Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: gwEm on March 31, 2015, 12:24:32 AM
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I've had this a few weeks now. Just completed a conversion to Duo Sonic with mostly proper 60s bits and a few aged parts from Wez.
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Love it, looks like a real relic. What productionyear?
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Rock and roll!!
They've never appealed to me personally, but that one looks very righteous...
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Love it, looks like a real relic. What productionyear?
There a clue in the thread name ;) 1966
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Lovely, a great simple rock and roll machine. How does it play/sound? I've played 50s and early 60s Fenders (friends' and acquaintances', not mine) which were variable in quality and tone, and I've played 70s Teles and Strats, all of which were awful, but I've never played anything from the transistional years.
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Lovely, a great simple rock and roll machine. How does it play/sound? I've played 50s and early 60s Fenders (friends' and acquaintances', not mine) which were variable in quality and tone, and I've played 70s Teles and Strats, all of which were awful, but I've never played anything from the transistional years.
She plays really nice, good old mojo. Prettty low action actually.
As for the sound, I need to experiment further to be able to describe more - but I can definitely say not bad! I only finished putting her back together at midnight yesterday, and other than a quick play when setting up, and a bit of a strum this morning I've not tried her much in Duo-Sonic form. When she was a Musicmaster still she sounded good, but she didn't have the right pickup - see further post to come.
In my opinion (which admittedly may not be worth much) the Fender quality didn't drop too far until the very end of the 60s. The transitional Fenders I've played are all pretty close to the early 60s pre-CBS.
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Rock and roll!!
They've never appealed to me personally, but that one looks very righteous...
I think the Duo Sonic might be my favourite Fender actually.
When you put a Mustang or Duo Sonic 2 next to a Strat, I think they make the Strat look as old fashioned as a Telecaster when you put Strat next to it. I love the slightly more modern look.
Hardtail also - although string-through-back-of-bridge, which I don't think is as bad as people say. Plus no middle pickup.
I also like the feel of the 24" scale neck - I can run my favourite 11 strings, nice and thick, but without too much tension.
I just regret that Fender never really made a Duo Sonic which had a string-through-body bridge plus more useful switching. If one unlikely day Fender asks for a gwEm signature model I'll explain to them what to do :grin: :laugh:
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Heres the first part of the explanatory story:
So I've been looking for a Duo-Sonic for a while, there a few around, but they were always in the US or priced higher than I was prepared to pay.
Suddenly a '66 Musicmaster appeared on eBay in the UK, and for some reason no one was really bidding. Knowing I could convert her to a Duo-Sonic without much effort I picked her up for a reasonable price. A non-original hard case sweetened the deal even further.
When she arrived I was a bit worried because the frets were very low, but after a week of playing, I found there was no real issues - in fact she seemed like a "good 'un".
I asked the eBay seller about her history. He was an older chap in Sunderland, who brought her off a destitute gigging musician from Newcastle. He in turn had brought her from a store in New Orleans about 8 years ago.
Theres almost no fingerboard wear at the "dusty end" of the board, its all cowboy chords. I imagine she was used as rhythm guitar for jazz and/or blues.
Anyway, I pulled her to bits after a week - the neck is dated late '65, the pot codes are '66, and the serial number could be '66 or '67. I think the seller is right and she left the factory in '66.
I found some non-original parts - the tuners, which are very old schallers. I don't mind them, they have a nice patina and fit to the guitar. I would like original tuners at some stage, but I'm happy enough. Also the pickup was of all things a 1990s mexican strat pickup with the pole pieces pushed flat(!!).
I'll write again a bit later about the conversion work I did.
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I managed to find an original '66 Mustang pickguard from the US which just needed a hair of material around the bridge removed to fit the musicmaster bridge.
I also found a set three original '66/'67 mustang/duo sonic/musicmaster pickups on German eBay. From these pickups I chose the hottest for the bridge and then fitted a reverse phase pickup to the neck, which gives hum cancelling. To the bridge pickup I fitted a baseplate. I did briefly consider some modern pickups, but thought I'd try to be as original as possible.
The original pickup cover was a sort of translucent mint green material. Wez sent me two modern covers which he'd aged. Obviously they didn't match the original, but because I have a set of two, they don't look out of place. They don't look quite 100% correct though and I'd like to get original covers at some point.
The switches are modern Switchcraft switches which I must say Wez has done an excellent job of aging. They really look the part, and have the reliability of a modern switch. I won't track down any 60s switches!!
The wiring scheme is a bit of a gwEm special. The neck selector chooses the phase of the neck pickup. The bridge selector chooses the pickup. A bit easier than original arrangement.
The straplocks have been changed to Dunlop locking ones which Wez has also nicely aged - I have plans to gig this guitar for sure.
Added to that i've fitted telecaster brass intonated saddles. I dipped them in vinegar for a few minutes and then suspended them above a cup of vinegar over night. They came out distressed rather than authentically aged, but actually I'm rather pleased and they also don't look out of place.
So theres a few very mild "hot rod" options - the pickup base plate, saddles, wiring and strap locks. Everything else is authentic.
I really can't wait to get home and play her some more tonight.
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Love it, looks like a real relic. What productionyear?
There a clue in the thread name ;) 1966
Oh holy cow, I should not respond so late at night. :shocked:
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Nice one, congrats. Props for doing it properly with aged parts.
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Nice :D
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:afro:What were k measurements on the pickups?
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:afro: What were k measurements on the pickups?
Bridge is 6.1k, neck is 5.7k
(actually the bridge pickup is a neck pickup and the neck pick is a bridge pickup - I can tell from the pole orientation)
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I don't think I've ever heard of the Musicmaster before, looks great, bags of character!
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The dirty neck tone is pure butter. Bags of sustain.
Bridge isn't bad either, could do with a touch more oomph maybe, but it works perfectly well. It sounds excellent clean for some reason.
Overall it has a woody tone, controlled high end, even though you can clearly hear it's a Fender.
I'm pretty delighted at this point.
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Its common for Fender's to have a hotter neck than bridge. Apparently, this was Leo Fender's preference and thus part of the culture at Fullerton.
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Its common for Fender's to have a hotter neck than bridge. Apparently, this was Leo Fender's preference and thus part of the culture at Fullerton.
Well, I didn't know that!
Very interesting, and it explains alot.
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Nice one gwEm!