1966 Fender Duosonic II, White
Sweet Fender Duo-Sonic II with aged white finish and Ruby Red ‘guard. The guitar looks fab and thanks to it’s original single coil pickups sounds great. The guitar has been overpainted white and the two pickup switches are replaced (originals retained). The guitar comes with a slightly earlier tan Fender Duo-Sonic case with some cool crew tour stickers.
Introduced in 1956 to accompany the three-quarter scale Musicmaster the Duo-Sonic was the dual pickup variant. Aimed at the Student guitarist both models were constructed in the same manner with bolt on maple necks and a solid body. Initially it was available in a Desert Sand finish with a gold anodised pickguard until in 1959 when, like the rest of the Fender range, the fingerboard switched to Rosewood and the pickguard changed to plastic. The finish subtlety changed to tan at this point and a Sunburst finish was also offered to compliment. 1964 would see the Duo-Sonic redesigned after the recent introduction of the Mustang to the Fender range. There was a subtle change in name to Duo-Sonic II and the aesthetic shifted to bring it in line with the new Mustang. The pickup selector moved above the strings and was now two three-way switches instead of the earlier 3-way. Like the new Mustang the Duo-Sonic II was available in Red, White and Blue and for the first time was available with an option of a 24” scale length neck.
Aside from the afore mentioned over finished body and switches the guitar is in great original condition. The neck lacquer is showing some play wear as the nitro finish has worn with use but the Decal and frets are all correct. The neck has a date stamp of APR66 A. Tuners are plastic buttoned “Double-line” Kluson Deluxe. The body, although over-pained has had the neck pocket preserved with the original yellow ‘first coat’ evident. Under the pickguard there is no evidence of modification. The pickup route screening and foam has been painted over but is correct under the control cavity. The Electronics comprise two grey bottom Fender Single coil pickups both with 66 pencil dates.The neck pickup measures 5.25K and the bridge 5.31K. The pickups are reverse-wound/reverse-polarity and can be used in series and out of phase thanks the two three-way switches. The switches are replacements but the originals are retained. Pots are matching Stackpole with the source code 304 6618. The original Ruby red celluloid tortoise ‘guard is in great condition.
Being a short-scale student model the guitar feels compact and easy to play. The neck measures 20.81mm at the first fret, 23.29mm at the 12th with a nut width of 37.89mm. Despite the smaller dimensions and the 22.5" scale the guitar feels great to play after only a short time adapting. The original Fender single coil pickups sound excellent with plenty of the chime and bell like ring that grey bottom Fender pickups are associated.
The guitar comes with a slightly earlier tan Fender Duo-Sonic case with cool tour stickers.