Fender Duo Sonic Serial Numbers10/29/2020
The Duo-Sonic features typical Fender construction techniques with a bolt-on maple neck, attached to a solid body.The bridge is fixed and the line has a shorter scale neck than standard models as a concession to younger, beginner guitarists and other players with smaller hands.Like the Musicmaster introduced a few months earlier, it featured basic but effective construction and a 22.5 inch scale length (standard Fender guitars feature a 25.5 inch scale) and cost 149.50.
The original model was only available in a light tan color called Desert Sand and had a maple fingerboard with 21 frets and a neck with a soft-V profile. The original model Duo-Sonics also sport a gold-colored, anodized pickguard that helps in screening the single-coil pickups and electronics from interference. The most significant change was a switch from a maple fingerboard to a rosewood one in keeping with changes to other Fender models at this time. These fretboards were originally in the slab-style but switched to the veneer style after approximately a year. The other significant change was a switch from anodized aluminum to plastic pickguards. The student guitars now all featured larger and slightly offset bodies, necks with larger headstocks and rosewood fingerboards and plastic pickguards with the volume and tone controls mounted on a separate metal plate. Pickup selection was moved above the pickups on both the Duo-Sonic and the Mustang and utilized two 3-position on-off-on switches that allowed for in and out-of-phase sounds. The pickups were also reverse-woundreverse-polarity, which made them into a functional humbucker when both pickups were used simultaneously. Also added in this redesign was the option of a 24-inch scale neck in addition to the 22.5 inch scale. This re-designed model was renamed Duo-Sonic II although decals with and without the II designation were used occasionally. In addition to white, Daphne Blue and Dakota Red colors added. The Duo-Sonic II in particular is often seen as a desirable alternative to the more popular Mustang, since it lacks the difficult-to-maintain tremolo bridge. It was dropped from the Fender line in 1997 but was then launched again as a Chinese made Squier Affinity model in 1998 only to be dropped in 1999. It was intended to be closely modeled on the original guitar released in the 1950s and looked very similar, with a maple fretboard, gold anodized pickguard and Desert Sand finish. The new model differed from the original version of the Duo-Sonic in a number of ways: basswood was used for the body, the neck differed in being C-shaped and a 24 scale length, and was fitted with more modern medium jumbo frets; finally, the treble pickup was located 34 further from the bridge. They have a string-through-body hardtail Strat bridge, with vintage-like bent-steel saddles. These guitars, and a re-introduced Mustang range, form the Offset Series and are made in Mexico. The bodies are alder and the necks maple, with maple or rosewood fretboards.
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