Fender Duo-Sonic [1959-1964]

Made in Mexico. It has 21 frets with two single coil configuration. The bridge is a fixed stock Fender bridge. One control for volume and one control for tone. Has a three-way selector switch. Not sure what the neck is made of, but it doesn't feel like an expensive wood. The action is OK, mine needs a good set up.

UTILIZATION

The neck is OK. It doesn't play well since the strings are old and it is time to have it set up. With the double cutaways, it is easy to access the top notes. Unfortunately, with only 21 frets, you don't get much range. Being a smaller scale and what I consider a beginner guitar, this one is very light. It's your typical strat style design in a smaller, more 60's or 70's design. When this guitar was younger, it actually sounded decent, especially through a Fender Twin. It needs some TLC now, but I am unsure if that will even make it better for me than my beginner Ibanez. There simply aren't enough frets, and the guitar needs to be bigger for a bigger sound.

SOUNDS

This guitar can do in a pinch if I break a string on my main guitar. Not exactly a metal guitar or even a shred guitar. It's nice for smooth, slow solos. It's also easier on the hands as it is a smaller scale, but that doesn't really help one's development and hand strength. I used to plug straight into whatever amp I was using at the time. Since I don't use this guitar much, it doesn't get plugged in to my current setup much. Like I said, it's not that great for metal or hard rock. But it can work for that jangly 60's and even 70's sound. I guess you could play Santana, or David Gilmour with it. There is a cool sustained harmonic that automatically appears when you play the 5th fret of the 3rd string, without having to pinch the string or purposefully attempt to create a harmonic. It is probably the coolest signature of this guitar. This is good, because I don't feel it has too many other cool features.

OVERALL OPINION

I bought this guitar to gig with my college band in the 90's. I haven't really used it much since. I just lug it around as a spare guitar, but usually I just keep on playing even with a broken string on my Ibanez rather than pick this guitar up and play. I like it's convenience, but it's playability and tone is barely adequate for me. I didn't try many other guitars at the time I bought this, because the price was right, and it's a Fender. If they had my Ibanez for the $200 purchase price of this guitar, I probably would have bought it instead. However, I have seen that these things go for $300 on ebay, which is $100 more than I paid, so they appear to be appreciating ! So I figure I can hang on to it so I can let it appreciate more so I can have more bargaining posture when I get my next guitar or even my next amp.