Field Trip: 1957 Fender Vibrolux

A friend of mine called me the other day and said that he had just traded his old drum set for this 1957 Fender Vibrolux:

Needless to say, I was very excited.  Back in school I bought a small collection of vintage Fenders including a 1960 Champ, 1959 Princeton, 1960 Deluxe and a 1964 Vibro Champ.  Pete would come over and we would blues out with me on his Strat (and the Deluxe!) and him on the harmonica with the Champ.  TONE gentlemen, tone.

Until one time I was holding the strat and he had the harp mic in his hand and he tried to show me where on the fretboard I should play.  As he touched the strings and froze I instantly remembered how both of these awesome old tweed amps had the original 2 prong power chord.  "Dude, are you alright?' I said not sure if he was confused or shocked (literally). One second later he jumped back out of his frozen state and reminded himself never to do that again.  Please change the 2 prongs to 3.  Vintage isn't cool if you are dead.

But I did remember how wonderful that deluxe sounded after the tubes warmed up.  Here is a shot of my old tweed Deluxe (gone now along with the others):

That is candle wax from an old recording gig it played

Full shot of Pete's Vibrolux:

 Tweed doesn't always wear very well after this long.  I actually really dig the distressed look of an old amp.  The speaker has been replaced but it still sounded so sweet with my '64 Fender Duo-sonic.  We played a little jam of Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary" with him playing lead on the DS and me playing rhythm on his 1951 Gibson J-50.  Loads of tone.

The Vibrolux's were rated at 10 watts and had a 12" Jensen speaker.  They had 3 instrument inputs and a Depth, Speed, Tone and Volume knob.  They have a variable bias tremolo that really sounds sweet.  This particular unit had a GE 5y3 rectifier tube, a Sylvania 6v6 and an Emerson 6v6 power tubes and unknown 12Ax7 preamp tubes.

Luckily, the original 2 prong chord had been traded for a 3 prong recently.  You can see from this picture that the tweed Fender cabinets were finger jointed pine boxes.  This is a really cool way to join two pieces of wood and allowed for great transfer of tonal energy throughout the entire box.  Plus, it looks awesome.  Fortunately this one shows off it's finger joints!

Here is a video of Chris playing through a brand new Echoplex to the Vibrolux and a new Victoria (tweed bassman).

1963 Harmony Rocket H59 with 3 Rowe Industries DeArmond "Gold Foil" Pickups

This one has been a favorite since day one, the Harmony Rocket:

I just about jumped out of my chair when this one popped up in PoDunk, AL (not a real place).  It was covered in half a century's dirt and dust from being in a garage for so long.  After a quick wipe down with a barely damp cloth the finish was sparkling.  I was amazed at how well this one cleaned up.  

Seems like the first thing anyone notices about these are the knobs.  SO MANY KNOBS:

Individual Bakelite volume and tone knobs for each pickup.  The rotary pickup selector allows you to select pickup 1, 2, 3 or All.  So if you want just pickups 2 and 3 you must select All and turn the volume all the way down on pickup 1.  I really like the tone possibilities as well as the way all those knobs just call to you when you see it.

Tuners are cheap Kluson knock offs that tune very well after you lube them and adjust the screw on the poll.  I have had no problems with them and do not wish to change them out.  No, they are not as smooth as "Grovers", or as lame.  Sorry.

These had very thin Nitrocellulose finishes that wore off very easily in certain places:

This one shows very little (to no) fret wear.  It does have this tasteful looking wear mark on the neck.  Almost looks like it had some kind of red primer or undercoat.  Do any of you guys have any definitive info on this?  Comment and let me know.  I'm curious to hear what you think.

The Rowe Industries Gold Foil Pickup:

I really like these pickups.  Loads of output but still has a jangly, single coil "Harmony" thinness to them.  Kind of hard to describe I guess.  If you want a '57 Classic sound then do not buy this guitar.  Go buy a Gibson.  

These pickups usually read about 12k ohms which is pretty hot!  I haven't measured mine but they sound great.  Check these pickups out on eBay- people are really digging them as of late.  You could buy one of these guitars and make money just parting out the pickups on eBay. Don't do that please!

October 30, 1963

Still has the original case which is pretty dirty and wouldn't do a very good job protecting it on the road:

The only downside to this example is that it doesn't have an adjustable truss rod.

The later ones ('65 or '66 and later not sure) did have an adjustable truss rod.  The neck is actually pretty straight and plays well.  It has just a little more relief in it than I would like.  Probably would benefit from a fret leveling and crowning but I haven't gotten around to it.  I do most of my play between 0 and 9.  I'm no lead shredder.  It sounds really good with just a little tube compression and nice smooth bluesin'.  

See those little wooden spacers?  These guitars don't have adjustable poles or pickup heights unless you can make more spacers out of Walnut!  I really like the aesthetics of the spacers.  They just look really classy and neat.  

A note on my pictures:  I am not a photographer.  I don't know anything about it.  My wife has a cool camera that I borrow.  Do you have any feedback on how I could get better pictures?  Let me know.

1964 Fender Duo-Sonic

Welcome to the True Vintage Guitar Blog.  My goal with this blog is to create content about the interesting guitars, instruments and other things that I find.  I am not a dealer or really even a collector, just a guy that likes old stuff.


My first post is dedicated to a 1964 Fender Duo-Sonic.  I was drawn to this instrument because of the funky styling, interesting transition features and eventually the unique tone that all the pickup combinations can produce.  But first, a few pictures.

I know what you are thinking, "Hey, that is a Duo-Sonic II!"  You would be correct, sort of.  This instrument would be considered just barely in the transitional period between the two models and also barely in the transition to the Fender take over by CBS in 1965.  It has all the features of the Duo-Sonic II such as the 24" scale length, thick tortoise shell guard and the metal plate under the jack and knobs.  The only thing making it a Duo-Sonic is the name on the headstock:

Either way, it is a heck of a little blues guitar but versatile as well.  It has two single coil pickups with two, 3 way slide selectors.  The middle position on both is "off" for that individual pickup.  If both switches are up or down you get both pickups on and in "phase".  If the two switches are opposites (up down or down up) you get a funky, plucky out-of-phase tone that I believe is hum canceling as well.  I won't lie, the out-of-phase setting is not always useful.  It is thin, plucky and very "nuanced."  Every once in a while the stars will align and  that weird out of phase tone is exactly what I need or was looking for.  You will have to decide for yourself whether it is useful to you or not.  Let me know what you think, I welcome your feedback!

Here are some features that are indicative of the transition (buy out) of Fender to CBS.  First, the less desirable veneer fingerboard:

Not as easy to see as I thought but this is the later style Rosewood fingerboard that was apparently easier and cheaper than the "slab" fingerboard.  Basically it is a thin rosewood veneer instead of a big fat hunk of Rosewood sitting on top of the Maple neck.  I think the difference in tone is subjective and you probably have your own opinion about it.  It is just cosmetic to me.

And here are the earlier style "clay dots":

Again, purely cosmetic but I really like the way they look.  

A couple of more pictures:

The Nitrocellulose has worn almost completely off the neck.

I really dig this styling. Absolutely iconic Fender but still unique.

And here is a couple of pictures of the neck pocket and guts (please excuse the poor phone camera quality):

August 1964

Check out that original color!

Hope you enjoyed a look at this old Fender.

Disclaimer:  I am not the definitive source for this information.  I have gathered it from a couple of years of being in to this stuff.  It may not all be correct and if it isn't, I would appreciate you letting me know.  Keep it positive though, please.  Also, my experience tends to lend itself more towards the vintage Gibson acoustic side, so I am pretty much a newb at this Fender stuff.

In addition, here is a funny little video of me the other day at Homewood Music playing the Didgeridoo with Bob Tedrow.  Turns out his Didg was tuned to B and so was this little diddy: