My first "project guitar"
This is my favorite guitar, although even if you dig Musicmasters/Duo-Sonics as much as I do, there's absolutely nothing special about it. At just $199, it was destined to be a project guitar, and what a project it was! I put up this web page to pass on some of the information I learned while customizing/modifying this guitar (see below; also part of the Musicmaster/Duo-Sonic gallery). I read up on all kinds of topics before tackling this project, but everything I read was from a master craftsman's point of view. Hopefully, this will help other amateur guitar enthusiasts (or anyone who just loses their mind like I did) to be better prepared than I was. No other mods are planned for this guitar....I bought this guitar in mid-October 1998, sight unseen (just a crappy digital picture), from Ed's Guitars (FL). I hadn't planned on refinishing it, but after seeing the body's "Spray Paint Black" finish and painted white guard, I figured I couldn't do worse than that. I originally thought about refinishing it natural until I saw how ugly the wood beneath it was, so I decided to refinish it in what must have been its original white, with a natural brown shell guard. (See below for more information.) Electronics-wise, I also converted it into a Duo-Sonic (adding a bridge pickup, and routing for a toggle switch in the treble-side body horn).
[ back view | headstock ]
Neck:
- 24" scale maple neck, with curiously asymmetrical "slab" rosewood fingerboard. To my hands, this neck had perhaps the best feel of any guitar I've ever played. After it received the inevitable refret job, it became THE best neck I've ever played, especially for rhythm guitar.
- Fender "transition" logo on "transition" shaped headstock
- Neck code of 8 OCT 65 B indicates a "B" neck (1 5/8" wide at nut), designated for a Musicmaster/Duo-sonic body ("8"), made in October 1965. From this view, it's obvious the fingerboard is a flat slab rather than curved veneer of rosewood.
- Came with replacement "Ping Deluxe" (ersatz Kluson) tuning machines; the 3/8" diameter key holes indicate that either Schallers or Grovers had previously been installed. Whoever removed the original tuners really butchered up the face of the headstock prying the bushings out. (To avoid marring the headstock, don't pry the bushings out with a screwdriver! Instead, "rock" them out as described on page 82 of Dan Erlewine's Guitar Player Repair Guide, then push them out from underneath.) StewMac's #3458 conversion bushings were installed to return them to 1/4" Kluson Deluxe-esque string posts.
Body:
- Three-piece yellow poplar body, first stripped and routed for the toggle switch. After sealing the body, it was refinished white with a clear topcoat. The body date code is unknown; it appeared that a penciled code was peeking through the partially removed finish in the bridge pickup cavity, but it was unreadable.
- Sanded the pickguard to its original brown faux-tortoiseshell, and routed it for a bridge pickup.
- Neck pocket - Marked with an engraved stamp "8" (identifying it as needing an "8" neck), along with a rubber-stamped "OK". Okay!
Electronics/hardware:
- Came with a miscellaneous non-original neck single coil, with two huge bar magnets spanning the bottom of it. It sounded okay, but I later replaced it with a Seymour Duncan "Classic Stack" single-coil sized stacked humbucker (a great-sounding pickup, like a vintage Fender single-coil but with no 60-cycle hum). However, it was really difficult to shoehorn it into this guitar; I had to remove 1/16" deep of wood from the bass-side neck pickup cavity to get it to fit, and even then it never really allowed the pickup to be lowered enough on the low "E" side. Thus, I eventually swapped out the "Classic Stack" with the "Vintage Staggered" pickup in my Cyclone. Finally, I added a Duncan Hot Rails for Strat bridge humbucker -- a truly smooth and creamy high-output pickup -- plus a 3-way toggle switch, and shielded the underside of guard with foil.
- Original pots marked 70-2125-0034 250K AUD 137 6542 (the last lines indicate it's a CTS brand pot, made during the 42nd week of 1965). Original(?) knobs marked S 647 J and S 647 W on bottom. The tone pot's original(?) capacitor was "pancake" style, and marked ".80-.20 D 0.05 50 V". Because the original shielding plates were long gone, I used adhesive copper tape from Allparts to shield the control cavity.
- Came with a grody rusted bridge plate; after enlarging the length adjustment screw holes, the bridge saddles were replaced with MannMade TrueTone brass intonated (angled) replacements, which were originally designed for the late Danny Gatton's custom Telecaster. They solved most of the intonation problems inherent in 3-saddle MM/DS guitars, and really brightened up the tone a lot. (Read more about this mod here.)
Vital statistics:
- Serial number: N/A (made in U.S.A.)
- Body: 3-piece yellow poplar, amateurly refinished in "Olympic" white
- Neck/fingerboard: maple/"slab" rosewood
Scale length: 24"
Neck width:
- at nut: 1 5/8"
- at 12th fret: 2"
Neck radius: 7 1/4"
- String gauges (standard tuning):
GHS Nickel Rockers rollerwound strings, set R+RM (.050-.011)
- Electronics:
2 pickups (polarity/DC resistance):
Neck: Duncan Vintage Staggered single coil (south/6.54 kOhms)
Bridge: Duncan Hot Rails humbucker (north/15.21 kOhms)
Controls: 3-way toggle switch; master volume, master tone (both original)
