Fender Player Series Mustang 90 Guitar Review

Design

When it comes to design then you can expect the best what Fender has got to offer in most of its best looking and high performing guitars. This variant comes with a maple neck and an alder body. A Pau Ferro fingerboard is close to what you know about the rosewood fingerboard. This specific Pau Ferro type offers this instrument with almost the same tonal qualities as compared with its closest and famous relative.

However, it comes with a bit lighter and a coffee-colored appearance. The neck of this guitar comes with the conventional Fender radius of 9.5 along with the innovative C-shaped neck. It is quite a smooth and easily adaptable setup which you will find quite handy for those longer practicing sessions. You can trust this instrument for fast playing right through the full length of the scale. Unlike a few other popular models of Fender, this Mustang 90 variant comes with a 24 inches long scale only.

 If you compare this with the conventional 25.5 inches scale length, the shorter one of Mustang 90 is found to be quite productive for the newer guitarists who have shorter hands to some extent.

The pickguard offered with the Mustang 90 is quite special as well. It is a 4-ply type which works quite well to further the experience of the guitarists. This is more of a flashy touch with its aesthetics that makes it stand out among the other models of Fender. 

Sound

The looks of the Mustang 90 guitar as mentioned above are no doubt outstanding. But, it is the sound of this instrument that makes the real difference between this and its contemporaries. It outperforms Les Paul Jr. and many other similar types with the amazing P90 sounds that it produces. Fender is just so amazing with the voices of the pickups that come with 60 cycle hum and lesser buzz as compared with the other P90 type guitars.

 The first round of this guitar will prove that all types of overdrive, fuzz, and distortion sound so amazingly good. These sounds are actually what makes this Mustang 90 variant so much special. It had that desirable DIY punk or the ideal garage rock tone which comes with superb reliability in its overall throw and output. On top of that, you will also find the tones of this guitar to shape up quite conveniently with a reliable tube amp and maybe some overdrives. Learn more about PRS SE Hollowbody II Piezo Electric Guitar Review.

Hardware

The bridge of this Fender Player Series Mustang 90 guitar borrows quite a bit from the Stratocaster design. It is more of a string-through kind of a body that comes with six saddles of bent-steel type. You will find those to be quite identical to the Stratocaster setup.

The only major difference is that the Mustang 90 does not have a vibrato bar like the other one. The individual bent-steel saddles enable you to set up the required intonation of all the strings as per your preference.

There is also a useful synthetic bone nut provided onboard which holds all the strings of the instrument quite stable at the other end of the guitar’s neck. The chrome cast pegs by Fender are good in keeping the tuning smooth and steady. 

Electronics

The electronics along with many other special features of this Mustang 90 guitar further adds to its value. It comes with a couple of MP-90 pickups rather than offering those conventional humbuckers or the single coil option. The P-90 pickups for the very first time were created and used by Gibson. That is a variety of single-coil which is widely known for its light midrange, punchy and aggressive attack. If you compare them with the regular single coils then you will find this one to be slightly chunkier and thicker. This is especially true towards its lower end.

There are some guitarists who compare it to a cross that is set amid a Gibson humbucker and Fender single coil. They are also good and reliable with the production of fuzzy and distorted tones. This stands as a major advantage of the Fender Player Series Mustang 90 guitar, especially for those who are into playing, punk, hard rock, and grunge styles of music. Apart from the pickups, you will find the other parts of the subject guitar to be more of a regular type of setup.

 There is a 3-way toggle switch as well between the P-90s where the center point blends either of the two. However, this is not found to be much effective practically. You will get to play around with the tone knobs and the master volume to get full control over the sound. They are given just next to the strings of the guitar and that makes a very convenient location for such controls.

Setting up Guitar for the First Time

The Mustang 90 guitar out of the box is not too horrible to set up. Although, the guitars of the subject type are usually not set up that well to start with. They usually require you to do a bit of work before you could start playing it. The Mustang 90 also requires a bit of work but that is not too hard to manage. The frets come with little fret sprouts which you need to tackle carefully or that could tear your finger.

This is much possible right at the upper side of the fretboard. If this is your first guitar or you are not much accustomed to the setting up of the instrument then it is highly recommended to take the services of a luthier. This would ensure that you have your guitar perfectly set up and with 100% satisfaction. 

Conclusion

It was wonderful to see Fender coming with the black pickup covers with its styling. The Olympic White finishing put this guitar among the best available options today. It has shown great performance with the Pearloid pickguard along with the Pau Ferro fingerboard. If you have used and struggled with the Duo-Sonic then this Fender will surprisingly impress you with its neck that makes playing so easy.

 On top of that, the headstock design of the Fender Mustang 90 feels bigger and better. The only downside of this instrument is its 3-way switch which might just compromise your experience to some extent. Conclusively, this is an excellent guitar for beginners or those who have some level of experience with basic guitar playing.