Exceptionally fine Olympic White Duo-Sonic II.

1966 Fender Duo-Sonic II.

This 12 inch wide and 1 1/2 thick 'custom-color' guitar weighs 7.50 lbs. and has a nut width of just under 1 9/16 inches and a 'full' scale length of 24 inches and a medium neck profile. Solid alder asymmetrical double-cutaway 'slab' body. One-piece maple neck with veneer rosewood fretboard with 22 original medium frets and pearloid dot position markers. Individual 'two-line' Kluson Deluxe tuners with white plastic oval buttons with "D-169400 / PATENT NO." inside. Headstock with transition logo with "Fender" in gold with black trim and beneath that ""Duo-Sonic II" / Pat.2,573,254  2,960,900   Des. 169,062". Four-bolt 'F' style neckplate with serial number "177266" stamped between the top two screws. Single 'butterfly' string tree. Two plain-top cream Bakelite covered single-coil pickups with gray bottoms and balanced outputs of 6.35k and 6.30k. The neck is stamped in black "16 JUL 66B". Three layer tortoiseshell over white/black plastic pickguard with twelve screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) plus two three-way pickup selector switches. Black plastic control knobs with seven sides and white line marker. The potentiometers are both stamped "137 6642" (CTS, October 1966). Combined bridge/tailpiece with three adjustable 'threaded' saddles. This guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition with minimal playing wear to the original frets, some very light finish checking and just a few surface chips and marks - mainly on the edges of the body. Housed in the original Fender gray hardshell case with black leather ends and red plush lining (8.75).

In late 1964 both models moved to second generation, coinciding with the introduction of the Mustang. The "II" designation was then added to the DuoSonic and MusicMaster names. These models are more like the Mustang (except the Mustang has a vibrato), than the original DuoSonic/MusicMaster models. The differences in the new generation were in the body shape, pickguard, and electronics. It was available with either a 22.5" or 24" scale, but is most often found with the longer scale. The 24" scale Duo-Sonic II, Musicmaster II, and Mustang of the September 1965 to October 1966 period are sometimes found with a slab rosewood fingerboard, usually of Indian rosewood. Some Fender experts speculate that the slab board necks were leftovers from 1962 Jaguars. This is not correct as the dot spacing, peghead shape, and type of rosewood on a 1962 jaguar neck is different than these 9/65 to 10/66 necks. Mostly likely, since Fender was backordered on these guitars, slab boards were used because the manufacturing process was quicker for this style of fingerboard (a veneer fingerboard requires another manufacturing step).