2020s Alden Mustang-Style Electric Guitar

Overview: When my buddy Michael said he was picking up a 24" scale Mustang-style guitar to try out, I thought he meant he'd picked-up a Squier. He instead grabbed this thing, which appears to be mildly new-old-stock, Chinese-made, and branded Alden. I consider this sort of instrument to be a "kit guitar" because, out of the box, they play like garbage and have curious (and often terrible) design choices. That was exactly the case here and it needed a pretty heavy-handed going over to turn it into the quick-playing, quirky little beastie it is now.

Interesting features: The surf green paintjob is not a bad thing to have. I find the mix of a "locking" ABR-style bridge combined with a knockoff Jazzmaster whammy a bit of a strange choice when a Mustang-style whammy would have sufficed -- but, you know fair enough! The "mirror" jackplate and satin-finished pearloid pickguard are also curious choices. I'm not at all sure what, if anything the two little additional slide switches on the pickguard do. The black slider switches do the normal thing (on/off for pickups and coil-swap direction which allows for out-of-phase sounds), however.

Repairs included: I gave it a level/dress of the frets, cleaned-up a bad rout to the neck pocket, and set it up.

• Weight: 7 lbs 1 oz
• Scale length: 24"
• Nut width: 1 11/16"
• Neck shape: slim-medium soft V
• Board radius: 12"
• Depth at first fret: 7/8"
• Depth at seventh fret: 29/32"
• Body width: 12"
• Body depth: 1 5/8"
• Body wood: unsure (basswood?)
• Bridge: roller-saddle, ABR-like
• Fretboard: rosewood family
• Neck wood: maple
• Pickups: 2x single coil
• Action height at 12th fret: 1/16” overall (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 46w-10
• Truss rod: adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium-bigger

Condition notes: It's essentially new.

Consignor tag: MULK