Nothing fancy today, just a bright red 1965 Duosonic.
As you know, the Duosonic was just a hardtail Mustang, and now that my brother @tomgibson3783 has aquired this guitar’s much cooler, slightly younger, vibrato-enabled sibling (a 1966 Mustang, also in red), I’m hoping to get them both in the same room in the very near future for a steamy, double-action centerfold, vintage Fender offset photoshoot!
PS: I promise to dust the Duosonic prior to said photoshoot 😉
Why do I love the ugly ducklings so much? Because they are beautiful.
1969 Fender Coronado II, Antigua.
Did you know that each year, on the day *before* Groundhog Day, a 1968 Telecaster near Toronto, pokes its head(stock) outside its case and strums a chord. If the G string is even slightly flat, there’s 6 more weeks of winter on the way.
And I’ve got bad news for you… 😭
Note the switch position.
This is only one of two or three guitars that actually sound great (when I play it) on the bridge pickup. Very rare for me.
1962 SG Special.
Despite my ongoing pro-gua stance, I can tell by the performance of yesterday’s post that you guys are a bit Antigua-ed out. Fair enough! 4 in a row is pushing it for ANY guitar, let alone one that “unconventionally beautiful”! 😂
So instead, today, I give you one we can all agree on! ☮️
@chriswstringer8 ’s minty clean 1966 Telecaster (and incredible 1959 tweed Super amp) photographed with @michaelsegui at @dlott65 ’s Union Sound 2023 Event.
“By the time you read this, I will be already gone”
- bit of flaking finish around D tuner, 1969 Fender Coronado II, Jan 26th, 2025.
Thanks to my trusty luthier friends @filmotone, @guitarfixr (and several others), who sent messages yesterday to let me know how to stabilize the flaking bits of finish on my Coronado headstock. Although the bit in the center of this photo, just to the left of the D tuner post (you can see it lifting, if you zoom in), crumbled while I was changing strings and is now lost to eternity😭, your advice will help preserve the remainder of the headstock! 🙂
And what exactly *was* that advice? CA glue. Yep…plain ol’ superglue! 🙂
Antigua? Not a chance bro: I am solidly pro-gua.
1969 Fender Coronado II.
Some notes on my Coronado experience so far:
1) A restringing brought it to life! Judging by the state of the old strings, I think the former owner kept it as a wall hanger. 😂
2) No new nut needed! @lounsburyguitars astutely observed the high E wasn’t restrained beneath the string tree, hence the nut “excursions” during bending. As the old luthier saying goes “if your high E ain’t under the tree, you in a world of pee, G”.
3) The frozen pots all work fine now after a blast of deoxit.
4) the finish is flaking off the headstock!! The lacquer checking is so deep it’s unstable. All you have to do is touch the cracks and the finish flakes off!!! It was already coming off around the low E and A tuners…and when I restrung it, some finish flaked off from around the D tuner!! 😭
Advice please: how can I prevent further deterioration of the headstock finish?? 😬
You had me at Grover…
One of the most interesting features on the 1969 Fender Coronado, are these super fancy Grover F tuners. I was not even aware they existed until I started researching Coronados in preparation for this purchase. At first I thought they were replacements they looked so *wrong*! 😂
Phrases I never thought I’d say in a million years:
“I own a Coronado!”
Phrases I never thought I’d say in a BILLION years:
“I own an ANTIGUA Coronado!” 😂
Yep, this 1969 Fender Coronado II is ugly. I won’t try and deny it! But to me this guitar so ugly it’s actually cute…like that dog in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Growing up in the 80s, no one I know would ever have even given a Coronado a second glance. The only Fender guitars were Strats and Teles. But a few years ago I actually got to play one of these at a friend’s house, and realized I’d been missing out on a really great sounding, underrated, and (most importantly) still fairly affordable guitar all these years.
Plus, I got an insane deal on it because it’s a bit of a fixer-upper: The frets are so low they are almost painted on, the pickups are installed backwards (arrows should point towards bridge, not neck), there are chips out of the (heavily checked) headstock, the high e string pops out of the nut when you bend it, and the tone knobs are so stiff they barely turn. But that’s what world-class luthier friends like @alastair_miller are for! 😉
So I’ll have to spend a bit to get it back into shape…but the deal was so good I just couldn’t say no!
AND JUST LOOK AT IT! 😍
(Thanks to @tomgibson3783 for arranging the deal!)
I *think* you’re looking at a ~1964 Rickenbacker “Rose Morris” 1997 model. 3.5 years have passed since I took this shot though, so that description may be a bit off! 😂
Note the traditional “f”-shaped sound hole (rather than Ric’s normal “cat’s eye” shape). Ric would have exported this guitar to its distributor, (Rose Morris Ltd), for sale in the UK market.
The guitar is leaning against a holy grail mid 60s Vox AC30 in rare “fawn” covering.
Happy 2025!
Here’s a long overdue shot of the “twins” together for the first time!
1963 Fender 6G6 Bassman (blonde/wheat)
1964 Fender 6G6 Bassman (black)
(Yes I realize these are Bassmans, and not Twins 🤣)
Bonus: the “other” twins:
2009 Gibson Custom 1960 (sic) LesPaul TV Special
2018 Gibson Custom 1957 LesPaul TV Junior
Here’s one I haven’t noodled on in a while. 1961 Gibson Les Paul Junior.
This guitar is among last of the Double Cut Juniors, before Gibson switched over to the new “SG” body style later in ‘61.
This guitar was an excellent player when I bought it, thanks to a primo set up by @shyboyguitars. But over the last 6 or 7 years it has drifted a bit from perfection and could benefit from a fresh pro set-up.
It might be time to arrange my semi-annual mass guitar drop-off with my luthier @alastair_miller. I have a number of guitars laying about that a skilled luthier like Alastair can take from big yikes to gas, so I think it’s time to bring him another batch for general tweaking. Hey @filmotone…I’ll drop the Quadraverb off with Al while I’m there! 😉
1964 ES-355
See this one blown up large on pages 260 and 261 of “ES Believers” by David Plues and Vic DaPra
