Fender Duo-Sonic review

A little Fender that's good - when plugged into the right amp.

Last weekend I tried out three guitars and two of them were Fender Duo-Sonic models.

The last time I played one of these, it was a Squier Duo-Sonic in gold. I really wasn't too impressed with that guitar mainly for the reason I just didn't like the look. And speaking of which, the look of the Fender Duo-Sonic is the first thing I'll start with.

The Torino Red version looks unbelievably cool in person but awful in online photos. Not even Fender themselves got good photos of this guitar. You absolutely cannot tell at all from internet photos that the pick guard is a 3-ply mint green. And it looks killer. The red and the mint guard go together very nicely.

There are two versions of the Duo-Sonic. One is a humbucker/single Duo-Sonic HS model and the other a single/single. I chose the single/single because that's what I like, and that's the one I'm going to talk about.

This guitar is a short scale 24.0" (for reference, a Stratocaster is 25.5" and a Les Paul is 24.75"). Neck is one-piece maple with 9.5" fingerboard radius and loaded with 22 medium jumbo frets. The bridge is "hardtail Strat", and yes the strings do go through the body. The body is made from alder wood.

Atypical is the fact the guitar comes loaded with 10-46 strings instead of the usual 9-42 size. This is actually something I totally agree with because 9-42 on a short scale is a bit floppy, even for me (and I prefer super light strings).

What I liked

My favorite part of the guitar is the 3-way switch. No plastic on it at all. It's a big, chunky, all-metal switch and feels good to use. Given the fact the vast majority of electric guitars use plastic-tip switches, to actually use one that's 100% metal is nice. It just feels more solid.

I liked the knobs, too. They're Telecaster style flat-top with knurled sides. And yes, they have side screws for easy adjustment. The turn of the knobs had good give to them also. Slightly heavier than usual.

The sound of the pickups is good, leaning more toward a Strat-like tone. However, I found that the tonal character is greatly affected by what amp the guitar is plugged into. The Duo-Sonic seemed to hate a tube-type VOX combo but loved a tube-type Orange cube combo.

What I didn't like

The short scale 1-piece maple neck just felt odd. But this is due to the fact that short scale necks usually don't agree with me.

My main guitar is a Jazzmaster. That guitar has a 25.5" scale, but also has offset waist construction, meaning the neck is "pushed out" slightly further than a Stratocaster or Telecaster. And I really like it.

The Duo-Sonic, while having an offset waist construction, has a neck position I didn't really care for. The tuners felt way too close to me, I found myself getting lost on the neck sometimes, and I was also hitting wrong notes because of the closer fret spacing.

If I owned this guitar then yes, I eventually would get used to it. But it was definitely not something I felt instantly comfortable playing.

Another thing I didn't like is that I would sometimes whack the front pickup (i.e. the "neck pickup") when playing.

Overall

It's a good little guitar that has some genuine mojo to it.

The only thing that really surprised me is how different the guitar sounds when going from amp to amp. This is true of any electric, but with the Duo-Sonic it was really obvious. There's just something about the "Duo-Sonic Single-coil" (that's what Fender calls it) that makes one amp sound great and another sound like total garbage.

Build quality was good. There were no flaws in either of the two I tried. One was Arctic White and the other Torino Red as described above. But again, the red one just stole the show with how good it looked.

Could you buy this guitar unheard/unplayed and be comfortable with the buy? With some guitars you can't do that, but you could with this one. You have to bear in mind I played one at a guitar store that wasn't set up to my preferences. Once set up right, I'm certain I could make it sound just fine with any amp.

How to get quality guitar audio on the ZOOM R8

The book is done and is available now.

I recently released a video showing the kind of sound you can get using nothing but the ZOOM R8 standalone multitrack recorder.

When I say "nothing but the ZOOM R8", that's exactly what I mean. Just the R8. No pedals or amps used. Just the guitar plugged in direct.

There are a lot of R8 owners that don't know they can do this. But yes, you can.

Originally, I wrote The Better ZOOM R8 Manual, and while that is comprehensive, I left out talking about the guitar effects. Why? Because it's a subject big enough that it needed its own book...

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Get your copy of How to custom create guitar patches on the ZOOM R8.

Living with extra super light strings (D'Addario EXL130+)

For a good long while now I've been playing nothing but Dunlop DEN9042 strings. But then I saw that D'Addario offers a size between 8-38 and 9-42, the EXL130+ 8.5-39 size, labeled as "X-Super Light Plus".

Concerning how the strings sound, they are notably brighter compared to the Dunlops. Not as bright as Pro Steels (those are ridiculously bright), but enough to where I had to roll off some treble. Bear in mind I do play a Jazzmaster that has huge single-coil pickups and factory installed 1meg pots.

The feel of the strings is what's really amazing. This is not the D'Addario I remember. This is a whole lot better. I distinctly remember D'Addario strings as feeling stiff and rough on my fingers regardless of gauge used. These however feel nothing like that. I don't know if the formula for the way the string is made has changed, but if so, it's for the better because this is a seriously good feeling string.

Will I switch brands?

I'm seriously considering it because I am very impressed with how these strings feel.

What I don't know yet is how long they last. Past experience tells me these strings will get old and cruddy quickly, but maybe that won't be the case. Time will tell.

For the time being, yes I am totally happy with the D'Addario EXL130+ string set.

Guitar of the week #96 - Squier Bullet Mustang HH

This just might be the new perfect beginner's guitar.

But before I get into that...

I was asked my opinion about the Squier Affinity Jazzmaster HH, the new cheap Jazzmaster from Squier. I don't like it because it's nothing more than a reimagining of the Squier Jagmaster. Actually, let's not beat around the bush about that. IT'S THE SAME FRICKIN' GUITAR AS BEFORE. All that changed was the headstock shape and that's it (edit: there was one other thing that changed - the Jagmaster has a Strat-like tremolo on it and the Jazzmaster HH is a Tele-like hardtail thru-body). I didn't like the Jagmaster so I already know I don't like the Jazzmaster HH.

Then there's the Squier Bullet Mustang HH, seen above. Now this is more like it. This is the kind of guitar that makes people buy Squiers in droves, and I'll tell you exactly why.

First, price. DIRT CHEAP. Well south of $200 at the time of this writing. This is a guitar you can just buy, thrash around, put stickers all over it and not care, beat it up, and so on.

Second, ease-of-use. A pair of humbuckers, one volume, one tone. Doesn't get much easier than that.

Third, this is a short scale guitar along with a little bonus. You get the 24" scale and a 12" fingerboard radius. This means it can handle string bending really, really easily.

Is everything all good with this guitar? No. I do have 2 complaints about it.

It has a top-mounted output jack. That doesn't bother me personally (I play a Jazzmaster which has the same thing), but you have to know to use a guitar cable with a right-angle connector on it. If you don't, it is guaranteed at some point the cable will get yanked and either destroy the output jack or seriously damage it. You use a standard straight connector there and you're just asking for a bad thing to happen.

There are two string guides (a.k.a. string trees) on the headstock. The one that holds the high-E and B strings isn't a problem, but the other that holds the G and the D strings is - particularly the G string. In my experience, that second string guide makes G string kinking noises happen fairly quickly after installing a new set of strings. True, this is nothing that a little lubrication or wrapping a piece of masking tape around the string under the guide won't fix, but still, it's annoying.

Fortunately, that's it. Everything else about the guitar is otherwise good.

What does it sound like?

For cheap humbuckers, they sound surprisingly good.

The main reason anyone would buy this guitar is to rock out on it, which this guitar does do in fine style. The pickups are plenty responsive enough and can handle anything from blues to metal and anything in between.

The only styles of music it does not do are the kind that require very bright, "jangly" pickups, such as surf and rockabilly. If you want a Mustang that has the bright sound, you want a Squier Vintage Modified Mustang with the single-coils in it. But that's not really a beginner-friendly guitar while the HH totally is.

What makes this a perfect beginner guitar?

1. It's cheaper than most Epiphone Les Paul Special II models.
2. The short scale neck makes it easier to play.
3. It's easy to operate because it has six inline tuners instead of 3x3.
4. Top-loader bridge makes string changes ridiculously easy.
5. The simplicity of the design makes it very modder-friendly.

The Mustang HH is a steal for what it's selling for new, and totally gets it right for what it is. This is a true plug-in-and-go guitar. Small, simple, quick-to-learn and easy-to-play.

This is a cheap, good beginner guitar. It's also a great guitar for kids. It's also a great guitar for adults that want to try a short scale for real cheap. It's also great for older men and women that want a neck that's easier to play. It's also great as a bang-around or backup guitar.

Like I said, the Squier Bullet Mustang HH totally gets it right for what it is.

Are thin guitar picks worthless?

Most guitar players use picks of a medium or heavy thickness, but what about thin?

Choosing the right thin pick is important

Is there a difference between a California Clear thin and regular 351 thin? The difference is small, but there.

I greatly prefer the California Clear over the 351 because it has slightly extra stiffness to it that makes it flap a little louder, and I like that.

Said in plain English, my strings "ping" more when using the California Clear. I'm not saying that will be your experience, but it is for me.

What I am saying is that if you decide to try out thin picks, you'll probably have to go through a few different types before finding the one you like.

What are thin picks good for?

Rhythm playing, chords and muted notes.

I play a Jazzmaster, which means I play surf music, which means there's a lot of rhythm playing, chords and muted notes involved. Thin picks actually work really well here.

Do I always use thin picks? No. I switch between medium and thin, because some songs I play need a harder strike.

Thin picks were never worthless. In fact, they're quite the opposite.

Only metal shredders believe thin picks are worthless. These are the players who sincerely believe that a 2mm-or-thicker pick makes them sound better. It doesn't. The thickness of a pick does absolutely nothing to change the tone at all when the sound is highly distorted.

Thick picks do two things more than anything else when used to play an electric guitar. They deaden the sound of the string and cause annoying pick scraping noises.

When you use a thin pick on an electric, your notes will actually be clearer both for single notes and chords. Your notes and chords will also stay in tune better because you won't be striking the strings as hard.

If you don't believe me, try a thin pick for yourself. I suggest getting plain smooth Fender celluloid or California Clear first as the strike from either results in very good note clarity. After that you can try a textured pick such as the Dunlop Tortex in .50mm size (the red one) or .60mm size (the orange one).

And if you're daring, you can try the Herco Vintage '66, which is a nylon thin pick in gold color; it was highly favored by guitarists of the '60s. Definitely not the same as Fender celluloid or the California Clear, but some players really like it and use nothing else.