Fender Mustang - Re-issues Since The 1990s

Re-issues Since The 1990s

In 1990 Fender re-issued the Mustang, largely as a result of the vintage movement prevalent at the time. Among grunge and punk rock guitarists, Fender's discontinued models (budget models such as the Duo-Sonic and high-end models such as the Jazzmaster and Jaguar) had become extremely popular. Such models had Fender quality, but were less expensive secondhand than vintage Stratocasters and Telecasters.

The reissued Mustang is made in Japan and available in only the 24-inch scale. While the original Mustangs used mostly poplar wood for the body (with some rarely documented cases of mahogany, MG-72 Mustang reissues are made of the similar basswood, the newer MG-65 reissues revert to the original poplar. The natural-finished MG-77 reissue is made of ash.

In 2011 Fender released a new Mustang model in the so-called Pawn Shop series, called the Mustang Special. The model features an offset Mustang body shape and a 24-inch scale neck, but with humbucking pickups and a hard-tail Stratocaster bridge.

In 2012 Fender announced a Kurt Cobain Signature Mustang. This model is based on Kurt's modified Mustang's that he played during the In Utero tour. Instead of having 2 single coil pickups it has a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker in the bridge and a normal Mustang single coil in the neck. It also has an angled Fender adjusto-matic bridge instead of the standard Mustang bridge. (found on the vintage and Japanese reissue models) Finish colours include: Fiesta Red, Sonic Blue, and Dark Lake Placid Blue with Competition Stripe. It will also be the first Mustang model that will be sold right handed, as well as left-handed in Europe.

Later in 2012, Squier released a new Mustang in the Vintage Modified series.