“We are greeted with a guitar that looks like it arrived here in a DeLorean”: Fender Vintera II '70s Competition Mustang review

Starting life as a budget-friendly student model, the Mustang galloped out of the classroom and straight into the hands of ’90s alt-rock heroes, cementing itself as the poster child of the grunge movement. 

Turning our attention to the latest Mustang offering from Fender, and we are greeted with a guitar that looks like it arrived here in a DeLorean. 

Fender has again nailed the ’70s aesthetic here – the vintage patina of the neck, the retro ‘F’-stamped machine heads with aged white buttons, and the period-correct black and gold decal all lead to a rather authentic-looking electric guitar indeed. 

Much like the Jaguar in the Vintera II series, this model features a 24” maple neck with C profile – although this time, it’s based on earlier examples – as well as the familiar 7.25” radius fingerboard and vintage-tall frets. 

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If you’ve never had the joy of playing a short-scale Fender, we’d highly recommend seeking one out, as they are a lot of fun – and this one is no different. The shorter nature of the neck results in a much more elastic feel to the strings and once-impossible bends are now a total breeze. 

Again, like the Jag, the build quality here is top-notch. The hardware feels robust, the tremolo unit is as smooth as you like and the machine heads are perfectly responsive.

The tonal heart of this miniature offset is a set of vintage-inspired ’70s single-coil pickups and they sound fantastic.

Cheerful, snappy and full of detail, these pickups are sure to cover a lot of musical ground. Whether it’s clean chords or aggressive fuzzed-out solos, this Mustang takes it all in its stride.

Specs

• PRICE: $1,149 / £1,049
• BODY: Alder 
• BODY FINISH: Gloss Polyester 
• NECK: Maple 
• NECK SHAPE: Early ‘70s C 
• FINGERBOARD: Rosewood 
• PICKUPS: Vintage-Style ‘70s Single-Coil Mustang
• CONTROLS: Master Volume, Master Tone, 2-On/Off Slide Switches