mylittleeye's Fender Pedalboard

I saw this as the perfect upgrade from my first electric guitar an aged hand-me-down Stagg strat copy. The fellow I got it from brought it back from the US for use as a backup gig guitar; a role for which it's perfectly suited. The specs certainly suggested it could be my One Axe To Rule Them All! Its special sauce is its two high output ceramic Fender Enforcer humbucker pickups. The Pawn Shop Special's trick is in the three-position switches offering the option to split each humbucker and use either the forward or rear half of it as a 'single coil' This, in combination with the pickup selector by the horn, multiplies up to a mind boggling 15 selectable tone configurations!

Economically this was a wise purchase too, saving me hundreds of £€$ I might have otherwise been tempted to squander on a proper Strat, Les Paul and/or Tele. For me this fills all those niches. As an intermediate player who is still on the learning journey this versatility is a godsend. For example with a flick of the switches I can put a single coil at the bridge and a humbucker at the neck and with eye's closed and a little imagination (all right a lot) have Keef's Micawber tele in my hands; switch off the neck entirely for some country twang; have just a single coil on the neck for wholesome cleans or else double down on both buckers for full bodied filth. The wide range pickups are hot but clean up very nicely too with the volume rolled off. The Pawn Shop Mustang Special delivers it all.

All this tonal capability belies the fact that this is a tidy little guitar. Its mustang body is slightly shorter than the standard and has a thinner profile. That along with its short scale neck would make it a more comfortable fit for someone of smaller stature. If you're a big fella already used to wielding a mighty axe this might look and feel almost toylike in your hands; it's the lightest most compact electric guitar I've used.

I would give this guitar five stars as it meets practically all my needs. However, while I like to imagine it can substitute for a tele, strat or SG, in reality it only gets about 4/5ths of the way there. Ultimately it's its own thing, a versatile workhorse perhaps but not the thoroughbred instrument a more discerning guitarist might desire.

The Fender Pawnshop series was Fender's bold attempt to reimagine their classic guitars as if they had been customised and modded by some enthusiastic tech head to deliver something a bit off the wall and then found abandoned in some Pawn Shop somewhere. I was instantly drawn to the potential flexibility of this model's funky pair of coil splittable humbuckers. Not a range for traditionalists perhaps but as a lily livered liberalist I commend Fender for breaking their own mold. I think fender continue running with the concept as their Paranormal Series after all the online sniggering that came from saying the word Pawnshop 🤦

I'd warmly assert that this guitar's a Mustang in name and silhouette only; it has no trem bar, the pickups are humbuckers and not single coils and even the body has been modded; shortened to balance the look of the non standard hardtail strat bridge. It's been thinned and contoured too, making for a guitar that's significantly more compact and lightweight compared to the original. If I were to have just one criticism it's that to my eye the headstock is left looking a bit oversized in proportion to the rest of the guitar but most folks probably wouldn't notice.

But with that said these are all positive mods for the better. Not only is the body shorter, it's thinner and nicely contoured too. This makes for a very compact guitar that's perfect for someone of smaller stature... a petite female or Angus Young for example. For myself, being average height it's fine too but additionally I just find it great to have out in the room to just snatch up, carry about the house, throw in the car etc. It's effortless to play and the switching is so versatile it can deliver a huge variety of tones. It's very much a swiss army knife of a guitar but like many a Jack of All Trades it's a master of none. I've since acquired my first Telecaster having realised that despite my best hopes the Mustang's never quite gonna deliver that Tele twang or Strat quack. Close enough for government work... but no cigar!

I like the Mustang Special so much that this is the second one I've bought, my first being the Candy Apple Red one. It's weird how the blues sound so much better played through this 3 colour sunburst version. I just feel so much more mellow and relaxed with this across my lap whereas the red one leaves me feeling tense.

There's a bit of snobbery that goes on between the first (Japan made) and second (Mexican) editions of these guitars. However, the knobs on this MIM version (the 2nd edition Maligned In Mexico) are bigger and feel better quality than the 1st edition MIJ I owned previously. The pots aren't scratchy and the electronics don't hiss like the MIJ either. Plus, the truss rod's directly accessible from the headstock without taking the guitar apart. It feels, plays and sounds every bit the MIJ's equal to me... perhaps even better? 🤷 so fight me!