Finally a detailed video on this one! Love the color. Love the headstock. It looks far closer to the vintage shape than any other reissue mustang bass. Put flats on that thing and it's good to go. Rounds on a mustang bass just seems wrong in my book. My book isn't published...it only exists in my mind...a very theoretical book...but Fender did sell them with flatwounds from 1966-1980/81...so there's that.
wow! very thorough. But I already have a 1st gen fender mustang pj bass I got exactly 6 years ago, but I'm crazy drawn to the look and feng shui of this new vintera. But I kind of get the vibe that the vintage accurate mustang split coil is flimsy w less low end compared to the pbass split coil in my mustang pj bass. I also really love a jazz bass bridge pickup for Jaco pastorius and smooth, solid, tone knob rolled down tones, which the vintera doesn't have. But still I love the look/sound of the new vintera! Wish I had some input
Mustang basses can fit in some guitar gig bags so, it's way easier to carry it around or in your car trunk. Man, this finish is sick and if it has a thinner neck, I want one.
Bill Wyman from The Rolling Stones uses this bass but its yellow with a red stripe and Kurt Cobain got the guitar version of this in the smells like teen spirit video.
This bass comes in two colors. The other one is yellow with a red stripe like Bill Wyman's bass. Fun fact the Wyman bass is the most expensive bass ever sold at $380,000 in 2020.
You never mentioned the two contours on the back of the body that makes it the lightest and most comfortable Mustang bass Fender sells. The others just have the old clunky slab body.
Why is it that bassists who use flatwounds ALWAYS seem to come on RU-vid and say "this XXX bass needs a set of flatwounds." For God's sake, if you want flatwounds on it, put them on and quit being an activist. We don't need to know that you want flatwounds on it. I have about half of my basses with flats and half with rounds. I don't remember ever going onto a bass review video and immediately declaring that a bass needs this or that kind of string. It's a personal choice. So why even mention it? Each of us will put whatever kind of strings ring our bell. Anyway, rant over... this Mustang Bass sounds great. Another bass on my bucket list to buy. Along with the new Tele bass. Fender is hitting on all cylinders with this last "Vintera II" line.
Have you noticed that most of those comments are directed at short scale basses? Let's face it, short scale basses have a floppy and rubber band like quality when paired with roundwounds. The string tension gets very tight on full-scale bass with flatwounds. It feels like plucking steel rods to me. I think that all shortscale basses are more compatible with flats because it immediately solves the floppy low tension issue while still allowing the strings to be flexible enough to encourage bending of the strings. As you mentioned, this is a personal preference. However, I don't feel that it's a personal preference on the Fender Vintera (version one) 60s Mustang Bass or the Squier Classic Vibe 60s Mustang Bass or the JMJ Roadworn Mustang Bass. Why do I say this? Because these Mustang are all designed to look and feel like 60s Mustang basses which originally came with string mutes and flatwound strings. In fact, the majority of all 60s basses came with flatwound strings. Roundwounds were still custom order bass strings in the mid-60s when the Mustang came out. It wasn't until the 70s that more bassists began to desire rounds after hearing guys like John Entwistle and Chris Squire, who had been playing them for many years. I think that it's a fair criticism of most 60s-style basses to say that they should come with flats. What's the point of buying a vintage 60s style tribute bass and then stringing it with 70s and later strings? I mean, sure, many 70s bassists were re-stringing their 60s and early 70s basses with the newer roundwounds, but it's my understanding that many basses didn't come from the factory with rounds until the mid to late 70s. According to what I read on the Fender website, flats dominated in the 60s and rounds didn't come into widespread use until the 70s. I feel that this is a good argument for certain basses to come with flats.
@@skybluemarshallPersonally, it doesn't matter to me what kind of strings come on a new bass. They immediately get changed to my preferred strings anyway: usually DR Pure Blues (rounds) and once in a while Ernie Ball Slinky Flatwounds. As for the "floppiness" on short scale basses, that is easily remedied by getting strings with thicker cores like DR DDT strings--the idea there is that for a given gauge of string (say 105), you can get lower or higher tension based on the core thickness (so higher tension have a thicker core and thinner outer wrap). Think about it: this is the case with flatwounds as well. For the same gauge of string you can get crazy high tension like Labellas and way lower tension like Ernie Ball Slinky flatwounds. Slinky flatwound 105s are WAY less tension than Labellas of the same gauge (also, Thomastik-Infeld and Dogal Hellborg flats are super light tension, mainly because of the core construction, not the overall gauge). Right now my Mustang has 105 DR roundwounds and they are not at all "floppy" because I picked a string with thick core. Ultimately, it doesn't matter to me what kind of strings came on a bass in 1960 any more than it matters to me what kind of tires came on a 1960 Chevy. Technology changes and if I had a 1960 Chevy, I would put modern tires on it, not what they were making in 1960. Speaking of 1960... my main basses are four Fender Custom Shop 1960 reissue Jazz Basses--three of them have roundwounds on them and one has flatwounds (EB Slinky flats). They all sound good but I far prefer the rounds for most situations.
@christocr I still think that it's a fair criticism, especially for a 60s Mustang, which originally came with flatwound strings. The name Vintera implies "vintage." If they didn't have a string through body, a Mustang bridge, or Mustang pickups, everyone would hit the roof and slam it for not being authentic. I mean, look at them. They even have a lower finger rest for plucking with the thumb, which very few modern players do. If you're going for that level of authenticity, then why not put some flats on it? I agree that it's not a big deal to change the strings. It also wasn't a big deal to file down almost every fret on my Mustang PJ because they were too sharp, and they tore up my hand. It also wasn't a big deal to re-paint the inside of the body cavity with actual ground shielding paint, instead of the fake black paint that did absolutely nothing (I tested it with a meter) or shield the pickguard with copper tape to alleviate the terrible noise that occurred every time I switched on my ceiling lights. It also wasn't a big deal to swap out the crappy three-way switch, which constantly cut out every time I used it. It also wasn't a big deal to install lightweight tuners and a heavier high mass bridge to alleviate the very noticeable neck dive. At this point, I'm pretty f*cking sick of working my Mustang PJ to make it suit my needs. The least they can do is ship them with some decent flatwound strings. Virtually no one on the bass forums likes the stock strings on their Mustangs except for some of the owners of JMJ Mustang basses, which coincidentally come with FLATWOUND STRINGS!!! Now, that is a proper rant! 😂
@@skybluemarshall Fake shielding paint... now THAT is chintzy. Sheesh, real shielding paint isn't even any more expensive than regular paint. I hear you though... every Fender I buy, I just plan on doing the copper foil thing or the shielding paint. Even the Custom Shop basses. Because otherwise it is single coil hum and grounding pop/buzz city. Well, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on the flatwound point though. I have no proof, but I suspect that the very loud and vocal "flatwound advocates" on RU-vid and Talkbass are just that: a very loud minority. I'll bet bass string sales for rounds still far outrank flatwound sales. Personally, of the dozen or so bassists I know well enough to know what gear they use, two of them are flats-only players, five of them use both and the rest use only roundwounds. Right now, I have 5 basses with DR or EB rounds and 6 with EB Cobalt flat (and two on the workbench with no strings). And if you'll note, it's almost always a thread for "vintage style instruments" like this one where so many people scream about flatwound strings. I've rarely seen anyone crying flatwound on a Fodera, F-bass, MTD, Tobias, etc video. Or even an Ibanez video. So, certain instruments and a full moon bring out certain string advocates... 😁
@christocr Yeah, I was pretty pissed off when I ohmed out that fake black paint, especially when they grounded the electronics the the paint and then to the bridge. What the hell was that supposed to do? Overall, I'm pretty disappointed in my PJ Mustang, which is my first ever PJ style bass. Never again! Single coils need to be paired with single coils, so you can adjust both pickups to cancel the hum if necessary. Pairing a single coil with a split coil leaves you with no option to kill the 60 cycle hum. I had to put a full set Dimarzio pickups in my bass to kill all the noise. I also now realize that I hate slab bodies (also my first time). Even though my bass is a far better instrument now than when I first bought it, I think that I should sell my PJ and buy a 70s Vintera Mustang. I like contoured bodies, P-style tone, low noise, short scale, and silky smooth flatwound strings. I wish I knew all this before this PJ Mustang forced me to become a half-ass Luthier. I have literally swapped out or modified every major component on this bass. The only thing I haven't done is unbolt the neck. I should've bought a Squier to learn on. It would've been cheaper.
I tried both. The JMJ ships with flatwounds, so it has less treble to begin with. It definitely has that plonky Beck bass sound. It looks and feels a lot like a vintage instrument. It's also a bit lighter in weight than the Vintera II (about 5 ounces less, in my limited comparison). The Vintera II has a more solid bridge setup, so it has more sustain. It feels & sounds better when slapping. The pickup is a little hotter, with a bit more high end. It also has a belly carve on the top of the back edge, so it's a little more comfortable against your body. The rosewood on the fretboard is also darker than the JMJ. And of course the fretboard radius is 7.25" versus the 9.25" radius of the JMJ. I like the tighter vintage radius a bit better on the Mustang bass. Though I had wanted the JMJ for a couple of years, I wound up gravitating to the Vintera II. It just looks and feels right, plays well, and sounds great. With flatwounds, you could make it sound like the JMJ. Of course it's a little cheaper than the JMJ. Both are terrific instruments for the money.
Hard to compare because of the flats on the JMJ..but I would venture to say I like the pickup more on that. I dislike the roadworn nitro finish in it though (that my be an unpopular take), and prefer the Gloss Urethene for it's better stability in dry/humid environments. While nothing is perfect, I owned a Nate Mendal bass (same finish) and always struggled w/ it. Thanks for watching - Anthony
Great question... there have been a few oddballs trough the years. Maybe a deep dive through it all is needed to confirm that! Thanks for watching - Anthony