Yesterday, I popped into town with my son, Harry, to visit our local guitar shop (Guitar Guitar) – just to enjoy a bit of guitar porn. As usual, we were greeted by Will – knowledgeable and helpful shop assistant/guitar guru – who was as cheerful as ever.
While we were browsing, a 1965 reissue Fender Mustang in Dakota Red caught Harry’s eye. Before I knew it, he was sitting on a stool, tuning the Mustang, while Will plugged it into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp. I pushed in the amps “More Drive” button and Harry let rip a few bars. His face lit up. Not only did the guitar look cool, it sounded fabulous – a wonderful blend of guts, clarity and character.
Harry was ready to buy it then and there. “Hold your horses”, I said, and reminded him that Fender had just lunched the new Kurt Cobain Mustang which would be arriving in shops soon.
The Kurt Cobain Mustang is essentially the same guitar as the ’65 reissue, but has three significant differences:
- the ’65 has a poplar body – the Cobain Mustang uses Alder
- the ’65 is appointed with 2 Mustang single-coil pickups – the Cobain has a single-coil in the neck position and a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker in the bridge position
- the Cobain Mustang has an angled Fender adjusto-matic bridge instead of the standard Mustang bridge.
The ’65 reissue retails for around £700 and the Cobain variation looks set to go for about £800.
Harry would have been only too happy to take home the ’65 Mustang. But we both agreed it would be sensible to wait for a Cobain Mustang to arrive at the shop to see what difference the modifications made to the tone. I’ll let you know how we get on.
Fat Sound 
That’s interesting. Fender is releasing a Mustang for Cobain some 15 years after his death?