Vintage Fender Musicmaster and Duosonic

When one begins to look into vintage Fender student guitars it's best to start at the beginning. In this article we'll take a look at the early years, 1956 through 1964, of the Fender Musicmaster and Duosonic.

It was the spring of 1956 when Fender announced and soon begin distributing a pair of student or entry level guitars. Both models had a 22.5 inch scale with 21 frets which was ideal for a young teen getting their first taste of the brand new sensation, rock 'n roll. The Musicmaster, which has a one single coil pickup, had a list price of $119.50. The 2 pickup Duosonic, sometimes called Duo-Sonic, sported a price tag of $149.50. While this may seem cheap to us today, this would be a whopping $915.77 and $1145.66 respectively when adjusted for inflation in 2007 dollars. We are really living in the golden era of cheap guitars today!

Both of these guitars, the Musicmaster and Duosonic, featured anodized gold finished metal pickguards while the pickups' pole pieces were covered with a white plastic pickup cover. They both had a single volume and tone control and used the knurled chrome knobs like those found on the Telecaster as well as the Precision Bass guitar. The Duosonic also feature a pickup selector switch on the lower bout. They were only offered in one body color, Desert Sand. This color was also used on Fender Lap Steel guitars of the same year. The neck was one piece maple.

In 1959, the Duosonic and Musicmaster underwent another change. Like almost all other members of the Fender guitar line a rosewood slab fingerboard was added to the maple neck. The standard finish was changed slightly to a more tan shade from the more blondish Desert Sand color. The anodized metal pickguard was discarded in favor of a dark brown plastic one while the pickup covers went from white to a cream color.

In 1961, a sunburst color was added to the line while the tan color was phased out. This sunburst color was often referred to as a Maroon Burst or Sienna Burst due to the way this finish looked.

Like other Fender models in 1962, the rosewood slab fretboard was replaced with a less expensive curved rosewood one.

1963 marked another color switch as the sunburst gave way to a plain white finish with a tortoise shell pickguard and white pickup colors.

1964 was a year of big changes for the line of Musicmaster and Duosonic  as the Fender Mustang was added to the product line. To match the Mustang, these guitars were available in Red, White and Blue. The Duosonics pickup selector was switched to a pair of slider switches just like the Mustang. Perhaps the biggest change was that the neck scale went from 22.5 inches to 24 inches. Although the shorter scale length was listed as an option for years afterward examples of the shorter scale neck are very rare. The new models were referred to as the Musicmaster II and Duosonic II.

Fender Musicmaster Guitar

The Fender Duosonic had a one pickup version known as the Musicmaster. This guitar actually was made available before the Duosonic by a few months. It was the first guitar of Fender's student guitar line. As with the Duosonic, the original versions of this guitar are great examples of the Golden age of Fender guitars.

The body style and other appointments were the same as the Duosonic. In fact, the body rout on the original Musicmaster would allow it to be converted to a Duosonic with a pickguard group upgrade. This was somewhat similar to how an Esquire could be converted to a Telecaster.

The Fender Musicmaster had a one pickup, a single coil, in the neck/middle position. As you might expect, this limited the tonal variety that the guitar was capable of.

Like the Duosonic, the Musicmaster had a 22.5 inch scale length neck with 21 frets and a 1 5/8 inch nut. On the early models, produced from 1956 to 1959, you would find a truss rod skunk stripe of walnut on the back of the neck. The profile of the neck was of the 'V' profile and generally varied between the soft and hard 'V' as did its full sized cousins.

Later changes to the Musicmaster were the same as those on the Duo-sonic, including the available colors and fingerboard wood.

In late 1964 the 24 inch scale version, the Musicmaster II, was introduced. Both the Duosonic and Musicmaster were available in red, white and blue colors at this point. The body of both guitars was also restyle to make it like the Mustang.

In 1969 the Duosonic was discontinued but the Musicmaster continued to be in the Fender catalog, in both 22.5 inch scale and 24 inch scale models until 1982.

The Musicmaster was never reissued as a direct copy of the old guitar although there was a guitar by this name released as part of the Squier Vista series in the late 1990's. This guitar had a single bridge humbucker that could be split and no tone control. These guitars actually aren't bad so if you see one in a pawn shop or on eBay I would recommend snagging it if you can. With a better pickup and a little TLC this Squier version of the Fender Musicmaster guitar is a great player.

Pre-CBS Fender Duosonic

The Fender Duosonic was introduced in the summer of 1956 along with it's single pickup cousin, the Fender Musicmaster. This was during Leo Fender's ownership of the company, prior to him selling it to CBS due to illness in 1964. This era is known as the Pre-CBS period for Fender Guitars and the guitars that were made during this time are known for their high quality.

In spite of it being a short scale student guitar the Duo-sonic was no exception. Like the more expensive Strat and Tele it was made from high quality materials and was subject to the same high quality standards that Leo Fender insisted upon. Unlike many student guitars of the late 1950's and early 1960's you will find that the pre-CBS Fender Duosonics are very well constructed.

The collector value of these guitars was typically very reasonable up until the vintage guitar market went crazy in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Now it is difficult to find a Duosonic at a reasonable price or one that hasn't been parted out to help a scammer build a fake vintage Stratocaster or Telecaster.

The original 1956 Fender Duosonic had a Desert Sand brown finish on an ash slab 3/4 sized body although this was switched to alder in late 1956. An ash Duosonic from 1956 is a rare find indeed.

The pickguard was anodized aluminum on both the Duosonic and Musicmaster during these years. You can find the serial number on the neckplate. The 22.5 inch short scale neck was made from one piece of maple and featured a 1 5/8 inch nut.

In 1959, Fender added a sunburst finish Duosonic to their product line. Some people refer to this as a 'maroon burst' since the center was a yellow/peach shade while the edges faded more toward a maroon color rather than a very dark red or black. As was often the case at the Fender factory, the sunburst was painted over a Desert Sand paint job due to production run changes.

There were two other big changes in 1959. The first was that the single piece maple neck was replaced with a slab rosewood fingerboard glued onto a maple neck. This change was nearly across the board with all Fender guitar models that year. Another big change, probably done as a cost cutting measure, was switching to a single layer white pickguard.

In 1961, the original Desert Sand color was dropped from the Fender line-up, making the guitar only available with the sunburst finish. Also, about this time the nut was reduced 1/8 of an inch to 1 1/2 inches.

In 1963, as Leo Fender was negotiating the sale of the company to CBS, the Duosonic line was changed again. This time the sunburst finish was dropped and the white finish became the only color the guitar was available in. Due to some production variations, some 1963 Fender Duosonics have a brown plastic pickguard.

Fender Duosonic Electronics and Pickups

The Fender Duosonic guitar, which was introduced in 1956, typically has 2 single coil pickups with a vertically mounted selector switch located on the lower horn of the body. Unlike other common Fender guitar models like the Stratocaster and Telecaster the Duosonic switch isn't easy to reach while playing. Also, another difference is that the pickups, even on most vintage examples, are reverse-wound/reverse-polarity. This provides a humbucking effect when both pickups are engaged when the switch is in the middle position.

In some models, the pickups were covered with a solid plastic cover that completely covered the pickup's pole pieces. This was different from the standard Strat where the pole pieces were exposed and the Tele where the bridge pickup has exposed poles and the neck pickup's are covered with a metal plate. Newer reissues and some vintage models have the pole pieces exposed much like the Strat.

In fact, pickups that fit the Stratocaster also fit the Duosonic in most cases. Due to the slant of the pickups and the shorter scale length this can impart a different sound to the guitar. I've generally found it more brash and in your face as opposed to the more elegant sound from a Strat. Telecaster pickups will not fit in the Duosonic without major modifications to the guitar.

As for volume and tone pots, the typical Duosonic uses a single 250K pot for the volume and one for the tone. These pots serve both pickups. Wiring a Duosonic is rather simple, much like the Tele.

Overall, the Duosonic's electronics, along with it's unique scale length, combine to produce a unique guitar tone.

Fender Duosonic - Introduction

The Fender DuoSonic guitar was first produced by Fender Guitars in 1956. It was meant to be a student guitar. It featured a short, 22.5 inch, scale length that was considerably shorter than the 25.5 inch scale used on standard Fender guitars. The DuoSonic, which is sometimes spelled as Duo-Sonic or Duosonic, has two, single coil, pickups and a vertical pickup selector switch that is placed on the lower horn of the body.