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Fender duo sonic mods10/27/2023 ![]() If it sounds like we're typecasting this guitar then rest assured the Duo-Sonic is versatile enough to handle country picking, surf, indie, classic rock, whatever. A clean setting here echoes the clattering rhythm voice of the song's intro while a fuzz box unleashes a racket not unlike the heavy sound Kurt craved. If we had to use a song to describe the tonal range of the bridge pickup, we'll have Smells Like Teen Spirit, please. That clarity is further boosted when you coil-split the bridge 'bucker. So, while this guitar's pickups sound fat, there's maximum note separation, no matter how thick the filth is. Tonally, its scale retains some of the brightness and bottom-end twang of a Strat and Tele, especially if you use 0.010 or higher gauge strings, yet you also get a chunkier rhythm sound. Dropping the scale length from the 648mm (25.5 inches) found on Fender's Strat and Tele models doesn't just make the Duo-Sonic's strings a bit easier to bend. There is another important factor at play here. So, the Duo-Sonic HS is pretty close to what Kurt was into. He also tweaked his 'Stang vibratos to make 'em hardtails. Kurt liked to modify his guitars, hence his humbucker-boosted short-scale 'signature' Jag-Stang, Mustang and Jaguar models. While Jimi Hendrix played a Duo-Sonic early in his career, it was Nirvana's Kurt Cobain that sparked the huge interest in Fender student models when he thrashed his way through a bunch of vintage Mustangs in the early 90s. Straight from the box, it impresses with a low, buzz and choke-free action via its slim C neck profile, fat frets and factory-fitted 0.010 to 0.046 gauge strings. Oh, and it doesn't matter what size your hands are. Or maybe I'll find a 60's Duo-Sonic near me someday.Before we plug in, we have to say, we've encountered guitars at more than twice the price that don't play anywhere near as well as this thing does. Would like to get some plastic tipped Mustang tuners for it at some point but the stock Squier cheapies are ok for now.įinal mod would be a Dakota Red respray and a 2 regular single coils in an aged pearl 'guard like a vintage 60's Duo-Sonic but I have absolutely zero skills in the refin department so that will have to wait until I have the spare cash. Did some recording with it last week and it is such a funky little guitar to have around. I chose the 60's Duo-Sonic bridge, and I swear the little Bullet Mustang is rock solid now I think it helps that I put a set of 10-46 D'Addario flats on there too, but I'd have done that anyway. Had to reshape it to fit around the control plate but it's not a bad fit all said and done.Īlso I could not get on with the bridge! The saddle screws kept working loose as I played, and I either had the choice of replacing the saddles (but I didn't know what type to get) or getting another hard tail Strat bridge (didn't know if it would work with the neck radius) or sticking a vintage Fender bridge from a 1960's Duo-Sonic or Musicmaster on there… I changed the stock 3-ply w/b/w pickguard for a budget tort one without the upper switching routs. Humbuckers are F&M and from an eBay seller named Thor-guitars. They can be split as well - I think I will add push/pull pots to explore the possibilities. I had to carefully rework the pickguard to make them fit. I switched the pickups for wide range type humbuckers with a little less bite but a lot more expression and voice. I got those from a seller on eBay called designdivilģ. On the purely cosmetic side I added racing stripes - I think a Mustang without racing stripes looks incomplete. The cheap pot metal saddles got replaced with standard modern Fender steel saddles - improves the sound quite a bit!Ģ. ![]() I will start off with what I changed on mine so far:ġ. If you feel alike, please post your mods again here and if you added parts, it would also be great to know where you got them from. There are some really astonishing mods in those threads, but hard to find sometimes. ![]() Seeing various threads about customizing these neat little Rock'n'Roll machines scattered across the forum, I thought it might be good to collect them all in one thread.
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