Ive seen some pics of hybrids posted on the forums here, and I'm doing something similar myself - a "partscaster" with a 75 Music Master body, routed for the second / bridge pickup and standard Duo Sonic dual slide switches, with two pickups, stock MM / DS hardtail bridge, and with a 65 Mustang neck.
How should I refer to it? As a "Music Master"? As a freak? Seriously, if I'm working here in the studio and I ask someone to go grab the Music Master off one of the guitar racks to try on a part for a song, they may not know what guitar I mean, since it's going to say "Mustang" on it... but it's not really a Mustang either... although if they had ever made a hardtail Mustang... but that would be a Duo Sonic...
What you have is pretty much a Duo-Sonic II. I'd call it a Duo-Sonic.
Everything about it lines up, except the Musicmaster body is from an era when they only routed for the used pickup. As you know the earlier bodies were routed for both. A Mustang neck is the same as a Duo II neck with a different decal.
I would go with Duo-Sonic also, that's what I call my project guitar - body made by Robert(original) of our fair forum - even though it has a neck from a '65 Mustang RI.
Mike wrote:I would go with Duo-Sonic also, that's what I call my project guitar - body made by Robert(original) of our fair forum - even though it has a neck from a '65 Mustang RI.
Mike,
What happened to the Warmoth neck you had on your DuoSonic?
Had flat radius on it as that's what Warmoth do by default (dumb if you ask me - why not go for a radius appropriate to the neck in question?), and I didn't gel with it. Sold to Fran, who put it on a CIJ Mustang body he had with rails in it I believe - then he sold that on ebay.
Mike wrote:Had flat radius on it as that's what Warmoth do by default (dumb if you ask me - why not go for a radius appropriate to the neck in question?), and I didn't gel with it. Sold to Fran, who put it on a CIJ Mustang body he had with rails in it I believe - then he sold that on ebay.
Those 65RI necks are great. I finally got to play one and they are smooth and tinted. Kinda like the CIJ Jaguar HH. Looks great.
Mike wrote:I would go with Duo-Sonic also, that's what I call my project guitar - body made by Robert(original) of our fair forum - even though it has a neck from a '65 Mustang RI.
Wow Mike, that looks really nice.
Ash body? It looks similar to my 57 AVRI Thin Skin Strat in terms of color and grain see-through.
I guess Duo Sonic is the most appropriate thing to call mine, since that's basically what it is - despite what it's going to say on the headstock. After all, the necks and bodies (with the exception of the tremolo routing for Mustangs) were essentially the same for all those models, regardless of what decal they put on the headstock... an "8" neck is a 24" scale Mustang / DS / MM neck; the only difference being the decal applied. And the bodies / routing were the same for the DS / MM while both were in production; with the only difference being the pickguard and the electronics installed. Since that's all been changed to DS style on mine, that seems to make the most sense.
But I'm sure to get some clown on HC "correcting me" for referring to it as such eventually. "Dood, that's a MM". I guess I can always tell 'em to sod off...
Hey Mike, quick question - do you notice any difference in tone between your through the body string setup and a standard top loader?
Do you hear any difference in tone from the ash body vs a typical poplar one? I've heard a lot of people say that the body woods on the MM / DS / Mustangs don't seem to make much of a difference, but I find that kind of hard to believe. My lack of love for basswood is one of the things that kept me from buying a RI Mustang... that, and my general dislike of floating bridges and the trems on them.
The through stringing definitely gives it more sustain I think and this guitar does resonant really well. It's a 1-piece Ash body; Robert did a really great job when making it and he picked this piece out just for me - it's beautiful. I'm not normally at all a fan of woody finishes aside from Sunburst on Jaguars but I just couldn't cover this up - at least not at first - it's just a lovely looking thing.
The Ash definitely has more heft than I believe the Poplar that the '65 RI I used to own has, and that was a much, much lighter guitar - and probably had less balls in the bass end aswell if I'm honest. I loved the '65 RI, but this thing is more of a workhorse, it's almost like a Telecaster in it's no-nonsense approach.
It's hard to quantify how much these individual things affect the sound though, while I love how it came out.
Basswood is an odd one, lots of us here have experience the woolliness it can exhibit on some guitars - personally I'm not a fan. Alder or Ash for me.
If I was going to have a body custom made, I'd definitely go with ash... I just like the way it sounds. Poplar sounds somewhat similar to alder to me, which would be my second choice, but since I already have a perfectly serviceable poplar body, I'm just going to paint that SFG and call it good.
Again, that Duo Sonic looks amazing - Robert and you did a fantastic job!
Phil O'Keefe wrote:How should I refer to it? As a "Music Master"? As a freak? Seriously, if I'm working here in the studio and I ask someone to go grab the Music Master off one of the guitar racks to try on a part for a song, they may not know what guitar I mean, since it's going to say "Mustang" on it... but it's not really a Mustang either... although if they had ever made a hardtail Mustang... but that would be a Duo Sonic...
How is this normally addressed?
as suggested above you have built a duo sonic and so that would be the best name for you to use here unless you can think of a better hybrid name. however that won't work for you in the studio so in that environment you should call it the mustang cos then the people you are talking to will (hopefully) be able to read it's name on the headstock and know what you mean.
Mike,
what bridge is that? Would a Toronado bridge fit there? (edit: oops nevermind you already mentioned it is Toronado bridge) And did Robert make the body complete with routing for the toggle switch and the string-through holes? That seems like a configuration that would be perfect for me! Great looking guitar there.
finboy wrote:i forgot how good your guitar looked mike, does it get played much now that you have the jag?
Yeah I play all three of my electrics all the time, I have a guitar rack now so I just grab whatever I feel like playing at the time (more likely testing a pedal).
Robert made the body complete with routing and the ferrules and stuff. It's a really nice thing; I finished it off with my Dad so it has huge sentimental value for me.
Seriously, if I'm working here in the studio and I ask someone to go grab the Music Master off one of the guitar racks to try on a part for a song, they may not know what guitar I mean, since it's going to say "Mustang" on it... but it's not really a Mustang either... although if they had ever made a hardtail Mustang... but that would be a Duo Sonic... 
I guess I can always tell 'em to sod off... 
My lack of love for basswood is one of the things that kept me from buying a RI Mustang... that, and my general dislike of floating bridges and the trems on them.
