This is a summary of my first year as a Mustang player which I'm posting to encourage newer guitarists, but I hope you experienced musicians may enjoy recollections of your early days.
I was purely an acoustic blues guitarist before I got my Mustang. When I first saw my Mustang in the shop, I just kinda fell for it. And I actually had a honeymoon period after I got it. Sort of a pink cloud around the coolest guitar in the world. Gradually, though, I realized I had no idea how to use the guitar's controls OR my amp's controls. And I was overplaying, using the muscle for acoustic on the more delicate tension of this electric.
As I began to learn more technical stuff about how to use my equipment, the pink honeymoon cloud dissipated and I got some sort of remorse. I thought my pickups weren't strong enough, the neck's too thin, the tuning machines are slipping or the trem is detuning the strings...the action's too high. My worst fear was coming true, the Mustang is not really a very good guitar. So I'd ask these embarrasingly basic questions on this website, like do the pickup covers dull the pickup, and always, I mean always got helpful responses.
Take heart, newcomers. My playing skills kept getting a little better when I practiced nearly every day. I did have some weeks when I thought I wasn't really getting better. I'd persist and I'd have a noticeable breakthrough a week or two later. And as I got better, I was more satisfied that my Mustang actually was a pretty good guitar.
As I continued to get better, I leaned how to get more tones, and I also got more ambitious with note bending and playing high up on the neck. That's when I got concerned about the action again. I took my Mustang to a vintage repair specialist and he said, "Sure I can give you better action but it will take fifteen minutes and cost twenty dollars". Damn. I walked out with what plays like the best guitar you could ever want, action so fast and light to the touch!
It felt like the honeymoon had come back, but it's more substantial than that. I know now my Mustang is a super great player. And a very cool axe. And I'm gettin some chops. So I'm thinkin if maybe these are stages every beginner goes through in some way, then this story will help a few folks hang in there.
