1969 Fender Mustang Competition Burgundy
1969 Fender Mustang Competition Burgundy
This is one of the best looking finishes to ever come out to the Fender factory...known as "Competition Burgundy" the base blue hue has hints of purple with heavy metallic which quickly toned towards a teal tint when exposed to normal humidity. This one has toned to an amazing ocean turquoise. This guitar was made at the original Fender factory in Fullerton, California U.S.A. The neck stamp clearly reads January of 1969-so it is one of the first of these models with the matching headstock. I was unable to get a date on the volume potentiometer and the tone potentiometer is dated either 1967 or 1971 maybe. Both pots have Fender part numbers so I'm sure they are original. The pickups have the earlier style cloth wiring with grey bobbins.
The body has nice contours front and back with the early-version rounded edges. This makes for a very light body and extremely comfortable guitar. It just feels nice and soft on the edges. The finish has longitudinal and transverse checking all over. It looks absolutely killer-see photos. No one will mistake this guitar for some sort of reissue-it's got major mojo. There are nicks and other general handling wear all over-see photos. Due to the heavy metallic-the guitar has a way of looking dark blue to turquoise depending on the lighting angle. It really is amazing.
The neck is smooth and straight and has a nice feel-like most 1960's Fenders do. The finish on the backside of the neck exhibits some wear-but as previously stated: feels nice and worn in. There is even some flame on the backside-see photos. The profile is best described as a vintage C and it measures .858" deep at the 1st fret and .921" deep at the 12th fret. The nut is the standard 1 5/8" wide "B" fender width. This guitar was an early model and actually came with the double row elusion tuners originally but they were replaced at some point with Fender "F" key tuners. The headstock displays nice with a killer patina. There appears to be a small sticker shadow (looks like there was a flag sticker at one point that probably matched the ones on the back of the headstock) The original white decal has toned to an off-white/light yellow hue. It just screams vintage.
The rosewood fingerboard is really clean and in excellent condition. The frets have been professionally crowned and polished and appear near-new condition-see photos. As much Toning as the finish has had-the guitar was played with flat wounds its whole life so the frets did not get worn at all. Thanks! The action is set low for an easy playing experience. Currently, the string height measures .010" at the 1st fret and .040" at the 12th fret. The guitar plays with ease up and down the fingerboard with zero dead spots. It is also intonated and ready to go.
The pickups both have an excellent signal and the classic vintage Fender "bell" tone. The neck pickup's output measures 5.75 ohms and the bridge pickup's output measures 5.89 ohms. The switches and wiring harness are all original as are the 'stackpole' potentiometers. The vibrato is smooth but I do not have the original arm.
The guitar is lightweight and fun to play. At only 6.64 lbs-this one is seriously light! You can play all night long and forget about neck fatigue...it feels awesome on a strap and great in your lap.
The original salt & pepper hard case has had two latches replaced and functions well.