Squier Classic Vibe Duo-Sonic '50s

-Made in China

-Three way pick-up selector (Bridge/bridge and neck/neck)

- Volume and tone knobs

-AlNiCo 5 pick-ups

-24" scale length

-Modern C shape neck with 9.5" radius and maple fretboard (Gloss polyester finnish)

-Twenty one medium jumbo frets

-Vintage style top loading bridge with three barrel saddles

-Vintage style machine heads (White plastic)

-Basswood body

-Available in desert sand finnish (Gloss polyester)

-one-ply gold anodized aluminum pick-guard


UTILIZATION

I find this guitar very easy to get along with, I find the neck really easy to play for my style and its easy to dial in a good sound through my Epiphone Valve Junior amplifier. The guitar is really ergonomic as it's light and the cut away prevents the guitar from digging into my body while playing standing or sitting down. I have yet to buy a decent strap to use with this guitar and have been using a cheap thin strap and it's still comfortable enough to play for a three hour band practice without it causing my shoulder to ache.

The upper fret access on this guitar isn't great due to the bolt on neck and doesn't employ any solutions such as carving the neck joint to help improve it. I find the shape of the body helps make it more comfortable to reach the upper frets than a guitar such as a telecaster but only marginally. This isn't really a problem for me as my playing style means I rarely use the highest frets but I can imagine this being a problem for some other players. I find the shape and finnish of the neck to be really pleasant and prefer playing this guitar to my friends Fender Highway One Telecaster and Fender 1950's Reissue Stratocaster.

SOUNDS

I use this guitar the majority of the time with just an Electro Harmonix Big Muff pedal and my Epiphone Valve Junior amplifier. I don't really enjoy the sound of this guitar clean to be totally honest, it just doesn't have the crispness of the aforementioned Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars that I've also used with the same amplifier on numerous occasions. When using the Big Muff I find it hard to make this guitar sound bad, the neck pick up provides a huge thick sludgey fuzz sound, the bridge makes a nice crisp fuzzy tone and the middle setting is in a beautiful middle ground between these two. The Big Muff can be used to provide a pleasant overdrive tone by setting the volume high and the sustain low, this is probably my favorite setting using this guitar, the middle position of the pickup selector combined with the Big Muff is my main rhythm guitar tone which I use for playing songs similar to those of the band Jawbreaker.

OVERALL OPINION

I sprang for this guitar as I found it for sale on a guitar forum just because I liked the way it looked and I'm really glad I did. I think overall this guitar is great value for money, it's a well made guitar and I would consider it on par with mexican standard Fenders that I have played, and own, in terms of build quality.

My favorite thing about this guitar is the neck, it's the most comfortable neck I've played on a guitar which is less than $500 new and I can't think of many that I have played above that price bracket that I prefer to this one. My least favorite thing is the absolutely hideous gold pick-guard, I'd much prefer for it to have a white or tortoiseshell one but that is a fairly trivial thing. Another thing I dislike about the aesthetics of this guitar is that it's only available in desert sand as I'd rather olympic white or daphne blue but again this is only a minor factor as the playability and sound come before the aesthetics of an instrument to me.

I think the features and price of this guitar make it an excellent choice for a first guitar that will be good enough to keep using for a long period of time, the Fender Duo-sonic was released as a student model after all. That's not to say this is a beginner only instrument as it's well made and would be a good choice for more advanced players to add something a bit different to their arsenal.

After owning the guitar for a few months I'm pretty sure that I've made the right choice buying it. I can't see myself purchasing another guitar for a long time, unless it's for a completely different sound.

(Originally written by kenny183/translated from Audiofanzine FR)
See specs

UTILIZATION

Pleasant neck and varnish if you like thick necks...

Normal access to the upper frets, considering the guitar type.

I love the playability: it's a very small, light and well-balanced guitar.

SOUNDS

It's a vintage-style guitar so fat sound fans should forget about it...

Good sound. It reminds the sound of small Fender guitars: Musicmaster, Bronco, Duo Sonic, Mustang, etc.

The sound is less twangy than a Squier 51, for example... but I find the acoustic sound is very good, and the electric sound could be very good with better-quality pickups.

OVERALL OPINION

I just received it.

I like its playability most of all. The pickups could sound better...

I try affordable guitars regularly and the Duo Sonic does what it should pretty good. It provides a vintage sound at the price of a budget guitar... It has a real personality.

Very good value for money considering the high-quality finish.

I bought a secondhand Mexican reissue of the Fender Duo Sonic a few years ago... The 90's Mexican Duo Sonic sounds better, but it was more expensive...