Hot-rodded MM/DS gallery

• '56 Musicmaster (SN 15171)
  New bridge, refin, and new pickups.
  Owned by Dale Harley.
  
  
• Late '50s Musicmaster (August '56 neck on a '57-'58 body), refinished in metallic candy apple red
  Came with a hardtail Strat bridge, new tuners, and a Duncan Hot Rails humbucker and 3-way toggle switch, plus a pro refin in candy apple red. Since then, I've put a '64 Duo-Sonic bridge with staggered Tele saddles plus a white repro 'guard on it, and changed the pickups to a Duncan Antiquity Duo-Sonic (neck) and Duncan Cool Rails (bridge).
  Owned by yours truly.
  
  
• Circa '56-'57 MM-to-DS conversion (Nov. '56 neck), currently refinished in gold:
  front | back | body, front | neck date | headstock
  "I'm leaning towards doing some more restoration (or distrestoration). I really hate the color and since the disassembly is so easy, I'll strip it and see how ugly the wood is underneath. Chances are, I'll repaint it desert sand and distress it. Since the pickguard & electronics are all wrong, I may just strip, clearcoat and keep it custom. I will get a couple of more photos of the MM as I move forward."
  Owned by Bicycle Bill
  
  
• Circa '58 MM-to-DS conversion, nicely refinished with a dark stain
  front and back views, in case | body, front | body, back | headstock, front and back
  Source: unknown (eBay)
  
  
• '59 Musicmaster-to-Duo-Sonic conversion, SN 42806
  Owned by Andrew Mattei
  
  
• '60 MM-to-DS conversion
  Mickey Melchiondo's (Dean Ween) two main guitars from 1987-1995 were Musicmasters converted to Duo-Sonics. "For these two guitars, Mickey paid $150 dollars for one and $200 dollars for the other. He used these guitars on every recording and every gig (including the first 4 Ween albums). Mickey has practically done everything short of smashing the guitar pictured above. He has thrown it across stage and even set it on fire. It's on it's third fret job and third pickguard. As you can tell, it's a work of art. Mickey says he could never part with either of them: 'They just don't make em' like this anymore.' "
  Owned by Dean Ween (thanks, James!)
  
  
• '65 Musicmaster II, (amateurly) refinished in white
  Came with new tuners, a replacement neckplate, and an awful refinish; I subsequently added a Duncan Hot Rails bridge humbucker and 3-way toggle switch, and re-refinished it. Later I added MannMade angled Tele saddles and installed a Duncan Vintage Staggered neck pickup.
  Owned by yours truly.
  
  
• '66 Duo-Sonic II/Musicmaster conversion: front | body, back
  Made from a pre-CBS Musicmaster II body (year unknown) and a July 1966 Duo-Sonic II neck. "A friend of mine had a Duosonic II that he modified with chrome tuners and a brass nut. We were at a local guitar shop together when the owner of the shop informed me that he had a Musicmaster II in pieces, in a box. The body was painted with white brushed-on house paint, there was one only one pickup, and no pick guard. He wanted $60 for it so I bought it. Since the neck had the original tuners and nut, my friend wanted it and offered me his Duo-sonic neck and $30 in trade. I agreed and now had $30 to use toward adding a second pickup. It cost me about $40 for a pearloid pick guard and now I had all of the parts. I stripped the body to bare wood and had an artist friend of mine do an abstract design on it. The pickup switches were giving me trouble so I had a 3-way toggle switch installed on the chrome plate. I was assured by the guitar shop that the original switches were bypassed but the neck pickup can still be turned off by the original switch. Far from original, it's still a very neat guitar with a little history."
  Owned by Sal Iannello.
  
  
• '66 Duo-Sonic II, in red (collage)
  No new bridge, but twin angled humbuckers and new tuners.
  Source: unknown (eBay)
  
  
• '75 Music Master, in blue (collage)
  New bridge, twin humbuckers, new tuners, and a pro refin. Nice!
  Source: unknown (eBay)
  
  
• '76 Musicmaster, in black:
  front view | body, front | headstock
  "I bought the guitar on eBay and it was basically just a neck and body with a few pieces of mismatched and corroded electronics and hardware. ... I installed a set of Sperzel Trim-Lock tuning machines, a Fender American Vintage Jazzmaster/Jaguar tremolo, a Fender Mustang Bridge, a WD Music Products BWBWB pickguard and two Lollar P-90 soapbar pickups. To hear the guitar, listen to my band's music at wearefawn.com; this guitar is all over our debut LP, to be released Summer 2011."
  Outstanding work! Owned by Mike Spence
  
  
• '78 Musicmaster, in black
  Full-sized humbucker installed in bridge position; new Tele-style bridge saddles added (can't tell if they're the intonated type or not).
  Source: unknown (gbase.com)