friends and family of the Duo-Sonic
Aesthetically speaking, I'm Fender all the way. Leo Fender, with help from Don Randall, Freddie Tavares, Forrest White, et al., changed the timbre of popular music, and there's a little bit of their brilliance in every Fender guitar made. (Of course, the folks at Gibson back then were pretty sharp as well.) Although my first "real" guitar was a Strat copy, my all-time favorite guitar is the Fender Duo-Sonic. That said, no stock/production model Duo-Sonic would be suitable. I'd want the 24" scale neck, but all such Duo-Sonics came with a pair of scratchy slider switches rather than a 3-way toggle pickup selector switch tucked out of the way. I'd also modify the bridge for better intonation, and drop a higher-output humbucker into the bridge position. Because such a guitar was never commercially produced, both of mine are heavily modified mutants. Introduced in late 1997, the Fender Cyclone comes close with a 24 3/4" scale, but its neck is thicker, its body is heavier, and I ultimately had to replace its Strat-esque vibrato bridge for decent intonation. A good idea, but no cigar (yet)....
p r e s e n t :
- '98 Fender Cyclone
Like a Duo-Sonic that spent too much time in the weight room. (update to come!)
- '98 Epiphone G-400 Korina (SG copy), heavily modified
A beautiful "Fretless Wonder" repro!
- '80 Electra X-960 Ultima
A great set-neck "Less" Paul for the Workingman, with onboard effects modules even!
- '65 Fender Musicmaster II, heavily modified
My favorite guitar (great neck!), and my first attempt refinishing; at the time my most ambitious guitar project.
- '56 Fender Duo-Sonic (with a '65 Mustang neck), heavily mutated
By far my most challenging project, this guitar was created from new and "vintage" parts in winter 2000-01, and was my second (and last!) attempt at refinishing. A solid backup to my '65 Musicmaster (as if I'd be playing out anytime soon!)
- Late '50s Musicmaster/Duo-Sonic, heavily modified
My toy! Derived from a '56 Musicmaster neck and probably a '57-'58 Musicmaster body, this guitar was largely to "blame" for my affinity to the Fender Musicmaster/Duo-Sonic family of guitars. It came with a great candy-apple red refin, but had been sloppily converted to a Duo-Sonic with a hardtail Strat bridge installed. Now closer to stock appearance with a repro guard and an original bridge plate, plus newer Duncan pickups.
- '00 Fender Precision Bass Special, very heavy
A pre-modded/regular production bass? J-bass neck, P-bass body, and P/J pickups give my hands and ears the best of both worlds.
- '04 Fender Mustang Bass
A faithful reissue of one of Leo's final designs at Fender.
- '04 or '05 Galveston USB-12B 12-string bass -- 12 reasons to wear ear protection!
p a s t :
- '80s (?) Harmony Str@t copy ("Flaky")
My first real guitar, and the only one without a humbucker in the bridge position. Sold in late 2005.
- '89 Peavey Fury bass
My first bass, very solid if basic. Sold in summer 2005.
- '94 Epiphone G-310
My second real guitar, bought in October 1994 (SN S94020133). While this guitar was a cheapie bolt-neck (plywood) SG copy, it immediately made me a much better player (new frets!), although I still looked like a goof. In 1997, I replaced the generic stock pickups with EMG Select humbuckers, but it seemed to actually lose "bite" from its sound. Still, in its heyday it was perhaps the only guitar to sport a Shannen Doherty sticker (among many others). I loved its skinny neck, but it was ultimately replaced by the G-400 Korina listed above. Sold in late 1999.
- Early '70s Teisco ET-110
My first guitar, but not my first real guitar. Cost me $5 used in '83 or '84, and given the extreme fretwear (absence of frets, really), I probably got ripped off. It was such a horrible guitar to play that I didn't try to learn guitar again until 1992 (on a different guitar, natch). Subsequently used sparingly with Sonic Youth-esque tunings (mostly G-G-D-D-g-g; Lee Ranaldo's tuning for "Teenage Riot"), because the intonation/lack of frets was that bad in "normal" tunings. Sold in late 1999.
