NGD Squier Duo Sonic Classic Vibe 2008

[Axolotl]

Well, I’ve had this for about a month now and I’m still quite over the moon with it so I thought I’d share my excitement and thoughts:

It’s a 2008 Squier Classic Vibe Duo Sonic. in 2014 I couldn’t grab one before leaving the US and I’ve been wanting one ever since. So I was glad to see one pop up locally at a very reasonable price and I jumped on it. Before doing so I read all the hype about these from back in the day, and I was also very surprised to see that they are hardly any on eBay or reverb and they go for about 500 dollars. Insane! IIRC they were about 300 dollars new, which is a bit more of what I paid for it.

In any case, this little guitar is truly amazing. Since I play mostly offsets, the maple neck and top loading fixed bridge are pretty cool and novel features. The neck is flawless, not too fat, not too thin and it’s very comfortable. Plays very fast, this is one of my few maple fretboards and it feels so slick. Finish looks great and while the guard has a bit of a copper tint, I’m very pleased with the looks of the guitar.
Sounds amazing. Pickups are low output but very articulate and crystal clear. Lovely cleans and great overdriven tones. The guitar is ridiculously light, and it surprised me how loud sounded unplugged. The basswood body seems to be pretty soft, it had a good ding when I got it and I added a couple more.

I slapped a set of 11’s and Barden brass compensated saddles and that took this little guitar to another whole level, intonation and sound wise. It’s got this powerful tele-like spank. Plays and sounds incredibly. Some vanity pics:




 

[Embenny]

Awesome. These things were super cool and underappreciated, a real modern era Squier gem.

Also, it's so nice being on OSG where this gets posted in the "non-offset" section. A lot of duo sonics get posted to the offset subreddit, I've had to stop checking it out.

[Axolotl]

Also, it's so nice being on OSG where this gets posted in the "non-offset" section. A lot of duo sonics get posted to the offset subreddit, I've had to stop checking it out.

No way I was gonna miss that, since I've been correcting people left and right myself

[Maggieo]

Those Duo-Sonics are some of the best guitars Fender/Squier ever made. I'm looking at mine right now. It's tuned to an open E and I've been playing Johnny Marr stuff on it and it sounds so good, it's a toss-up between it and the JM Jag.

Congrats!!!

I've been reluctant to change anything on the bridge, could you tell us a bit more about how the sound and playability changed?

[Singlebladepickup]

The desert sand and gold is a great combo imo

[Axolotl]

I've been reluctant to change anything on the bridge, could you tell us a bit more about how the sound and playability changed?

First and foremost what improved was the intonation, which the stock saddles make near impossible for me. Here the compensated saddles did their trick and it's very noticeable. It feels really nice to slide my fingers about the 12 fret or higher and hear the notes right on pitch. This makes the guitar sing and resonate better overall. With the stock saddles I would hear the pitch of some strings to start drifting above the 9th fret or so.

I also think it sounds louder unplugged and with a more bell-like tone, but this can be more debatable than the intonation issue. One thing for sure, after putting the new saddles I was wowed to feel how much more lively the guitar felt.

When changing the saddles I also changed the strings from 10s to 11s (I didn't need to touch the nut. Yay.) 11s is what I'm used to in most my guitars, and I thought a short scale wouldn't be the exception, but man they did feel wonderful for bends and such. I might go back to them sometime or at least in anoother guitar.

FWIW, I thought I'd need to shim the neck since I read in a few places that some compensated saddles are too high for duo sonics. This Joe Barden set dropped right in. No shim needed, intonation was a breeze and still have room to bring the saddles down If I wanted to.

Also they look effin killer and combine well with the gold guard.

Love the desert sand/gold combo for some reason works so much better than the aged white/gold of the SQJMJM

[jthomas]

sweet axe... really sweet. congrats.

[Maggieo]

I've been reluctant to change anything on the bridge, could you tell us a bit more about how the sound and playability changed?

First and foremost what improved was the intonation, which the stock saddles make near impossible for me. Here the compensated saddles did their trick and it's very noticeable. It feels really nice to slide my fingers about the 12 fret or higher and hear the notes right on pitch. This makes the guitar sing and resonate better overall. With the stock saddles I would hear the pitch of some strings to start drifting above the 9th fret or so.

I also think it sounds louder unplugged and with a more bell-like tone, but this can be more debatable than the intonation issue. One thing for sure, after putting the new saddles I was wowed to feel how much more lively the guitar felt.

When changing the saddles I also changed the strings from 10s to 11s (I didn't need to touch the nut. Yay.) 11s is what I'm used to in most my guitars, and I thought a short scale wouldn't be the exception, but man they did feel wonderful for bends and such. I might go back to them sometime or at least in anoother guitar.

FWIW, I thought I'd need to shim the neck since I read in a few places that some compensated saddles are too high for duo sonics. This Joe Barden set dropped right in. No shim needed, intonation was a breeze and still have room to bring the saddles down If I wanted to.

Also they look effin killer and combine well with the gold guard.

Love the desert sand/gold combo for some reason works so much better than the aged white/gold of the SQJMJM

Joe Barden, huh? Cool. I had a Braden bridge on my Esquire. Looks like I've got a project!

Thanks!!!

[Axolotl]

Joe Barden, huh? Cool. I had a Braden bridge on my Esquire. Looks like I've got a project!

Thanks!!!

Definitely worth at last trying them out, Let me know how you like them.