I was a bit set back by the fact that the Mustang I received for an electronics cleanup/upgradge seem to have some setup problems. An electric guitar (or bass for that matter) should sound solid even when played acoustically. No matter is it's hollow body of solid.

Remember, after that, everything is amplified, also the problems.

If you're looking for specs of the original American Mustangs, go here.

This particular Mustang had:

-fretbuzz above 12th fret on some strings
-deadringer sound throughout


After inspection, I noticed that the strings were leaning heavily on the screws for adjusting the saddles. I focused on this phenomenon first.



Went googling for setup guides for Mustang only to find out I would have dropped right on it had I entered "jagstang bridge setup". The Jagstang has the bridge of the Mustang and not the other way around. The Mustang is older, of course. Let's not get into hermeneutics at this point.

Mustang Bridge modification

Securing the "Floating" Bridge

Tools/Parts Needed: Electrical tape, Scissors

Again, if you want more tuning stability one of the easiest things that you can do is to secure the rocking bridge.

First remove the bridge and notice that the posts on the bridge are much smaller than the holes on the bridge plate. Then, take the tape and cut a piece the lenght of the poles. Put the tape on the post to see how much to cut off, I'm talking about the width of the tape now, just cut the whole 8 inches the same length as the posts. Now wrap the electrical tape around the posts. Check to see if it will go into the bridge plate, if it doesn't, unwrap a little of the tape and cut it off. Try it again and again until you can slide the bridge in and out vertically, but you can't move it back and forth horizontally.

More setup tips are here.

Incredible but true, this simple mod cleared out much of the acoustic problems. I checked the intonation on this guitar with the bridge secured and it was spot on.