Bullet Mustang Pickups

[driver8]

I was just looking at the Bullet Mustangs, and I noticed the specs say the neck pickup is a "humbucker strat." At the risk of sounding stupid... what the hell does that mean??

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/gui...mited-edition-electric-guitar/l27765000002000

A humbucker pickup they ordinarily use in a Squier HSS strat and put it in the neck of a mustang? It's so idiotic I figure that can't be what it is. A misprint? The "Limited Edition" versions list that too (although could just be a copy and paste). So what exactly is it? Can someone plz enlighten me?

 

[AcrylicSuperman]

I was just looking at the Bullet Mustangs, and I noticed the specs say the neck pickup is a "humbucker strat." At the risk of sounding stupid... what the hell does that mean??

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/gui...mited-edition-electric-guitar/l27765000002000

A humbucker pickup they ordinarily use in a Squier HSS strat and put it in the neck of a mustang? It's so idiotic I figure that can't be what it is. A misprint? The "Limited Edition" versions list that too (although could just be a copy and paste). So what exactly is it? Can someone plz enlighten me?

That's a mess up of some sort. They're just packing cheap, generic ceramic humbuckers.

 

[IronSchef]

It’s a mistake on the Musicians Friend website - it just says “Standard humbucking” on Fender and other vendors websites

 

[driver8]

Thanks, I figured it was some kind of typo/error. Not that I would keep those HBs in anyway, just wondering what they were on about lol. I was too lazy to check anywhere else, but not enough to post a thread, go figure. Boredom strikes, lol

 

[Big George]

Just curious, would Jazzmaster pickups fit in a Mustang without surgery?

 

[HSH Classic Vibe]

Just curious, would Jazzmaster pickups fit in a Mustang without surgery?

No. Even cheap pickup covers for these perfectly-fine Bullet humbuckers would require dremeling the pickguard, but big old JM pickups would be a fair amount of work below the pickguard as well.
Pro tip: Always best to try the stock pickups after a proper setup that includes making sure your pickups are at the right height before sidegrading to something that is only better in your mind rather than in reality.

Here, by the way, are the stock pickups in action. Obviously no need to "upgrade."

 

[VealCutlet]

No. Even cheap pickup covers for these perfectly-fine Bullet humbuckers would require dremeling the pickguard, but big old JM pickups would be a fair amount of work below the pickguard as well.
Pro tip: Always best to try the stock pickups after a proper setup that includes making sure your pickups are at the right height before sidegrading to something that is only better in your mind rather than in reality.

Here, by the way, are the stock pickups in action. Obviously no need to "upgrade."

I love that red one! Yeah, why "upgrade" those "crap" ceramic pickups? Sounds great to me!

 

[HSH Classic Vibe]

Cool! I've got the blue:

And I was fully prepared to put my Red/Silver Lace Dually in the bridge. But there was no need. These worthless bullet humbuckers rock!

Pro tip #2: Don't waste your money on "upgraded" pickups. Just about any pickups ever manufactured and still properly working sound great through a great solid state or tube amp. In short, put your money into the amp, not the pickups.

Pro tip #2.1: Use the tone control on your amp, not on your guitar. The pots on an amp are almost always higher quality for one.

Pro tip #3: Don't waste time and money on a tube amp. Solid states are less maintenance (and it's not even close!) and generally offer a wider array of tones for far less money.

 

[driver8]

I don't know - they sound a little harsh to me. Maybe it's their amps or all the fuzz they're using, but I thought they sound kind of flat. And in the clean demo section, I thought they lacked a bit of clarity and chime, and some of that nice humbucker complexity - to my ears, at least. I prefer low-output/vintage/Alnico, etc. so maybe that's why. If you're more of a ceramic guy, then you're lucky and perhaps no problem.

Those FSR "competition" versions with the stripes look so cool! Relatively hard to find now, and none are available new anywhere that I can see. The olympic white also looks awesome, but I already have a couple of white guitars ... but I'm really tempted!

 

[VealCutlet]

I just went to the Adorama site and they had a cosmetically damaged (on the back) blue Competition stripe Bullet Stang for $119 so I ordered it. Arriving for the weekend.

 

[AxelMorisson]

I don't know - they sound a little harsh to me. Maybe it's their amps or all the fuzz they're using, but I thought they sound kind of flat. And in the clean demo section, I thought they lacked a bit of clarity and chime, and some of that nice humbucker complexity - to my ears, at least. I prefer low-output/vintage/Alnico, etc. so maybe that's why. If you're more of a ceramic guy, then you're lucky and perhaps no problem.

Those FSR "competition" versions with the stripes look so cool! Relatively hard to find now, and none are available new anywhere that I can see. The olympic white also looks awesome, but I already have a couple of white guitars ... but I'm really tempted!

well I have the metallic sparkle one. At first I thought the pickups were harsh and sounded like Nirvana. But then I dropped them a little bit, some 2 mm on the bridge and 1,5 on the neck - there was some difference, things got just a very small bit quieter (but not significantly) but I started to hear things.. nicer things. Then I dropped them some more,and changed the stock strings (mine came with D'Addario XLs, nice on some but not on all). Put in Ernie Ball 8's and adjusted (reduced) height. What a difference!

About the amp(s). Today a large variety of amp sims sounds really nice w/o breaking the bank. There are also a great number of free guitar amp plugins..both clean and distorted, if you look around a bit . Even the guys at ML labs got a nice one out for free, search for Amped Roots... then check out Stevie T's free one... (ok the guy is not everyone's cup of cake but his amp sims do work, and quite nice indeed). So these are the first things to try before swapping pickups- sometimes results amaze.

Another thing - change pot and tone cap values. I don't speak of holy name brands etc- just the value of the components. If 500K pots, try 1 Meg, if 0.022uF try 0.033 or even 0.1 ... these are cheaper and easier to tryh and do make great differences!

 

[driver8]

I just went to the Adorama site and they had a cosmetically damaged (on the back) blue Competition stripe Bullet Stang for $119 so I ordered it. Arriving for the weekend.

Woah, nice score! Pls post here when you get it

 

[VealCutlet]

This was delivered today. Wow.

The guitar is very nice looking and plays fine. Needs a fret polishing and some of the fret ends need to be dressed.

But… the crack in the neck pocket was worse than I hoped. I took off the neck and the body does need to be glued together and clamped to help solidify the broken area.

I am going to keep it…mostly as a travel guitar.

 

[dpang2836]

This was delivered today. Wow.

The guitar is very nice looking and plays fine. Needs a fret polishing and some of the fret ends need to be dressed.

But… the crack in the neck pocket was worse than I hoped. I took off the neck and the body does need to be glued together and clamped to help solidify the broken area.

I am going to keep it…mostly as a travel guitar.


View attachment 236474 View attachment 236475 View attachment 236476

I would have bought a New one! No Stripes though.

Squier Bullet Mustang HH Electic Guitar, Indian Laurel Fingerboard,Imperial Blue 885978884988 | eBay

Bullet Mustang HH Electic Guitar - Squier 2 Year Limited Warranty. Perfect for the raucous sound of indie music, the Bullet Mustang HH is just plain fun to play. Fingerboard Material Indian Laurel. 12"-Radius Fingerboard.

www.ebay.com

 

[driver8]

This was delivered today. Wow.

The guitar is very nice looking and plays fine. Needs a fret polishing and some of the fret ends need to be dressed.

But… the crack in the neck pocket was worse than I hoped. I took off the neck and the body does need to be glued together and clamped to help solidify the broken area.

I am going to keep it…mostly as a travel guitar.


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View attachment 236476

Yikes. Honestly I would just send it back. I'd tell them it was worse than I expected from their description, and ask if they would give me a discount on a new one for my trouble. For just a few bucks more you could get one that's pristine. That would hold closer to its resale value too, if you ever wanted to sell it. This one you'd probably have trouble selling even for $50. JMHO!

 

[dpang2836]

I looked for a Body that you could put Parts in, but Nada. That is Bad and will be a lot of Work?

 

[HSH Classic Vibe]

Yikes. Honestly I would just send it back. I'd tell them it was worse than I expected from their description, and ask if they would give me a discount on a new one for my trouble. For just a few bucks more you could get one that's pristine. That would hold closer to its resale value too, if you ever wanted to sell it. This one you'd probably have trouble selling even for $50. JMHO!

Except that it is exactly as it was photographed. I saw that one and thought "no way I'm going anywhere near that at half that price." I was surprised when it wasn't listed anymore as I didn't think anyone would see those cracks right around the neck and purchase it. Sorry. But I paid $119 for an Adorama return in exactly the same finish and still can't see why it was discounted so much - it was like new. Same with the 5 string bass I got from them this week.

 

[HSH Classic Vibe]

They do offer a return on these, and I'd do that ASAP if I were you.

 

[dpang2836]

That is more than Neck Cracks. That looks like "Three Piece" Cracks down the Seams!

 

[HSH Classic Vibe]

I don't know - they sound a little harsh to me. Maybe it's their amps or all the fuzz they're using, but I thought they sound kind of flat. And in the clean demo section, I thought they lacked a bit of clarity and chime, and some of that nice humbucker complexity - to my ears, at least. I prefer low-output/vintage/Alnico, etc. so maybe that's why. If you're more of a ceramic guy, then you're lucky and perhaps no problem.

T

I guarantee you that you'd never in a million years be able to consistently pick out the stock pickups played through a high-end amp vs $200 Seymour Duncan alnico-based humbuckers in the same guitar through the same amp. People hear what they see. People see what they think are inferior pickups (they aren't) and then start trying to find shortcomings, which may not be shortcoming at all. Ceramic or not, a Mustang with humbuckers should not sound like a Stratocaster. And by the way, plenty of VERY high-end guitars have ceramic pickups. You do realize that, right?

And when blindfolded, as they often do on Anderton's videos, cork-sniffers like Chapman just as often get it wrong as to which one is the expensive guitar with needlessly expensive pickups.