'96 fender duosonic, modded

spirograph

hello everyone,

ive been lookin at theis site for a long time, and decided i ought to take part. i look forward to being part of your crazy little community, and its nice to see im not the only englishman on here, i think i saw someone from sheffield, which is near where i live.

anyways,heres my 96 duosonic, it fell over with a lead in the output, which broke the corner of the scratchplate, so i got a new one (from WD uk), and then the pickups died, so i got some Kent Armstrongs in it, a 'hotrails' at the bridge, and a noiseless singlecoil at the neck, and i got sick of the (extremely) short scale, so i put an Allparts strat neck on it, unfinished. i had to pull the saddles back all the way to get it to intonate, (but it does!!!) and now it sustains forever, yet still kinda sounds the same as it always did. oh, i also had the switch replaced when it died.

spirograph

oh yea, i meant to ask but forgot: any suggestions as to what next?

Doug

spirograph said:
oh yea, i meant to ask but forgot: any suggestions as to what next?

Welcome, Spiro, and thanks for the description of your Duo-Sonic upgrade...nice photos.

I just played a Fender Tele John 5 Signature with the Hotrails in the bridge position...WOW what a smokin son of a pup! So I expect your little Duo-Sonic is a giant killer. But you want more?

I have a reissue 1959 Duo-Sonic that plays very well. One annoying weakness...the high-E string sounds unacceptably "thin" when I use the neck pup and roll off the tone, with guitar volume set at max (for a "woman tone"). I understand that rolling off the tone will decrease the highs but my high-E's losin way too much 😕 while the other strings seem to hold their own.

I'm wondering about pots upgrade or other ways to correct my Duo-Sonic's specific weakness. And I wonder if this is an option for you?

In the May issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine, Will Kelly (engineer-guitar tech at Hard Knocks Guitars in Cary, NC, willkelly@nc.rr.com) highly recommends Bourns Model 82 Vintage Volume and Tone pots as a great bang-for-the-buck upgrade in tone, particularly for Strat type guitars...he's not specific about what you'll hear, but he's enthusiastic and sounds knowledgeable.

But I have two questions for you and other knowledgeable Forum members:

Would this be my fix or do I need to use another strategy?

Anyone have any experience with the Bourns pots or other upgrade pots for other Fender models?

spirograph

Doug said:
I have a reissue 1959 Duo-Sonic that plays very well. One annoying weakness...the high-E string sounds unacceptably "thin" when I use the neck pup and roll off the tone, with guitar volume set at max (for a "woman tone"). I understand that rolling off the tone will decrease the highs but my high-E's losin way too much 😕 while the other strings seem to hold their own.
I'm wondering about pots upgrade or other ways to correct my Duo-Sonic's specific weakness. And I wonder if this is an option for you?
In the May issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine, Will Kelly (engineer-guitar tech at Hard Knocks Guitars in Cary, NC, willkelly@nc.rr.com) highly recommends Bourns Model 82 Vintage Volume and Tone pots as a great bang-for-the-buck upgrade in tone, particularly for Strat type guitars...he's not specific about what you'll hear, but he's enthusiastic and sounds knowledgeable.
But I have two questions for you and other knowledgeable Forum members:
Would this be my fix or do I need to use another strategy?
Anyone have any experience with the Bourns pots or other upgrade pots for other Fender models?

hey ther doug! i think u just reminded me what the missing link is - the electronics. my mate replaced my pickups for me, and the switch too, but much later i think, n the pots are the origional mid90s mexican ones. i guess decent ones would sound a lot better. i wouldnt know where to go from ther tho. i dont even have a soldering iron, tho i can solder. but im in england, so theres probably somewhere more convenient for me to acquire parts.

Doug

spirograph said:
hey ther doug! i think u just reminded me what the missing link is - the electronics. my mate replaced my pickups for me, and the switch too, but much later i think, n the pots are the origional mid90s mexican ones. i guess decent ones would sound a lot better. i wouldnt know where to go from ther tho. i dont even have a soldering iron, tho i can solder. but im in england, so theres probably somewhere more convenient for me to acquire parts.

Spiro, I just solved that thin hi-E problem. You recall, using the neck pickup, tone rolled off, the hi-E sounded pretty thin?

I raised the hi-E end of the neck pup and problem solved...good strong hi-E for my "Woman Tone' leads. Hope this helps.

Doug

P.S. I used to live in Manchester. Great music town.

spirograph

Doug said:
Spiro, I just solved that thin hi-E problem. You recall, using the neck pickup, tone rolled off, the hi-E sounded pretty thin?
I raised the hi-E end of the neck pup and problem solved...good strong hi-E for my "Woman Tone' leads. Hope this helps.
Doug
P.S. I used to live in Manchester. Great music town.

never been to manchester, n not sure i want to - it seems to be on fire, or something! i tried what you suggested (raising the pickups), and it worked a bit, but not entirely. just have to use more gain i guess.