is pretty fat!
My particular example has a two-piece body (dead certain of this by looking at the end grain). Have seen a few out there in pics that are probably two but most are three (some better matched than others) so I think that's cool. Weighs just over 6 1/2 lbs but no real neck dive to speak of so nicely balanced.
Unrolled fretboard edges are a bit annoying, kind of getting used to that not being a thing on most guitars these days.
Fretwork is great on mine. If I had to pick out a QC flaw it would be the neck pocket - looks like there is a pinhead-sized lacquer crack at it and it's not an absolute 100% tight fit either (as in, on one side you can see a business-card width gap), but it's not an actual problem, just slightly sloppy.
The wood is beautiful. The poly is thick though, and it's everywhere (neck included) but the gloss natural sure looks nice.
So far it sounds like a Mustang, and kinda like Ben. But probably more like me. Will need more time with louder amps to suss it all out, only been using Amplitube so far.

Creed_Clicks

That Geordie rocker fella is going to have a hard time reviewing this

Philly_Q

I do love the look of swamp ash.

(When this thread first appeared I must have looked up who Ben Gibbard is, but I've forgotten again now.  But that's by the by.)

Creed_Clicks

Looks cool in hindsight, but kind of like a partscaster?

Whitecat

Creed_Clicks said:

Looks cool in hindsight, but kind of like a partscaster?

I mean more like a heavily-modified Mustang which is exactly what it is. You can’t buy the pickups anywhere else, and the body is chambered which means that the only way you’d easily get one is if you bought a Ben Gibbard Mustang body that someone had parted out from the rest of it.