www.shortscale.org

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I had my mustang set up at the end of last year. It's one of the FSR compstangs they sent over to Europe around the time everyone was in a panic that they were shutting down Fender Japan or something. I think it's basically an MG73 model, though it didn't say that anywhere on the Thomann listing when I ordered it.

Anyway, when I first had it set up, I wanted the tremolo to float but the best my tech could do was get it to dive about 2 steps (so, from E down to D). He's good, I know he's good, he has a fantastic rep and he 'gets' Mustangs and offsets, unlike some techs I've known in the past.

The past week, I asked him to shield and ground everything because I was getting a popping noise with this guitar. I also asked to see if he could get me more movement in the tremolo, more downward play and a bit of upward movement if possible. He says it can't be done on this MIJ tremolo unit, the baseplate is too soft, the springs can't cope with my 11-54 strings, it's just not as good as a vintage unit. He knocked money off the shielding/setup job because he wasn't happy with how it was left and if I can get a vintage unit, he'll install it for free. He's a great guy and I really admire his knowledge and patience with me hanging around his shop way more than I ought to, given how little I spend there.

So as it stands, I have a Mustang that actually plays nicer than it ever has and I have a bit of downward play on the trem that basically returns to pitch, but it goes to shit if you pull it up. A vintage unit may or may not be any better, and it's a £100-£120 gamble to find out, given the current state of our currency. I was thinking about this in the past and units seemed to be a good chunk cheaper on eBay so it could just be bad timing in terms of currency prices or whatever but I thought it might be useful to get the thoughts of the Shortscale experts.

I don't really want to lock the trem. If Ty Segall/Charles Moothart/MadMike can wrangle the stang whammy, I want to as well.