Fender Mustang Dakota Red 1966
Fender Mustang, Dakota red, made in USA 1966. The Mustang launched in 1964, adding a bunch of handy appointments to Fender's student model line at the time. The short 24" scale, comfy small sized body and unique sound went on to find favour with everyone from Norah Jones to Kurt Cobain. This one dates to 1966, early into the CBS era, so it gets the cool large headstock with bold logos, a slab style body with no belly carve and a gorgeous Brazilian rosewood radius laminate fretboard, all very era-specific touches. It's all original save for a nice new bone nut our friendly house tech installed: original pickups, switches, pots, caps, tuners and trem arm are all included, although the case is a new one. It's playing very nicely, with a comfy moderate C shaped neck that's seen plenty of hours and all the hardware behaving as it should. The natural resonance and unplugged volume are very impressive; there's nothing like an original 60s era guitar when it comes to that inherent liveliness and character. The tone is great: there's heaps of punch and fullness to the pickups. The low end is fast and round, with a lovely plump musicality and naturally short sustain, while the mids are wide and smooth and the rounded out by a chirpy, articulate top end. The original finish is in good shape, with plenty of normal play wear, checking lines and scuffs around the place adding to the street smart charm. This is a pretty manageable way to get your hands on a legitimate 60s Fender in great shape, and all sorts of fun to hear and play. What's not to love?
Model: Fender Mustang
Made: USA, 1966
Serial: 139585
Finish: Dakota red, gloss nitro
Body: poplar, slab style
Neck: maple, radius laminate Brazilian rosewood fretboard, 24" scale, 7.25" radius, slim C shape, 42mm nut
Weight: 3.215kg
Mods: new bone nut installed, neck finish lightly smoothed out for consistent feel
Pickups: Mustang single coil x2, original
Accessories: non-original hard case, trem arm
Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has dimples and marks om the end and some scuffs on both edges, some rub wear around the logo and plenty of checking all over the back and front. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, there's some dimples, checking lines and scuffs on the back. The back has dent, some surface scratches and some dimples in the middle, as well as a bunch of small finish chips, scratches and dimples around the whole outside of the body as well as widespread checking all over the back. The sides have dimples and scuffs on both horns, scuffs along the back edge and some dimples, chips and paint chips in the elbow area an near the jack. The front has a dent on the back edge, dimples around the tailpiece, control plate, back edge, elbow area and top horn, checking all over the body and some play wear on the guard and horns.
Overall: very good condition (7.5/10)
Playing condition notes: Action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good, truss rod works. All electronics tested and working properly. Wearing fresh 11/49 Moonshiners strings.
Fret life: 8/10, minor wear only