'78 musicmaster?

D

Daniel1987

New member
So, a friend of mine has this music master and we know it's a '78 but I thought the musicmaster had one pickup and the duo sonic had two. Also didn't the duo sonic have slide switches instead of a three way toggle? Any ideas would be welcome.
 
'78 musicmaster?

Someone must have added the bridge pickup and a switch at some point. I would say that the pickguard might not be original either, as I've never seen a Musicmaster from that period with a tortoise guard (not even in pictures). The guard is definitely not an original tortoise guard transplanted from a '60's model; those looked very different (the body shape was different back then, as was the shape of the guards, as well as the pickup cutouts).
 
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Re: '78 musicmaster?

So, I just got to take a look under the pickguard and it looks like it was actually factory routed for the bridge pickup and three way toggle.
 
'78 musicmaster?

Just as Esquires were routed for a neck pickup, even though they didn't come with one, my best judgement tells me. Musicmasters and Duo-Sonics shared bodies in the same way. Even though Duo-Sonics were not made not made in the '70's, Fender likely kept using the same old templates to cut the bodies. Or maybe even, through the '70's, they worked their way through a stockpile of bodies that they had originally milled in the '60's, when there were Duo-Sonics.

I am not saying that I am 100 percent certain...but I do know Fender's student guitars very well, and I've never seen one just like that. Exceptions do pop up with Fenders, though not anywhere near as often in the CBS years as during the Leo Fender years.
 
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Re: '78 musicmaster?

On the Duo-Sonic, one pickup is positioned perpendicular to the strings and the other is angled.

A friend of mine has performed similar modifications to a Musicmaster guitar. As far as I recall, his example combined the stock single coil with a Hot Rails via a Mustang pickguard and slider switches.
 
Re: '78 musicmaster?

ItsaBass said:
Just as Esquires were routed for a neck pickup, even though they didn't come with one, my best judgement tells me. Musicmasters and Duo-Sonics shared bodies in the same way. Even though Duo-Sonics were not made not made in the '70's, Fender likely kept using the same old templates to cut the bodies. Or maybe even, through the '70's, they worked their way through a stockpile of bodies that they had originally milled in the '60's, when there were Duo-Sonics.

I am not saying that I am 100 percent certain...but I do know Fender's student guitars very well, and I've never seen one just like that. Exceptions do pop up with Fenders, though not anywhere near as often in the CBS years as during the Leo Fender years.
Click to expand...
in doing some research online all the musicmaster pictures I've seen were only routed for one pickup.
 
'78 musicmaster?

Daniel1987 said:
in doing some research online all the musicmaster pictures I've seen were only routed for one pickup.
Click to expand...

That may be true, but not 100% in all years. I have personally owned Musicmasters that were routed like Duo-Sonics.

Where are the screw holes under the guard? And can you show us the routing, and preferably the neck pocket too?

Whatever it is, it's almost a certainty it didn't come out of the factory that way. I'm still going with a modded Musicmaster at this point. If it was a Duo-Sonic body, it would have to be from the '60's, and it would have to have been refinished. Duo-Sonics were not made in the '70's, and never came in black. Also, as I mentioned previously, that style of guard (the '70's shape) did not ever come in tortoise shell.
 
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Re: '78 musicmaster?

zenmindbeginner said:
It's a Duo-Sonic body with a MusicMaster neck... happens all of the time.
Click to expand...

This is perfectly possible but the D-S pickguard would have needed replacing in order to set the bridge pickup at the same slanted angle as the neck pickup. The pickup rout would also have required enlarging.

I agree with those who suggest that the Korean Select-by-EMG pickups need replacing. Lace Sensors would fit and can be obtained in a wide variety of outputs and tonalities. SD Antiquity pickups could prove rather tasty.
 
Re: '78 musicmaster?

Funkfingers said:
This is perfectly possible but the D-S pickguard would have needed replacing in order to set the bridge pickup at the same slanted angle as the neck pickup. The pickup rout would also have required enlarging.

I agree with those who suggest that the Korean Select-by-EMG pickups need replacing. Lace Sensors would fit and can be obtained in a wide variety of outputs and tonalities. SD Antiquity pickups could prove rather tasty.
Click to expand...

Sorry.... I meant to clarify that it's a NEW Mexican Duo-Sonic body with a CBS MusicMaster neck.
 
Re: '78 musicmaster?

ItsaBass said:
...refinished. Duo-Sonics were not made in the '70's and never came in black. Also, as I mentioned previously, that style of guard (the '70's shape) did not ever come in tortoiseshell.
Click to expand...

+1

The latter-day CBS/Fender Bronco, Musicmaster and Musicmaster Bass and were offered in a restricted palette of black, white, red and, occasionally, blue poly finishes.
 
Re: '78 musicmaster?

One of those black 70s Musicmasters was my first electric guitar.
They are not routed for 2 pick-ups, they all came stock with b/w/b pickguards.
My dad routed mine Duo-Sonic style :D I should have kept that guitar......
 
Re: '78 musicmaster?

I like the stock grey-back CBS short scale/offset pickups that Fender made... they are underwound by strat standards + have the flush magnets instead of staggered and sound amazing!

I actually have a couple of Musicmaster basses and a CBS Duo-Sonic/Musicmaster hybrid I built... LOVE short scale offsets!!!
 
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