Short Scale Guitars » duo-sonic

Fender Duosonic II

Frank — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 10:41:43 +0000

The Duosonic II was released by Fender in August of 1964, during the transitional period where the company was changing hands from Leo Fender to the CBS corporation. It was a companion to the new Mustang model that was released at the same time. The intention was the the Duosonic II would be an economy model of the Mustang so it was designed for student and budget guitarists. The main difference between the two guitars was that the Duosonic II did not share the rather impractical Mustang tremolo. Instead, it had a fixed bridge.

Originally the Duo-sonic II was offered in both the 22.5 inch and 24 inch scale. Over time, the 24 inch model proved more popular and the shorter scale length became rather rare. Also, as was the case with other Fender guitars of the transitional and early CBS periods, the headstock became larger, the logo was changed and a veneer, rather than slab, fretboard was used. The veneer fretboard was a cost saving move by the company since it required less materials and fewer manufacturing steps.

The Duosonic II guitars were available with three different body finishes: Dakota Red, Olympic White, and Daphne Blue. You may encounter other colors as well such as black or sunburst but these are typically refinish jobs and not original. Rumors of factory custom color jobs have been around but, from what I understand these can’t be proven.

Fender discontinued the Duo-Sonic II in 1969 after a production run of five years. Under CBS management, cost cutting became paramount and they trimmed the product line down to the bare bones. Many also say that their cost cutting also cut the quality of the guitars. From my experience, transitional and early CBS models are still well made and can often be purchased for much less than comparable pre-CBS models just a year or so older. CBS Fender models after around 1968 do show a reduction in quality in my estimation but you can still find some real gems from this time period as well.

The Fender Duosonic II has been growing in collector value due to its rarity as well as player demand. Many guitar players have come to prefer the fixed bridge Duo-Sonic II to it’s cousin, the Fender Mustang. Many players find the tremolo bridge of the Mustang troublesome and difficult to maintain. Ironically the lack of a tremolo bridge is probably what sunk the Duo-sonic II during its original production run. Collectors, having snapped up most pre-CBS Fender guitars, appreciate the lower costs of the CBS era guitars and hope that the price will rise to the same levels over time.

Pre-CBS Fender Duosonic

Frank — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:35:06 +0000

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.

Fender Duosonic

Frank — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:22:25 +0000

The Fender DuoSonic guitar, sometimes spelled with a dash as in Duo-Sonic, was introduced in 1956 as a student guitar. Leo Fender realized that the price of the Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars were too expensive for many new guitarists. Also, the 25.5 inch scale neck was too large for small hands. Therefore the Duosonic’s neck was made at the 22.5 inch scale length while using the new stylish, double cutaway, body similar to the Strat.

The Duo-sonic has been available in both 22.5 and 24 inch scale necks. The Duosonic II, released in 1964 and discontinued in 1969, had a 24 inch neck although an optional 22.5 inch neck was available some years. This neck length is quite rare in the Duosonic II era and has better than average collector value. With the arrival of grunge music in the early 1990’s Fender reissued the Duosonic in the original 22.5 inch scale length and made this guitar in their new Mexican factory. They also made a Squier line as well that you could purchase new for under $100 at the time. These reissues were discontinued in early 2000’s. In 2008, Fender did another reissue, a more upscale one, in their Classic Vibe line.

The Duosonic features 2 single coil pickups with a single vertical pickup selector switch on the lower bout, or horn, of the body. The placement of the pickup selector switch makes it difficult to reach while playing, unlike the Stratocaster and Telecaster. Another difference is that the pickups in most models are reverse-wound/reverse-polarity. This means that there is humbucking when both pickups are engaged when the switch is in the middle position. This is by far my most favorite position when playing the Duo-sonic.

The standard tone and volume pots on a Duosonic are 250K. The wiring is rather simple. The only thing that you really want to make sure of is that you use a correct RW/RP pickup so that you get the humbucker effect when the switch is in the middle position. Also, use caution when working with the pickguard on the Duo-sonic. If you try to force things you can easily break the guard.

While there have been many variations of the Duosonic over the years, most models came with a solid plastic cover which covered the pole pieces of the pickup entirely. Some newer models have the pole pieces exposed with a plastic cover, much like a Strat. In fact, Strat pickups will easily fit within the body and pickup cavity of the Duosonic. This gives you a wide variety of pickup sounds to choose from when selecting new pickups for your Duosonic.

The Duosonic’s electronics, along with its short scale length, combine to produce a unique guitar tone. This tone has been used by Jimi Hendrix, especially early in his career when he needed a funky sound while playing backup guitar with the Isley Brothers. Liz Phair found the Duosonic a good fit with her lo-fi rock sound. Slide players like Johnny Winter and Rory Gallagher liked the effect the short scale lent to their playing. David Byrne, like Hendrix, also appreciated the funky tone of the Duosonic. The Duosonic, with its easy playability and comfortable feel for a lead singer, was especially popular with early punk acts like Patti Smith, Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine.

The Fender Duosonic hasn’t quite been mainstream but it has a lot of fans, including myself. What do you think about the Duo-sonic? Leave me a comment and let me hear your thoughts on it.