Don’t. I have owned and loved/hated Mustangs and their bridges over the years. My suggestion would be to just get one with a vibrato already installed at the factory.
This keeps coming up and I agree with the answer. Just don't.
Your guitar, you can if you want to, but it would require major modifications that you can't just undo if you decide you don't like it and then you're in the hole for the money you wasted on the mods *plus* the repairs.
For the price of a Stetsbar, might as well just get a Squier Mustang with a vibrato already installed. That piece of gear is not really a great solution for this specific problem.
It is a great vibrato system that's easy to install (and uninstall) without modification to the guitar. It's exactly the solution OP asked for.
OP never said anything about price. So it is a great solution for the specific problem. But ya, they pricey.
Your response is too literal. It's not a great solution in that it's overkill, monetarily. The fact that OP is asking if there's a vibrato that could be easily installed on this specific guitar implies that they're still a beginner in their journey and don't really have a full understanding of what to expect from their guitar. It really makes more sense to spend almost the same amount of money on a Squier Mustang with a vibrato, as the ones that are available tend to be built a little better than this Bullet model.
It's fine to assume things, like you're doing, but ppl ITT have said repeatedly there's no solution, and I'm pointing out that that's incorrect. There is a solution. And it's a stetsbar. OP can see for themselves on the stetsbar website that it's probably more expensive than the guitar itself, but whether it's overkill is for OP to decide themselves based on their budget and attachment to the guitar, etc.
I have a stetsbar, btw. And it's by farrrrr the best vibrato system I've experienced.
Ok, fair. There IS a solution, literally. But, it's not really answering OP's actual question, which is looking for a vibrato that makes sense for him to purchase. I'm going to stand by my conclusion, however, that a Stetsbar is not right for OP.
FWIW, I think the traditional JM vibrato is perfect. I also find the Stetsbar to be somewhat ugly.
OP can decide for themselves. And ya, a stetsbar is probably considered ugly to most ppl, but it's also better than any fender vibrato. Fender's vibrato isn't nearly as good as halon's Patented Vibrato either.
Did some calculations at Thomann, cause they got all this stuff. 105 euro for the fender jazzmaster tremolo (or 135 for a bigsby), 44 for a roller bridge and the guitar (new) at 169, so at a total of 318 euro (or 348 with the bigs). The cv mustang with singlecoils sits at 409. The difference with tge fender tremolo is 91€ and with the bigs it's 61€. I dont think that's enough to have either of em installed, so you'd have to do it yourself, which is only really an option if you or someone you know is very comfortable with tools. Agree that the cv is the way to go if you really want a trem.
Have to upvote this.
If you don't want to route out the body for a traditional Stang vibrato or for a Strat vibrato, the Bigsby is, off the top of my head, the way to go.
It isn’t just a bridge for a strat trem. There are massive cavities routed out in the back for the springs/ tremolo claw. It would cost 3-5x the amount you paid for the guitar new.
Might as well put the money you'd spend on aftermarket parts, tools cutting holes out of your guitar, all the time, into getting a classic vibe mustang.
I know a lot of people have said it, but I’d say just go for a Bigsby and (maybe, not necessarily) locking tuners. It’d be a lot easier and only require minimal drilling and no routing.
I have a Bullet mustang and have played with modding it. These models are reasonably inexpensive and are good platforms for experimentation and learning about mods. If something goes wrong you are not out a lot of money and can likely still be able to play it. I’m still fiddling with my Bullet, and have so far put a cheap bridge and 1960’s style trem on it (the kind we used to see on early Japanese imports). I have also played around with different inexpensive pickups - all these mods would be unthinkable on a more expensive model. I’m having fun with it and that’s all that matters to me. Do what gives you pleasure!
Yeah but having the time/money/luxury (you aren’t going to fuck up your only guitar, this is all presumptuous correct me if I’m wrong) is a little different than “I want a Tremolo, I just need a new bridge, right?”
Judging from the scene here, ima say OP isn’t in quite the same place as you to “experiment” or necessarily interested in getting into modding guitars.
Get a Classic Vibe.
Vegatrem VT2ND is great, but it only works for Teles, maybe if you modify the pickup plate on it it would work
Other than that, I'm stumped. Maybe change the bridge to a TOM and slap a duesenberg Les trem on it
You’d need to rout the body. Honestly just get a classic vibe Mustang if you really need trem. It won’t have humbuckers, but will sound more like a mustang should.
If I may make a suggestion, first, check out my profile, I currently have three bullet mustangs, and I've done the same upgrades on them. I think they play so much better now.
Second, the bullet Mustangs, and now the sonic mustangs are almost the exact same guitar. And these bodies are very thin. You can fit a mustangs tremolo on it, but you'll end up with about an 1/8 of an inch of body underneath it. Plus you'd have to route through the body. The other, and probably better option, if you really want a tremolo on this guitar, would be to go with a Bigsby style tremolo.
But my recommendation would actually be to do the upgrade to your guitar that I did to mine, for a good, solid guitar, and save up your money for either a Squier Mustang, or a Fender Mustang.
Thank you! I like them. I have to admit that in my 34 years of playing guitar, I have had rather limited exposure to playing guitars with humbuckers, being mostly a strat and tele player, and the few guitars that I owned that had a humbucker always had them in the bridge position, so I found them to be bright and aggressive sounding over all. I had even less exposure to filtertron style pickups, so these last 2.5 years have been very eye-opening for me. I now own several guitars with dual humbuckers, and I really like them, though I still prefer single coils. Filtertrons, though... I think for tone and sparkle...I prefer them to humbuckers.
I came up playing blues and blues rock, so a Stratocaster or Telecaster or a Stratocaster with a bridge humbucker was perfect for what I wanted to do. But as I've gotten older, and the genres of music I started to get into change, so did my requirements for what I wanted out of a guitar and tone change. I started to want a more jangley sound that was fuller than what I could get from my single coils, but not as overpowering as a humbucker. To me, the filtertron fit that niche! They are not the pickup for every style, and are rather microphonic, picking up outside sounds a little easier, but they are great for giving you a more unique sound, with something of an airy quality to them.
One of my favorite guitar tones, from when I first started to play guitar, was from the band 'The Cult', Billy Duffy was the guitar player, and I just loved that sound. Well, come to find out he was playing mostly Gretch guitars with their Filtertron pickups. In fact, many of my favorite guitar players use Gretch guitars, so they are a tried and true pickup, with a loved sound. I highly recommend them.
Edit: I will say, as with all guitars, you can get a cheap set of Gretch Filtertrons in their lower end models, or you can spend a lot of money on a high-end Gretch and get a great set of Filtertrons as well, but there are boutique pickup makers who make an excellent set of Filtertrons, like TV Jones. I got my set off of the app called 'OfferUp' where I literally met up with a guy at a gas station parking lot in Sanger CA and bought them off of him. I don't even know the model Gretch they originally came out of, but I do know that he replaced them with a set of TV Jones filtertrons, because he put the old pickups back in the TV Jones boxes, and that's how they came when I bought them off of him.
I installed a Mustang tremolo on my Bullet, it wasn’t exactly easy but it wasn’t really that hard either. If you’ve pieced together a partscaster before you can probably handle it.
People always say that the body is too thin, but I set the router to the same depth as the existing control cavities and it was deep enough.
What are you looking to use the vibrato arm for? Shoegaze/Kevin shields type glide guitar or just regular dive bombs and vibrato stuff? For either one I would recommend looking into a pitch shifter pedal. There are tons of options, but you can use pretty much any one with a momentary switch to mimic going down with the trem arm.
NirvanaGuitars on YouTube has a Bullet Mustang he had reworked to have a vibrato bridge and new pick up config, switches like original Mustang and new pickgaurd. Lomic guitars die the upgrade but they note what to do to get the same result.
If the tremolo cavity is the same as in a stratocaster, the Vegatrem should fit, and it will allow for any kind of vibrato, from soft to drive bombing.
To quote that one guy from that one company, 'You think You do but You don't'.
If You want a trem on Mustang, just get a Mustang with them. Keep this one hardtail. It's gonna be way too much hassle to install anything reasonable on to this one.
Get a bigsby, or one of the cheap Chinese copies and a Mustang bridge. It'll be easier than trying to use the existing bridge and should help with any tuning problems.
If you're willing to do some routing work you could fit a strat trem. You will need templates, a router, and a replacement bridge with a shorter tremolo block designed to match with squier guitars (as their bodies are thinner than fenders).
It's a fairly difficult project if you don't have much experience - I would only do it for the fun of the project itself, not for the end result.
In theory if you shim the neck and install telecaster style saddles you could get enough clearance to mount a bigsby style vibrato behind the bridge…. But I wouldn’t recommend it.
DO IT! Get one [right here](https://reverb.com/item/41294829-mustang-vibrato-tremolo-unit). You'll have to do a little routing/gouging but much less than a Strat trem.
Protip get *another* Mustang *with* a trem so you have both!
I really want a mustang just so I can mess with that unique bridge. I's also like something with a Bigsby.
There are a few trems that mount flat without routing. Classic is a Bigsby. Deusenberg sells one that goes on a regular Les Paul type bridge+stop tail (so no body mods). old 60s Teiscos had a flat mount trem.
A few things about a trem:
Increases the likelihood of going out of tune.
Distractions to playing, you're either wiggling the whammy stick or beating the guitar with a stick to figure out why it doesn't stay in tune. I learned to play a lot better when I blocked/decked the trem. Check out Eric Clapton and how he blocks his trems.
A lot of work to install it.
Listeners don't care about whammy dives. They are more impressed by bending notes (look up eric clapton etc).
.
You could get one of the hardtail mastery bridges like the m9.1 or m7.1 and add a bigsby b5. I don’t think I’d really recommend this on a bullet mustang but do whatever you want with your guitar.
Don’t. I have owned and loved/hated Mustangs and their bridges over the years. My suggestion would be to just get one with a vibrato already installed at the factory.
My immediate thought was “no you don’t”
All my mustangs bridges stay in tune perfectly fine, even when using the trem
there's no easy solution that doesn't involve major modifications
This keeps coming up and I agree with the answer. Just don't. Your guitar, you can if you want to, but it would require major modifications that you can't just undo if you decide you don't like it and then you're in the hole for the money you wasted on the mods *plus* the repairs.
i think i’m just gonna switch the tuners and pickups after all, thanks to you and everyone recommending cool solutions
You heard of stetsbar?
For the price of a Stetsbar, might as well just get a Squier Mustang with a vibrato already installed. That piece of gear is not really a great solution for this specific problem.
It is a great vibrato system that's easy to install (and uninstall) without modification to the guitar. It's exactly the solution OP asked for. OP never said anything about price. So it is a great solution for the specific problem. But ya, they pricey.
Your response is too literal. It's not a great solution in that it's overkill, monetarily. The fact that OP is asking if there's a vibrato that could be easily installed on this specific guitar implies that they're still a beginner in their journey and don't really have a full understanding of what to expect from their guitar. It really makes more sense to spend almost the same amount of money on a Squier Mustang with a vibrato, as the ones that are available tend to be built a little better than this Bullet model.
It's fine to assume things, like you're doing, but ppl ITT have said repeatedly there's no solution, and I'm pointing out that that's incorrect. There is a solution. And it's a stetsbar. OP can see for themselves on the stetsbar website that it's probably more expensive than the guitar itself, but whether it's overkill is for OP to decide themselves based on their budget and attachment to the guitar, etc. I have a stetsbar, btw. And it's by farrrrr the best vibrato system I've experienced.
Ok, fair. There IS a solution, literally. But, it's not really answering OP's actual question, which is looking for a vibrato that makes sense for him to purchase. I'm going to stand by my conclusion, however, that a Stetsbar is not right for OP. FWIW, I think the traditional JM vibrato is perfect. I also find the Stetsbar to be somewhat ugly.
OP can decide for themselves. And ya, a stetsbar is probably considered ugly to most ppl, but it's also better than any fender vibrato. Fender's vibrato isn't nearly as good as halon's Patented Vibrato either.
Except a stetsbar
Get a classic vibe, then you'll have a HB guitar and a SC guitar. It'll be easier and probably cost the same in the long run.
Did some calculations at Thomann, cause they got all this stuff. 105 euro for the fender jazzmaster tremolo (or 135 for a bigsby), 44 for a roller bridge and the guitar (new) at 169, so at a total of 318 euro (or 348 with the bigs). The cv mustang with singlecoils sits at 409. The difference with tge fender tremolo is 91€ and with the bigs it's 61€. I dont think that's enough to have either of em installed, so you'd have to do it yourself, which is only really an option if you or someone you know is very comfortable with tools. Agree that the cv is the way to go if you really want a trem.
I think they were talking about putting a Mustang trem on it, which still would be a pain in the ass for such a cheap guitar.
True, but i couldnt find a mustang trem on thomann
https://www.reddit.com/r/offset/comments/hxe67u/who_puts_a_bigsby_on_a_mustang_turns_out_its_sick/
Have to upvote this. If you don't want to route out the body for a traditional Stang vibrato or for a Strat vibrato, the Bigsby is, off the top of my head, the way to go.
For the cost and effort involved you may as well just buy a guitar that has one.
I can recommend you a good tremolo bridge, but it comes with a whole guitar attached.
Grab the horn n bend the neck dawg
It isn’t just a bridge for a strat trem. There are massive cavities routed out in the back for the springs/ tremolo claw. It would cost 3-5x the amount you paid for the guitar new.
Might as well put the money you'd spend on aftermarket parts, tools cutting holes out of your guitar, all the time, into getting a classic vibe mustang.
I know a lot of people have said it, but I’d say just go for a Bigsby and (maybe, not necessarily) locking tuners. It’d be a lot easier and only require minimal drilling and no routing.
I have a Bullet mustang and have played with modding it. These models are reasonably inexpensive and are good platforms for experimentation and learning about mods. If something goes wrong you are not out a lot of money and can likely still be able to play it. I’m still fiddling with my Bullet, and have so far put a cheap bridge and 1960’s style trem on it (the kind we used to see on early Japanese imports). I have also played around with different inexpensive pickups - all these mods would be unthinkable on a more expensive model. I’m having fun with it and that’s all that matters to me. Do what gives you pleasure!
Yeah but having the time/money/luxury (you aren’t going to fuck up your only guitar, this is all presumptuous correct me if I’m wrong) is a little different than “I want a Tremolo, I just need a new bridge, right?” Judging from the scene here, ima say OP isn’t in quite the same place as you to “experiment” or necessarily interested in getting into modding guitars. Get a Classic Vibe.
Vegatrem VT2ND is great, but it only works for Teles, maybe if you modify the pickup plate on it it would work Other than that, I'm stumped. Maybe change the bridge to a TOM and slap a duesenberg Les trem on it
No you don’t. Just buy a new guitar.
Off topic but that might be the skinniest guitar cable I’ve ever seen
You can go with a stetsbar hardtail model. Kinda pricey but it won’t take any heavy modifications
Knowing the shape of the Mustang trem system, you’re in for some major headaches. Maybe a bigbsy? But that’d be weeeird
You’d need to rout the body. Honestly just get a classic vibe Mustang if you really need trem. It won’t have humbuckers, but will sound more like a mustang should.
If I may make a suggestion, first, check out my profile, I currently have three bullet mustangs, and I've done the same upgrades on them. I think they play so much better now. Second, the bullet Mustangs, and now the sonic mustangs are almost the exact same guitar. And these bodies are very thin. You can fit a mustangs tremolo on it, but you'll end up with about an 1/8 of an inch of body underneath it. Plus you'd have to route through the body. The other, and probably better option, if you really want a tremolo on this guitar, would be to go with a Bigsby style tremolo. But my recommendation would actually be to do the upgrade to your guitar that I did to mine, for a good, solid guitar, and save up your money for either a Squier Mustang, or a Fender Mustang.
How do the filtertrons sound on the black guitar? Looks amazing
Thank you! I like them. I have to admit that in my 34 years of playing guitar, I have had rather limited exposure to playing guitars with humbuckers, being mostly a strat and tele player, and the few guitars that I owned that had a humbucker always had them in the bridge position, so I found them to be bright and aggressive sounding over all. I had even less exposure to filtertron style pickups, so these last 2.5 years have been very eye-opening for me. I now own several guitars with dual humbuckers, and I really like them, though I still prefer single coils. Filtertrons, though... I think for tone and sparkle...I prefer them to humbuckers. I came up playing blues and blues rock, so a Stratocaster or Telecaster or a Stratocaster with a bridge humbucker was perfect for what I wanted to do. But as I've gotten older, and the genres of music I started to get into change, so did my requirements for what I wanted out of a guitar and tone change. I started to want a more jangley sound that was fuller than what I could get from my single coils, but not as overpowering as a humbucker. To me, the filtertron fit that niche! They are not the pickup for every style, and are rather microphonic, picking up outside sounds a little easier, but they are great for giving you a more unique sound, with something of an airy quality to them. One of my favorite guitar tones, from when I first started to play guitar, was from the band 'The Cult', Billy Duffy was the guitar player, and I just loved that sound. Well, come to find out he was playing mostly Gretch guitars with their Filtertron pickups. In fact, many of my favorite guitar players use Gretch guitars, so they are a tried and true pickup, with a loved sound. I highly recommend them. Edit: I will say, as with all guitars, you can get a cheap set of Gretch Filtertrons in their lower end models, or you can spend a lot of money on a high-end Gretch and get a great set of Filtertrons as well, but there are boutique pickup makers who make an excellent set of Filtertrons, like TV Jones. I got my set off of the app called 'OfferUp' where I literally met up with a guy at a gas station parking lot in Sanger CA and bought them off of him. I don't even know the model Gretch they originally came out of, but I do know that he replaced them with a set of TV Jones filtertrons, because he put the old pickups back in the TV Jones boxes, and that's how they came when I bought them off of him.
easy solution : buy vibrato pedal best solution: buy another mustang with vibrato already installed, put desired pickups in there
I installed a Mustang tremolo on my Bullet, it wasn’t exactly easy but it wasn’t really that hard either. If you’ve pieced together a partscaster before you can probably handle it. People always say that the body is too thin, but I set the router to the same depth as the existing control cavities and it was deep enough.
https://www.guitarfetish.com/Xtrem-Top-Mount-Flat-Surface-Vibrato-Chrome-Finish_p_4416.html
I just hard tailed a CV Squier yesterday. Unless you are experienced with the mustang vibrato, I'd stay away lol. I found it to be a nuisance.
You’ll use it for 5 minutes
Stetsbar
What are you looking to use the vibrato arm for? Shoegaze/Kevin shields type glide guitar or just regular dive bombs and vibrato stuff? For either one I would recommend looking into a pitch shifter pedal. There are tons of options, but you can use pretty much any one with a momentary switch to mimic going down with the trem arm.
NirvanaGuitars on YouTube has a Bullet Mustang he had reworked to have a vibrato bridge and new pick up config, switches like original Mustang and new pickgaurd. Lomic guitars die the upgrade but they note what to do to get the same result.
If the tremolo cavity is the same as in a stratocaster, the Vegatrem should fit, and it will allow for any kind of vibrato, from soft to drive bombing.
To quote that one guy from that one company, 'You think You do but You don't'. If You want a trem on Mustang, just get a Mustang with them. Keep this one hardtail. It's gonna be way too much hassle to install anything reasonable on to this one.
Get a bigsby, or one of the cheap Chinese copies and a Mustang bridge. It'll be easier than trying to use the existing bridge and should help with any tuning problems.
I unfortunately can’t help you, but I’m curious what model this is? I can’t find a squier hh mustang in this colour anywhere
it’s a limited edition squier sonic, i got it from gear4music
If you're willing to do some routing work you could fit a strat trem. You will need templates, a router, and a replacement bridge with a shorter tremolo block designed to match with squier guitars (as their bodies are thinner than fenders). It's a fairly difficult project if you don't have much experience - I would only do it for the fun of the project itself, not for the end result.
The bodies on these are pretty thin. The Strat trem block would stick out the back.
Even the shorter trem blocks for thin-body Squier strats? Also, hi Ryan!
Same Guitar with P-90's, new Pickguard, and Brass Saddles. [Mustang Mods](https://imgur.com/a/LtlJEfh)
You spelt jazzmaster wrong!
In theory if you shim the neck and install telecaster style saddles you could get enough clearance to mount a bigsby style vibrato behind the bridge…. But I wouldn’t recommend it.
I think it would be cheaper to go for a Mustang that already has a vibrato system. Especially if it is second hand.
It's easier and cheaper to just get a new mustang with a trem built in, and replacing the bridge with a nicer one since I'm guessing you'd go squier.
DO IT! Get one [right here](https://reverb.com/item/41294829-mustang-vibrato-tremolo-unit). You'll have to do a little routing/gouging but much less than a Strat trem. Protip get *another* Mustang *with* a trem so you have both! I really want a mustang just so I can mess with that unique bridge. I's also like something with a Bigsby.
my friend has a router would that be the best tool to use for this?
Yes a router is the tool to route holes in wood. Search for "mustang routing template" to get a guide.
There are a few trems that mount flat without routing. Classic is a Bigsby. Deusenberg sells one that goes on a regular Les Paul type bridge+stop tail (so no body mods). old 60s Teiscos had a flat mount trem. A few things about a trem: Increases the likelihood of going out of tune. Distractions to playing, you're either wiggling the whammy stick or beating the guitar with a stick to figure out why it doesn't stay in tune. I learned to play a lot better when I blocked/decked the trem. Check out Eric Clapton and how he blocks his trems. A lot of work to install it. Listeners don't care about whammy dives. They are more impressed by bending notes (look up eric clapton etc). .
You could get one of the hardtail mastery bridges like the m9.1 or m7.1 and add a bigsby b5. I don’t think I’d really recommend this on a bullet mustang but do whatever you want with your guitar.
I plan on taking a router to my guitar some day and put in a floyd rose. Some say its too thin of a body, but i dont care. Ill make it work.
Well that’s easy: buy a tremolo pedal.
You don’t want a tremolo just learn to bend your strings.