A Fine 1958 Fender DuoSonic -
Re-Finished by the Fender Factory Around 1964

This 12-inch three-quarter-size "student" guitar weighs just 5.80 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 22 1/2 inches. Solid alder 'slab' body, one-piece maple neck with 21 frets, black dot position markers and a medium-to-thin neck profile. Individual Kluson Deluxe 'single-line' tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Each tuner is stamped on the underside "D-169400 / Patent No." Headstock with Fender 'Spaghetti' logo in gold with black trim and "Duo-Sonic" in black beneath. Single butterfly string-tree with nylon spacer. Two plain-top Fender single-coil pickups with balanced outputs of 5.63k and 5.67k. Eight-screw gold anodized aluminum pickguard. Two controls (one volume, one tone) plus three-way selector switch and jack socket, all on the pickguard. Chrome knobs with knurled sides and flat tops. Combined bridge/tailpiece with three adjustable saddles. The pots are both stamped "137 819" (May 1958) and the neck is dated in pencil "7-58." This guitar has been expertly refinished in the exact same Desert Sand color sometime around 1964/1965. At that time the original 1958 pickups were replaced with 1964/65 DuoSonic pickups with light gray bottoms. The three-way pickup selector switch was replaced as was the headstock decal. In our opinion the re-fin on this guitar was most likely done at the Fender factory - we just sold another mint Desert Sand Duo-Sonic - and when compared side-by-side - the finishes were virtually indistinguishable from another. However, it is still a re-fin, and accordingly we have priced this little gem at half of what we sold the 'all original' one for. Housed in the original Fender tan hardshell case with tan leather ends and orange plush lining (9.00).

On the Duo-Sonic, the two pickups are wired in series and with the pickup selector switch in the middle position this configuration gives an almost humbucking pickup sound.

"Fender's new 'student' guitars, the Duo-Sonic and Musicmaster, first appeared in 1956. They had smaller, lighter bodies, shorter necks and basic appointments...Despite their budget status, the student models were still playable instruments: Fender seemed to have cut the right corners" (Tony Bacon and Paul Day, The Fender Book, p. 29). Although Fender used the term "three-quarter size" in publicizing the new student models, only the neck and the resulting scale-length were smaller, designed for younger hands that were just starting to play guitar.

"These two new instruments -- the Duo-Sonic and the Musicmaster -- had a shorter 22 1/2" (571mm) scale-length as opposed to Fender's customary 25" (635mm) scale. The 'three-quarter size' one-pickup Musicmaster and two-pickup Duo-Sonic were described in the company's ads and catalogs as being 'ideal for students and adults with small hands.' They were clearly designed for players on a tight budget, for those starting out on electric guitars who flocked to the retailers' schools...One apparently attractive feature of the Duo-Sonic and Musicmaster...was what Fender called 'gold-finished pickguards.' These 'guards were in fact made from a gold-colored anodized aluminum. The metal provided excellent electrical shielding, meaning less extraneous noise. However, the electrolytic anodized 'skin' soon wore through to the aluminum below as the player strummed and picked, leaving unsightly gray patches. The anodized 'guards did not last much beyond the 19502" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of Fender, p. 22).