This 1969 Fender Mustang electric guitar was a birthday gift to the original owner when he was back in high school. You can imagine the look on a teenager's face back in 1970 when he walks into a guitar shop and sees that sparkly red with white stripes paint job. The paint job wasn't quite enough to encourage that kid to play the guitar so it went back in the case. It came out of the closet recently and still had the old heavy gauge flat wound strings on it.
I had my luthier Jason Burns set up the guitar for 10s and he was surprised to see that none of the screws had ever been turned on it. The neck had never been off and truss rod showed no signs of having ever been adjusted. The nut was factory height and completely untouched. The frets have zero playing wear on them. The only thing that had ever been done was a slight file on the fret ends, likely done by a well meaning guitar instructor back in the day. The original owner said that he had allowed a friend to borrow the guitar back in the day and the it came back a week later with those scratches on the back. It's been cleaned and setup perfectly. All electronics are original and untouched except for a light lubrication and cleaning with contact cleaner. This Mustang is in such great condition that it's perfect for both the stage, studio or display case. The frets are ready for a full lifetime of playing and the electronics function like new.
The Fender Mustang debuted in 1964 just as that Ford model of the same name came out. It wasn't until 1969 that the Mustang got a new paint job with racing stripes down upper bass bout. The Mustang only came in this configuration with matching headstock from 1969 to 1970. The Competition Mustangs came in Orange with red stripes, blue with light blue stripes or red with cream white stripes. The scale length is 24" from nut to bridge, exactly the same as a Jaguar. The pickup selector configuration gives the option for each individual pickup to be on, off or out of phase allowing for unique tonal opportunities.
