1960s/1970s Fender Mustang Bass Electric Bass Guitar (Refin)

2025 update! In early 2025 I bought this from the owner and started using it. At that time, I did some additional work on this to make it just a little bit better! 

This is a kick-butt old Mustang Bass that is very much a mixer's special. The body is later '60s make due to its cut (three folks schooled me on this, thanks!) and the owner specified that the neck is a '69 but it seems more likely it's early '70s which was my guesstimate anyhow, having been the proud owner of many Musicmaster Bass necks that are essentially the same. The neckplate serial dates to '73 so I think that's probably the neck's date as that's what it looks like.

The markings for the date have rubbed-off at the heel. All of the hardware, the pickups, pickguard, etc. -- are unoriginal -- and the body is refinished. The body looks like it had a humbucker of some sort fit to it and, before refinishing, the extra routing was plugged and a fresh rout done for the pickups. Unfortunately, neither the pickguard, pickups, or control plate matched-up in locations (all previously had gaps between them) so I had to fudge the rout edges for the pickups a bit to get a new, relic'd tortoise pickguard (that I bought for it) to fit nicely and tidy-up the look.

The body does appear to be poplar considering the color and grain of the small bits of wood I removed.

One other highlight is that the guy who fit the tuners actually went to the trouble to cut the new tuner knobs down to the original-ish lollipop shape! I'm pretty impressed by that.

As per the usual, it got the glorified setup work it needed -- Ancel leveled and dressed the frets and set it up spot-on -- and it's ready to go -- and has been a faithful, easy-to-live-with bass since it arrived here way back in early 2024 (it's now July, 2025).

The only reason I am selling-on is because I sing and play bass and having the scale difference between my acoustic bass (34") and this guy when doing different gigs was not good for the brain or fingers (I don't like to have to "look" when I'm trying to remember words). I love the sound, feel, and look of this sucker!

Repairs included: It got a level/dress of the frets, setup, and some various tweaking.

• Weight: 7 lbs 9 oz
• Scale length: 30"
• Nut width: 1 9/16"
• Neck shape: slim-med C
• Board radius: 7 1/4"
• Body width: 12"
• Body depth: 1 1/2"
• Body wood: poplar
• Bridge: repro
• Fretboard: rosewood
• Neck wood: maple
• Pickups: repro humbucking
• Action height at 12th fret: 1/16” overall (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 100w-40w or similar flatwounds
• Truss rod: adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium

Condition notes: It's in good shape, of course, but has been extensively reconditioned with new parts, new finish on the body, etc. -- the neck feels completely right but it has been refretted at one point. There are a couple tiny dings in the finish which are pictured.

It comes with: It's got a gigbag.

Consignor tag: JW