Mid '90s MIM Duo-Sonic, MIK Squier Thinline Tele and amp

[Don]

Tonight, after work, I went to a guy's house to check out a mid '90s MIM Duo-Sonic. Oddly, I've wanted one of these since they were available in the '90s, didn't have the spare money available at the time and, now that I do, I wasn't willing to spend more for one than I spent for my 1966 Fender Mustang in the mid '80s (I paid $175 for it).

Other than a messed up nut and a few small nicks, the guitar is in great shape and cost less than the '66 Mustang did. I have a couple of nut blanks and will cut a new one.
He said that he bought the amp for his nephew about 15 years ago (the kid is 24 now) but he only played for a few months and then moved on. The guitar's condition confirms this story. It has a '94 serial number but the control cavity was dated by "Laura" in 1996.

The thing that surprised me is what a great slide guitar the Duo-Sonic is. It could use better tuners (Kluson style with white buttons) and a pair of alnico pickups, but it's a rockin' little axe!

For $100 more, the guy sold me a MIK Squier Thinline Telecaster. This guitar is black and the Squier log has silver filled letters. It appears to have been made in '91. It's in great shape and isn't a bad guitar at all. The pickups are the Duncan Designed single coils that it came with and it has a set of die-cast Gotoh locking tuners on it. The neck is a bit skinny and the frets are small, but I figured it's a hell of a deal and I'll give it a chance.
He said that this guitar belonged to a country guitarist friend who had leukemia and died.

Oh, and he threw in a little Crate amp. It's not great sounding but would be ideal for a niece or nephew if they decide to play.

Best of all, the guy is a steel guitarist and played for me! I got chills! He had a hell of a lot of cool gear!

More often than not, when I buy or sell something, the best part is meeting someone who I like and find interesting!

[Mikey]

Nice story Don, makes me feels good. Thanks!

[Don]

I set up the Thinline Tele last night and it plays nice. The previous owner put roller string trees on it that were too tall so the high E string did not have enough pressure on the nut, creating a "sitar" effect. I replaced the roller srting tree with a butterfly type and the string rings fine.

The only othe rissue with this guitar is that the highe E string is too close to the edge of the fretboard and the neck pocket is too tight to move the neck to the bass side. I'm going to play it like it is for a while and if it's a problem I'll open up the neck pocket a hair and shift the neck over.

I started to replace the nut on the Duo-Sonic. The low E end of the nut had been broken off and a repair built up with glue. The slot was too tall so the low E played played out of tune. I have spare nut blanks so I'll replace it. Otherwise, this guitar needs nothing (other than maybe a tuner and pickup upgrade).

[Don]

Not a lot of Duo-Sonic love here!

I replaced the nut on the Duo-Sonic last night. The guitar plays well but it's not for everyone! It has a 22.7" scale so my usual .009"-.042" strings feel like rubber bands! Super Slinkys are slinkier than usual! It's fun to play, but you have to watch bends! They go way sharp!

I put an old 3 saddle Tele style bridge that I bought from Stew Mac many years ago on the Thinline. That corrected the high E dropping off issue. The 6 saddle bridge allowed the strings to be out of alignment. The guitar has a jangly sound. Very different from my solid ash T-Style guitar. It's not a great guitar, but a decent sample of something that I wouldn't mind building with USACG or Warmoth parts.

[Mikey]

Didn't Squire put out some Duo-Sonics a couple years ago. IIRC they were all the rage for about 6 months then I didn't hear anything more about them.

[curtisstetka]

Never played one or saw one in the flesh. But they are cool looking guitars.

[Don]

Fender continued the short scale Duo-Sonic under the Squier brand (made in China, I think) for a couple of years after the made in Mexico Fender model was discontinued in 1997.

In 2008 or so a new Squier Duo-Sonic was introduced. Its styling is based on the '50s models but it has the longer, 24" scale length that wasn't available until the mid '60s.

I'm enjoying having something that is cheap, well made, and isn't a Strat, Tele or Les Paul.

[NeoFauve]

Skip Heller's done some nice stuff with a Duo-Sonic.
http://www.myspace.com/video/skip-he...m-blue/1593208

[Don]

So has Tomo Fujita. I don't have any access to any links here at work.

[Gravity Jim]

I know Liz Phair brought them back into the spotlight for a while. I've never played one, but I'd like to... it reminds me of small, cheap, dual-single coil Kalamazoo that I was loaned to play in my first "real" band, and that guitar was really exciting.

[NeoFauve]

They look like they'd be shrill, garage hell making things.
But with the low tension they can be pretty mellow.

[Don]

Skip Heller's done some nice stuff with a Duo-Sonic.
http://www.myspace.com/video/skip-he...m-blue/1593208

That's very cool! The guitar has a very mellow tone if you turn the volume down a hair to take the edge off of the ceramic magnet pickups. Acoustically, it almost sounds like hollow body.

[Don]

I used the Duo-Sonic for a band rehearsal tonight. The guitar sounded great- on some songs! Thing is, the ceramic pickups don't clean up with my tweed Deluxe clone! It was great for "Move it on Over" and "Werewolves of London" and not so great for other songs. It's a wicked slide guitar. It has a great George Thorogood through Hound Dog Taylor kind of dirty sound.

We took a break and when I plugged it back in the jack failed! I had looked over the electronics when I had the guitar apart. It has CTS 250k pots that are as good as any, a polyester cap that's just fine and a cheesy jack with a 15 year lifespan (I'm not kidding, the sticker in the control cavity with Laura's name on it is dated March 1996).

I think that I should accept the guitar for what it is (a really fun, blues rocker) and leave the pickups alone and just replace the jack.

BTW, I had my USAGC T-Style as a backup, not because I though the Duo-Sonic might break, in case I didn't like it.

[curtisstetka]

It's a good thing that you had a backup. Very frustrating to be out of commission over something like a failed jack.

[Don]

It would be worse than that! The drummer has a collection of cheap, poorly setup guitars on the wall. I would've had to play one of them!

[Don]

I couldn't leave well enough alone. Today I swapped two of the pickups out of my son's kit Strat type guitar (they were from my 2002 Hwy1 Strat. They have alnico 5 mags and are a bit under 6k. They're the same part number as the pickups used in the MIM Classic '70s Strat, if I remember correctly.

The pickups sound great! I've always liked them and really like them in this guitar. The hot ceramic pickups didn't have the dynamics that I like. I flipped the magnets and swapped the leads on the neck pickup so it would be RW/RP compared to the bridge pickup like on the original Duo-Sonics.

I think I'm going to re-wire them in series like the originals as well.

BTW, I put the hot (7k-ish) ceramic pickups in my son's guitar. I actually think he'll like them. They sound good through an overdrive pedal.

[JM3]

PICS!!!

[Don]

It's not much to look at, but I really enjoy playing it, especially with my wrist problem!