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I disassembled the guitar today, did some sanding on the body to get it ready, then started the priming... I'm using B-I-N shellac primer / sealer. Here it is after the second coat.



I let that dry for a couple of hours, then did some further sanding with 320 and then 400 grit. The body is in better / smoother shape than I expected. One more coat of B-I-N, then a final sand with 400, and it should be ready for the first color coats...

OK, I've got the first color coats on it:

Well it's looking very tasty

Thanks Thom. I'm cautiously optimistic about it...

That looks so beautiful.

Quick question that's probably a dumb one, that Musicmaster bridge loads the strings through the back of it and not the body, right? How do you like the bridge? I'm looking for a top-loading non-tremolo bridge for my Bronco project, and I noticed that yours doesn't appear to load through the body. Correct?

My vintage musicmaster/duosonic bridge is top loading. the holes drilled into the body [seven total] are to secure the bridge

Looks fantastic. Well played.

Haze wrote:My vintage musicmaster/duosonic bridge is top loading. the holes drilled into the body [seven total] are to secure the bridge

Thanks, Haze.

Yes, the Musicmaster and Duo Sonic II type bridges are "top loaders" and the strings anchor at the back of the bridge. I actually greatly prefer the design compared to a Mustang's tremolo; it's far more stable in terms of tuning. There is also a six saddle (fully adjustable) version of the "Musicmaster" type bridge that was made more recently for the Toronado - those do have a string through the body design, but are otherwise similar looking.

When we had the guitar down at the Fender Custom Shop doing the routing for the second pickup, we misplaced the bridge, so I ended up buying a second one via ebay. Dennis called me up a few days ago and told me he'd found the misplaced bridge, so now I have a spare one. I also have two spare necks, so I may just have to find another body somewhere and build another guitar.

I did make one slight improvement to the basic bridge - I replaced the three stock saddles with brass "compensated" saddles. They improve the guitar's intonation quite a bit.

Here's a pic of the '75 Duo Sonic and my '71 Mustang that was taken prior to me starting the refinishing on the Duo Sonic. I don't think the pic is detailed enough to really see the bridge and saddles very well...



Here's a picture of my Telecaster that shows the saddles a lot more clearly. I have the exact same type of saddles on the Duo Sonic's bridge now:



And finally, one last picture of the Duo Sonic's body now that I've applied the final coats of clear - it's getting shiny! Now I just have to wait until the paint fully dries and cures before I can start the final sanding and polishing...

Yeah, I would figure the tuning stability would be a lot better. That's what I'm aiming for with the build I'm presently working on.

I just dropped $215 on having a custom lefty neck made as close as possible to the spec of the Jagstang neck based on what info I could gather on it, just mere minutes ago. However, when I get on to getting the body made I might PM you about possibly buying up that spare Duo bridge from you if you are willing to sell. I'm aiming for a Bronco with a bridge humbucker and a solid, non-trem but vintage radius bridge, preferably top loading, which the Duo bridge appears to be the closest match to that criteria.

Beautiful color on that, BTW.

where did you get the saddles? i'm looking for a decent set for my music master which will get finished up once school is done next week.

finboy wrote:where did you get the saddles? i'm looking for a decent set for my music master which will get finished up once school is done next week.

The set I have on the Duo Sonic I got from WD:

http://www.wdmusic.com/compensated_tele ... brass.html

When I went back to get a second set for a Tele, they were out of stock (although they told me more should be arriving in a couple of weeks). A little more searching led me to these:

http://www.rsguitarworks.net/rsstore/pr ... cts_id=288

The two sets appear to be virtually identical. Both places also have them in steel and aluminum too IIRC, although I generally prefer brass.

Beautiful color on that, BTW.

Thanks. It's ReRanch Sea Foam Green. It looks quite a bit different in the pics depending on the lighting and where you have it - it's much bluer outside or under good light, and looks greener inside or with lower light conditions. Plus the color changed slightly once I started putting the clear coats on it.

Well, it's finished... and I'm pretty darned happy with how it turned out. The pictures don't really properly convey the true color of the guitar - IMHO, it looks much nicer in person.









And a brief, somewhat overloaded video camera microphone sound demo - again, the video camera and lighting really doesn't do the color justice:

[youtube][/youtube]

There's more pictures and videos and commentary over on the Effects forum at Harmony Central:

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/sho ... 710&page=7

that looks goooooood. Great colour choice, Phil.

Oh yeah that looks great. Really really nice. You didn't consider using black pickup covers?

Thanks guys.

You didn't consider using black pickup covers?

Those, along with the AY pickups, were given to me, so I just used what I had... but I think it may indeed look "better" with black covers, so I may get a set for it eventually.

Simply amazing, really great stuff.

Looks beautiful.

There's nothing quite like the moment when you polish and the shine appears. First rate work!