NGD / Modding project / Squier CV Mustang

roberty · October 2022

This landed yesterday. I'm really impressed with it. It's quite heavy, just a tad more than my Tele, but I think that's good thing on a small bodied guitar. The neck is great. The whole thing hums in a pleasing way. Also, the pickups are excellent. I would never be able to tell you it was a Squier without looking. Very impressive

The laurel fingerboard is a bit ashy looking, I hope to remedy this with some sort of oil or wax. I haven't had much luck in the past with that though. Also it is more of a custard colour than aged white in real life. I think a white/ish pickguard will help deceive the eyes into thinking it is more of an off-white

Anyway I plan to turn this into a fire breathing drop tuned beast. I thought it would be a fun thing to do on this style of guitar. I will no doubt have some questions about wiring when the time comes. Maybe pickup selection - DiMarzio have a decent range of of single sized high output humbuckers that I am interested in

Funkfingers · October 2022

roberty said:
DiMarzio has a decent range of of single sized high output humbuckers that I am interested in.

Don't forget that, compared to most Fender guitars, the bridge pickup cavity in the Mustang is routed backwards. The protruding portion of the pickup baseplate - where the output conductors are connected to the ends of the coil - faces towards the neck.

One upshot of this is that coil splitting a Rails/Track pickup can mute the "wrong" coil.

roberty said:
I think a white/ish pickguard will help deceive the eyes into thinking it is more of an off-white

Pre-CBS pickguard convention was white on dark opaque colours and tort on light opaque colours.

CBS overturned convention with their black/white/black 'guards but this did look pretty good on black Mustang and Musicmaster guitars.

Unless you block the vibrato bridge and tailpiece, Drop Tunings (in the correct sense of the term) will upset the guitar's tuning stability.

Short scale Down Tuning is another kettle of fish. It is conventional to maintain string tension by choosing heavier gauge sets. (e.g. Elevens, twelves or thirteens on a Jaguar.) For every two semitones that you drop, your strings probably need to go up another gauge.

I, for one, would not expect a budget recreation of the Fender Dynamic Vibrato to cope.

Check out the YouTube videos of Mike "Puisheen" Adams for helpful Mustang and Jag-Stang set-up tips.

roberty · October 2022

@Funkfingers cool mate yes I expect the vibrato system will be a challenge. I use 11s in D standard on Gibson scale and that is on the loose side of things for me. D'Addario do a 12 gauge set with an unwound G which I fancy giving a go

For the electronics, I think this will be possible, I'd like the front slider to be a pickup selector and the back slider to be a series/parallel/split for the bridge humbucker. I think I'll need ON-ON-ON switches for that. I'll try the stock bridge pickup in the neck position to start. I'll probably wire it out of phase

I'm not concerned with vintage accuracy really. I want to put a decal on it somewhere. It'll probably take a while to get everything done with the other bits and bobs I'm doing

Funkfingers · October 2022

The existing Mustang slider switches are on-on-on. It is the way the jumper wires between the terminals are arranged that makes the centre positions pass no signal.

roberty · October 2022

Ah I should probably add that the reason I want to do this is because I wish I hadn't sold the '78 Musicmaster I used to have. Here I am with it in 2008. It would be fun to create something similar that suits my current style of playing. So this is me hammering a square peg into a round hole

roberty · October 2022

Funkfingers said:

The existing Mustang slider switches are on-on-on. It is the way the jumper wires between the terminals are arranged that makes the centre positions pass no signal.

Cool that's good to know. I was googling and there are some ON-OFF-ON ones out there

Funkfingers · October 2022

roberty said:

the reason I want to do this is because I wish I hadn't sold the '78 Musicmaster I used to have.

Might be worth having a word with @HarrySeven ;

H7 has a Fender Musicmaster guitar that he occasionally considers selling.

HarrySeven · October 2022

Funkfingers said:

roberty said:

the reason I want to do this is because I wish I hadn't sold the '78 Musicmaster I used to have.

Might be worth having a word with @HarrySeven ;

H7 has a Fender Musicmaster guitar that he occasionally considers selling.

It's true. He does.

But not at the moment.

Creed_Clicks · October 2022

I had one of these, modded it, took it apart, sold it in parts

.

Lovely guitar for the money, but I would upgrade to modern tuners. That's just me. The pickguard cracked fairly easily too, and the switches didn't work after a month. Well one of the switches. All easy fixes though.

I have GAS for another one now. Lovely guitar to play. Nice and light, and comfortable.

When I did take it apart, I was going to use the neck for a Squier Jaguar body, but it didn't fit the neck pocket. Not sure if that's normal with Squiers in that they have random measurements!

I have seen one with a 24" aluminium neck. Must be neck dive city!

You could also put in a hardtail conversion plate, or upgrade the springs in the tremolo. Have you seen this video (several videos, here's part 1):

roberty · October 2022

Creed_Clicks said:

I had one of these, modded it, took it apart, sold it in parts .

Lovely guitar for the money, but I would upgrade to modern tuners. That's just me. The pickguard cracked fairly easily too, and the switches didn't work after a month. Well one of the switches. All easy fixes though.

I have GAS for another one now. Lovely guitar to play. Nice and light, and comfortable.

When I did take it apart, I was going to use the neck for a Squier Jaguar body, but it didn't fit the neck pocket. Not sure if that's normal with Squiers in that they have random measurements!

I've encountered my first issue which is one of the adjustment grub screws for the bridge was stuck tight. The screw was soft enough that the head was stripped immediately when I tried to adjust it. I managed to get it out by heating it with a soldering iron and using a pair of pliers. I have it in a good spot now but I have ordered a bunch of new stainless steel grub screws that hopefully fit, because I'm a chronic tweaker

The tuners do feel gross so I'll probably change them. And the switches are pretty crappy feeling, too

I will probably end up changing the pots and the jack as well. I want a 500k pot for the bridge humbucker and I'll use a fixed resistor to lower that to 250k for the single coil in the neck

Someone on eBay is selling Mustang pickguards to fit fit Squier CV. Not cheap but I'll probably do that

It is a nice guitar though. If I thought it was crap I would have returned it. Really nice to play unplugged and the plugged in sound is great, too

This is why people say they're good "for the money" I suppose!

roberty · October 2022

@Creed_Clicks that video embed is buggered - that happens when you edit your post and you have to embed it again

I was supposed to be going to London tonight but I didn't know about the train strike so I've had to stay at home. I had a first little peak under the hood of the Mustang and learnt how the trem works

First thing I did was replace the grub screws in the bridge. They are M3 3mm x 14mm cone point hex screws if anyone is looking for them. I got some stainless steel ones. I wrapped them in plumber's tape to stop them from shifting around. I have more confidence in these not stripping or getting stuck

I had a little look under the pickguard to see what horror awaits and also to measure the distance between the mounting screws on the switches. I am pleasantly surprised by the neatness of the wiring. It's much better than my Vintera 50's Modified Tele which is a complete rat's nest

I actually like the look of the laurel when it has wax and oil on it. It's quite a busy grain pattern which I find pleasing

The wood has split around this pickguard hole. I might squirt some glue into it but I don't know how you would clamp this. There are plenty of screws for the pickguard anyway so it doesn't really matter:

I got this decal for it but I'm not pleased with the quality. It's a low res image that's been blown up. You can't really tell in the photo but it's obvious when you look at it up close. I'm going to send it back and look for a better one:

The tremolo is working well but there is a bit of a knock and a bump in the travel. I'm not sure if this is:

Inherent to the design
A setup issue
Poor quality hardware

Does anyone know? I've put some nut sauce in the fulcrum. I don't know if it will do anything but it probably won't hurt

roberty · October 2022

Shimmed it after dinner. It's coming together. It sounds great. The pickups are so good

Funkfingers · October 2022

roberty said:
I got this decal

Why? It looks like the chintz floral pattern from a tea pot and/or dinner service.

roberty said:

It's coming together. It sounds great. The pickups are so good

Good enough to ditch your plans for a Rails/Track type humbucker?

It is possible to reconfigure the slider switches to add series interconnection to the existing four coil permutations. Keep the neck pickup switch standard on/off/reverse. Alter the jumper wires on the switch for the bridge pickup to offer on (parallel) / off / on (series). The schematic diagram for this circuit is available on t'Interweb. I shall try to furnish a hyperlink to it tomorrow.

roberty · October 2022

Funkfingers said:

roberty said:
I got this decal

Why? It looks like the chintz floral pattern from a tea pot and/or dinner service.

Yeah going for maximum kitsch. It'll look like your grandmother's tea cups and sound like the end of the world

Funkfingers said:

roberty said:

It's coming together. It sounds great. The pickups are so good

Good enough to ditch your plans for a Rails/Track type humbucker?

It is possible to reconfigure the slider switches to add series interconnection to the existing four coil permutations. Keep the neck pickup switch standard on/off/reverse. Alter the jumper wires on the switch for the bridge pickup to offer on (parallel) / off / on (series). The schematic diagram for this circuit is available on t'Interweb. I shall try to furnish a hyperlink to it tomorrow.

Cool thanks. I've got a Dimarzio Tone Zone S coming. Going to try that in the bridge with the stock bridge pup in the neck

Spotted some 35.7mm switches at AxesRUs so I'll get a couple with white sliders and solder them up fresh instead of desoldering the factory ones. Easier to reverse too if I ever decide to

Creed_Clicks · October 2022

LastMantra · October 2022

roberty said:

@Creed_Clicks that video embed is buggered - that happens when you edit your post and you have to embed it again

I was supposed to be going to London tonight but I didn't know about the train strike so I've had to stay at home. I had a first little peak under the hood of the Mustang and learnt how the trem works

First thing I did was replace the grub screws in the bridge. They are M3 3mm x 14mm cone point hex screws if anyone is looking for them. I got some stainless steel ones. I wrapped them in plumber's tape to stop them from shifting around. I have more confidence in these not stripping or getting stuck

I had a little look under the pickguard to see what horror awaits and also to measure the distance between the mounting screws on the switches. I am pleasantly surprised by the neatness of the wiring. It's much better than my Vintera 50's Modified Tele which is a complete rat's nest

I actually like the look of the laurel when it has wax and oil on it. It's quite a busy grain pattern which I find pleasing

The wood has split around this pickguard hole. I might squirt some glue into it but I don't know how you would clamp this. There are plenty of screws for the pickguard anyway so it doesn't really matter:

I got this decal for it but I'm not pleased with the quality. It's a low res image that's been blown up. You can't really tell in the photo but it's obvious when you look at it up close. I'm going to send it back and look for a better one:

The tremolo is working well but there is a bit of a knock and a bump in the travel. I'm not sure if this is:

Inherent to the design
A setup issue
Poor quality hardware
Does anyone know? I've put some nut sauce in the fulcrum. I don't know if it will do anything but it probably won't hurt

If you can't get a clamp over to the edge of the body you could maybe wedge something in to the cavity against it? Or even use a small screw to pull it together, maybe remove it after if it gets in the way of the pickgaurd screw or just leave if it doesn't.
Or if you use superglue you could probably just push it together yourself.
It would need to be strong though or it will just split again, especially if you pack the hole to stop the pg screw spinning.

Just ideas.

Looking good!

roberty · October 2022

Cheers @LastMantra. ;

I'm a few coats of wax in, seems to be taking:

This thing will just about fit. I decided to keep it since the colours match so well. I will keep the pickguard for this reason too:

I've got a Tone Zone S coming with an aged white cover, also alpha pots and new slider switches with white tips. Gonna do it with cloth braided wire like a stupid hipster

roberty · October 2022

Got a switchcraft jack coming too. In for a penny etc

roberty · October 2022

The pickup arrived today and there's good and bad news. The good news is there's no bit sticking out so I can orientate it in either direction. The bad news is there's no wire on it, just five pins, so I've got to figure that out. I suppose it will be useful if I want to swap it for another dimarzio later

Pickups should really come with wire

roberty · October 2022

The decal curled up when I wet it and got damaged. I don't mind though because it's meant to look a bit shabby and it'll start coming off anyway when it's being played

I'll do a couple of light coats of clear coat once it's fully dried

roberty · October 2022

DiMarzio are going to send me a hookup wire for that pickup. There should have been a wire in the box. This will make swapping pickups easier in the future I guess, if I decide I don't like it

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NGD / Modding project / Squier CV Mustang

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