MUSTANG

O riginally designed as a student guitar, the Mustang has become

an iconic member of the original Fender lineup. With its adoption
over the years by some well-known players, it has been elevated
above its humble beginnings, and is today highly regarded.

The wiring on the guitar is simple, but very unique. As shown below, each
pickup has a simple slide switch that controls it. In the center position the
pickup is off, but slide the switch in either direction and it turns on that
pickup. Additionally, there are master volume and tone controls.

When both switches are on, both pickups are on, and they’re connected in
®

parallel. But they can be in-phase or out-of-phase, depending on the

direction of the switches (phasing only applies when both pickups are
on). In-phase is what you would normally hear when combining pickups
on a Tele or Strat (the 2 & 4 positions on Strats are often erroneously
referred to as out-of-phase, but they’re not).

Truly out-of-phase combinations sound thin and hollow, and unique. This
was ground-breaking territory in the mid-1960s. No other Fender guitar
had ever been offered with phase-reversing wiring, so the Mustang was
blazing new trails. As Mustangs do.

It’s simple to see at a glance whether the pickups are in-phase or

out-of-phase: If the switches face the same direction, the pickups are
in-phase. If the switches face in opposite directions, the pickups are
out-of-phase.

SWITCHES SAME DIRECTION SWITCHES OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS

PICKUPS IN PHASE PICKUPS OUT OF PHASE
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 S 1212
CT

E 250K
CM
A

CM
.04 ME G
AC

E 250K
7µ W
F
CT
S 1212

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DRAWN DATE TITLE

George Ellison 8/14/15

Mustang®
ASSY PN ADOC

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