This is a picture of a Fender Guitar, not my 1959 Fender Duo Sonic (pre-CBS) but one that I found on-line. Unfortunately, I have lost the tail piece cover and the volume and tone knobs on my Fender. The 1964 Duo Sonic Manual is a blast to look at, check out those beatnik guys dancing around on the front page!

This guitar is like a “Student” model but it plays great if you are a speed freak! The guitar player in Steely Dan, (Walter Becker) and Scott Merrit from my home town of Brantford, Ont., use one!

The guitar is a Student model which is great if your a speed freak. The pick ups are single coiled that has a rich warm sound. The neck on it is fast and smooth flowing and very small. It’s well worn to the point where it practically plays itself.

I remember the day I first saw it. I was in my parents living room doing something when my mom walked into the house with this dusty old guitar case. I asked her what it was and she said that this was an old guitar that sat up in a friends of hers attic for many years. Her son was said to have had it forever and that he had just died and she wanted to get rid of it. Here we go, my mother was always looking for great deals in anything. She had brought some guitars home that would be great to break on stage but that was it.

So she plopped it down on the couch and she let me open it. My jaw just dropped and I proceeded to play this blast from the past and then asked her how much. She replied ” $130.00 (Can.)”, I said “YES!!!!”. I said yes just because it just felt so right! I didn’t even plug the thing into my “Hiwatt, 50 watt bulldog, 1/2 stack”( I will talk about that later).

I also remember vividly the day that i went to look at guitars from Steve’s Music in Toronto and took this with us to see what the price of it might be for curiosity sake. When we opened it up, some older guy came up to us and offered $2000.00 (Can.) right on the spot. We looked at each other and said ” No thank-you sir ” and acted like good country bumpkins that we were, that had just fell off the turnip truck.

In todays market it’s not worth that much but it sure as hell made my mom feel like one of those people on the Antiques Road that used a violin called something like “Stradivarius” to hold open the barn door only to find out that it’s worth just a few more bucks! I just loved that look on my mothers face that day!

Keep on Jammin’