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Published on 08/31/12 at 16:38The Fender Pawnshop series has been interesting, dishing out some of the cooler guitars Fender has to it's name. The idea was to join together ideas from different guitars to mimic what might have been found in the highly modified--secondhand environment. The Mustang special features an alder body, a maple "C" shape neck, and two "enforcer" wide range humbucking pickups. The guitars finish is pleasant to the eyes and it feels more expensive than the tag would suggest. It is surprisingly light as well.
UTILIZATION
I found the switching setup to be awkward but effective. The single coil sounds, while not the best out there, were definitely passable. The 24 inch scale length made for a nice elastic playing feel. I've found that the Fender fret jobs have been shaming Gibson USA's lower cost models for a while now. My only complaint in this department is that the tuning stability is pretty mediocre.
SOUNDS
Played through a Vox AC15 I was able to get some decent clean sounds with both the humbucking and split coil configurations. I felt that the separated coils were more convincing when applying gain. The Mustang Special, while being underpowered for more aggressive styles of music, held it's ground with higher gain levels through a variety of amps. It's strongpoint, however, lies in the low to mid- gain realm.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is my favorite of the series. Fender's sense of aesthetics and finish quality sorely beats out Gibson USA and other manufacturer's at this price point. While tuning stability is at a loss here, the guitar can always be upgraded-- keeping with the spirit of the pawn shop line. With other manufacturer's starting to incorporate coil tap functionality in entry level models, the switching features on the Mustang might seem dated. However, this guitar was never intended to draw out consumers looking for cutting edge feature sets.
UTILIZATION
I found the switching setup to be awkward but effective. The single coil sounds, while not the best out there, were definitely passable. The 24 inch scale length made for a nice elastic playing feel. I've found that the Fender fret jobs have been shaming Gibson USA's lower cost models for a while now. My only complaint in this department is that the tuning stability is pretty mediocre.
SOUNDS
Played through a Vox AC15 I was able to get some decent clean sounds with both the humbucking and split coil configurations. I felt that the separated coils were more convincing when applying gain. The Mustang Special, while being underpowered for more aggressive styles of music, held it's ground with higher gain levels through a variety of amps. It's strongpoint, however, lies in the low to mid- gain realm.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is my favorite of the series. Fender's sense of aesthetics and finish quality sorely beats out Gibson USA and other manufacturer's at this price point. While tuning stability is at a loss here, the guitar can always be upgraded-- keeping with the spirit of the pawn shop line. With other manufacturer's starting to incorporate coil tap functionality in entry level models, the switching features on the Mustang might seem dated. However, this guitar was never intended to draw out consumers looking for cutting edge feature sets.