Pre-CBS Fender Duosonic

The period between the time Leo Fender started the Fender Electric Instrument Company around 1948 and the company’s sale to CBS in 1964 is known as the ‘pre-CBS’ period. The original Fender Duosonic was introduced during this time period, in the summer of 1956. Fender guitars made during this period are valued for their quality craftsmanship and have considerable collector value. While the Duo-sonic  isn’t as highly valued as the Stratocaster or Telecaster from the same period  they are recognized for their construction quality, especially as compared to other student guitars from the time period.

The collectible value of these guitars skyrocketed in the 1990’s when the vintage guitar market took off due to guitar players like Stevie Ray Vaughan popularizing vintage, pre-CBS, Fender guitars. This has made finding a pre-CBS Duo-sonic difficult because those that have not been purchased by speculators and collectors have been parted out by scam artists who use the vintage guitar parts to build a fake vintage Stratocaster or Telecaster.

Let’s take a look at the original, 1956, Fender Duosonic. This guitar had a Desert Sand brown finish painted on an ash slab 3/4 sized body. The body wood was switched to cheaper and more readily avaiable alder in late 1956. This production switch makes a 1956 ash Duosonic a rare find. The pickguard was made of anodized aluminum during this early time period. The neck was the 22.5 inch  scale and was made from a single piece of maple. The nut was 1 5/8 inches. The serial number on these guitars is found on the neckplate and there are other identifying  marks that distinguish these guitars although these sometimes are controversial.

In 1959, Fender began to phase out the desert sand finish in favor of the more popular sunburst popularized by Strat players like Buddy Holly. This era’s sunburst is often referred to as a ‘maroon burst’ because the center color was a peach shade and the outer fade was a maroon color rather than a dark reddish black found on newer guitars. Another common thing you’ll see in these guitars is that the original body color was painted over as a cost saving move. It isn’t uncommon to find a vintage sunburst Duosonic that has a desert sand paint job underneath.  By 1961 the original desert sand color had been completely dropped from the Fender product line.

Another big change in 1959 at Fender was switching from the single piece maple neck to a rosewood slab fretboard glued onto a maple neck.  The anodized aluminum Duosonic pickguard was also discontinued in favor of the less expensive single ply white plastic pickguard. In 1961, the nut on the Duosonic was made slighly smaller, dropping it down an 1/8th of a inch to 1 1/2 inches.

In 1963, Leo Fender began negotiations to sell the company to CBS  due to health problems. During this time, there was one last pre-CBS purchase change to the Duosonic line. Once again, the public taste had changed and sunburst was out and white was in, probably due to the influence of surf music. During the final pre-CBS years the Duosonic was only available in white. Some production runs during this time featured light brown plastic pickguards rather than white ones.

After the sale of Fender, the Duosonic remained around for a few years and had more drastic changes. I’ll cover these in another article.

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