Hi there!

I recently bought a 1966 Fender Duo Sonic II. The purchase of this guitar was a real adventure!

See my other topic for pics

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... db436a545d
At the beginning, the guy was selling it for 1000$. I offered him 850$ and he agreed. Obviously, when you buy a vintage guitar you have to look if everything is original. The pots, the neck, the body and the hardware are original. BUT, the pickups aren't!! I called the guy and offered him 2 options: refund me or pay me back 275$.


He accepted to give me back 275$. So the Duo Sonic cost me 575$ in the end.

Here is my question: If I want to resell it one of this day to the better price I could get, what should I do?

For me, the best option would be to get the best value for the lowest price.

1.Buy some genuine Fender Mustang pickups (As seen on the '65 Mustang reissue)
2.Buy some Antiquity series Seymour Duncan Duo-Sonic pickups
3.Keep the pickups that are on the guitar (Japanese Stratocaster)

I know that the best way to make this guitar a real vintage original, I should buy REAL pickups from a 1966 Fender Duo Sonic. I saw a pair at 300$ Does it worth it?

Thanks!

I don't imagine that you could turn around and sell that guitar and make a profit.You'd be hard pressed getting $500 for as the pickups-that are the most important component of a guitar's electronics-aren't original.If they were original Duo-Sonic/Mustang pickups of the same vintage you could conceivably make more but as is the value just isn't there.You would however probably better off going with authentic Mustang pickups as far as putting a value on the guitar goes as the newer ones aren't a whole lot different than the originals as far as tone goes and that's what makes the Mustang/Duo Sonic stand out.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

+1
The return on investment right now would be too low to bother with spending a lot on vintage pickups. Keep things in perspective, the Duo Sonic is a student model guitar and second lowest to the Musicmaster on Fender's vintage hierarchy. Now if you had a 1966 Strat or Tele things would be different. Original vs replacement pickups in one of those two would mean a difference of many hundreds or even thousands of dollars depending on the condition of the rest of the guitar.

However, who knows where the vintage guitar market is headed in the next decade. Go ahead and get vintage pickups for your Duo Sonic if you want to wait a few years and see if prices on them go up.

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

Add some legs and make a coffee table. It's a DUOSONIC.

If you want it original because it will make you happier with the guitar, track down some original pickups, then you will have an all original guitar. Changing the non original pickups in it to other non original pickups is pretty much a waste of time.

If/when you sell it, the buyer (just like you) is going to be interested in "all original" example of the guitar. I don't think the type of aftermarket pickup is going to make a big difference in the future selling price.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"