![]() Although all pre-64 Duo-Sonics had a 22.5-inch scale length and it remained an option right up until the model was discontinued in 1969, the full 24 inches is mandatory today.įor the purposes of this review, we selected the Mustang 90 and Duo-Sonic HS, along with the Mustang Bass PJ. The Duo-Sonic also got a larger, Mustang-style headstock as part of the makeover, but Fender has opted to use each model’s original headstock shape for 2016. Just to confuse matters further, Fender redesigned the Duo-Sonic in 1964, renamed it the Duo-Sonic II and switched to the same body shape as the Mustang, itself newly launched that year. We confirmed this fact by drawing around the bodies of our review guitars on a roll of wallpaper with a Sharpie and then comparing the outlines. ![]() Although visually similar to a Mustang, Fender’s 2016 Duo-Sonics echo the model’s original 1956 body shape with a waist that’s higher on the bass side and much closer to symmetrical than the Mustang’s, which is a true offset. That is all fine and dandy except for the fact that the Duo-Sonic isn’t actually an offset-waist design. The Offset range comprises a pair of Mustang electrics – one with a maple ’board and the traditional pair of single coils, the other a ‘Mustang 90’ featuring a rosewood ’board and a pair of P-90-style pickups – a Mustang Bass PJ with Precision and Jazz Bass pickups and two Duo-Sonics, one with two single coils and the HS model with, you guessed it, a bridge humbucker and necksingle coil. On their launch at Summer NAMM in Nashville in June, like many other of the show’s attendees, we – complete with jetlag, artisanal hangovers and the sound of loud country music still ringing in our ears – saw the new-for-2016 Offset series in its attractive rainbow of colours hanging from the wall of the Fender booth and thought that it was good. In this instance, market forces have helped to create products with plenty of personality. ![]() Fender’s response to competition and demand? Launch a slew of cool new models at a made-in-Mexico price point that’s hard for the guitar-buying public to resist and impossible for smaller builders to compete with. ![]()
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