Replacing my Fender Duo Sonic HS pickguard

[@oliversouthgate7395]

This video was really helpful. I'm about to change the humbucker on my HS Duo sonic and the pickup cover on the neck pickup. It's given me all the info I need about what's under the pickguard. Thanks for posting.

[@BrianPremo]

I'm happy it was helpful. I hope you enjoy the upgrades!

[@dirtymax56]

YES! been considering this for ages and wanted the turtle shell too. cheers mate

[@BrianPremo]

I think the turtle shell really makes the guitar pop, I'm glad I did it.

[@dirtymax56]

100% man im convinced

[@mycatmanjo]

Nice job! Looks GREAT!! Thank you so much for taking the time to share.

[@BrianPremo]

Thank you, and thanks for taking the time to watch.

[@ungerlj87]

I'm usually not a fan or tortoise guards but that looks really good with that color. I'm thinking about buying the orange s s duo Sonic hear soon.

[@BrianPremo]

I love the orange duo sonic, I believe it has a maple fretboard, I've always preferred maple over rosewood/pau ferro. It's a gorgeous guitar.

[@wanker3283]

its the kurt look

[@DSharp111]

Awesome video. Thanks for making it. I'm actually going to order one of these pickguards right now. I love the duo-sonic. Not a lot of videos on it out there. Please make more if you do anything else to your model.

[@BrianPremo]

I can't say enough good things about this guitar. I may swap out the pickups down the road, but I'm not quite there yet. If I make any changes or add anything new I promise I'll make a video for it. Thanks for watching.

[@Edward-MTBKR]

Nice job Brian. I have the exact same Duo Sonic. I installed Fender Locking Tuners, and a new pickguard would also be a great customization. I'm also going to add more conductive paint to the interior, I see your guitar has the same poor shielding as mine.

[@BrianPremo]

Thanks Ed. Yeah the shielding leaves a lot to be desired. That's a good idea with the conductive paint, I may end up doing that myself. So far the factory tuners have been doing a pretty good job for me. I did get the guitar set up by an amazing local lluthier because I had intonation issues out of the box, which is common with shorter scale guitars, but since then everything has been going well. I still think this guitar is well worth its price.

[@GiselleDK]

Why? Do you get a lot of noise?

[@souvlaki9951]

Looks great! I have a similar color with my Duo Sonic as well, and this pickguard looks soo good with it.

[@THEFALLOFEVEMUSIC]

Excellent Mod, super job looks ace.

[@BrianPremo]

Thank you

[@dylanvogel4503]

That's a butie I'm a huge Nirvana nerd and I love jags and mustangs I realy want a duo Sonic I play them every time I go to gutair center they fell and sound amazing

[@BrianPremo]

It is the most comfortable guitar I've ever played. They are wonderful in every way, very affordable as well. I will say I had to get my mine adjusted/set up a little bit when I first got it, the intonation was a little off, which I guess is common in shorter scale guitars. I wouldn't trade this guitar for anything.

[@globalnova]

i did the same with my surf green jazzmaster , then discovered that the best colour for me for the tortoiseshell guard is shell pink. now have to paint guitar

[@danadams8649]

or you could buy a shell pink classic vibe jazzmaster like i did they sweet

[@modernassasinkillerz]

Looks like Kurt cobain's sonic blue mustang

[@BrianPremo]

Yep! Kurt's guitar was part of the reason I went with this pick guard

[@modernassasinkillerz]

Brian Premo how much did the pickguard cost? Because I'm saving for the same guitar

[@BrianPremo]

I got it from Pickguardian.com for $67 and it cost another $9 shipping. It's a high quality guard, I think it's worth the price.

[@alienvolt7741]

The duo Sonic is the kind of guitar i think Kurt would've liked

[@BrianPremo]

I agree 100%

[@stevebuscemi4970]

Really like the look of that pick guard. Thanks for the video

[@mickeygotrecords]

Very good video, I have same guitar and tried to find new pickguard! Thanks!

[@garyives1218]

Thanks.....cool of ya to take it upon yourself to provide a vid of this swap. PEOPLE, just in some way get a measurement of how far your pick ups are from the bottom of your strings before you begin if you want to retain the same sound. It may not make sense to measure from the top of the pick guard to the top of the pick ups to reset their height because your new pick guard may not be the same thickness as the old. Enjoy your mods folks

[@aaronthearcticcat8548]

Dang, thanks for the video bro! Definately sick of seeing the mint green on my capri orange duo sonic. And I couldn't really find pickguards for these little guys. So seriously. Thank you.

[@BrianPremo]

Glad I could help. I love the capri orange duo sonics. I hope you find the pickguard you're looking for.

[@quainejohnson4808]

Same here, like you said, finding a pickguard for the hs is a nightmare

[@BrianPremo]

Just a reminder I got this from Pickguardplanet.com NOT Pickguardian.

[@quainejohnson4808]

Brian Premo thanks!!

[@nooneishome3028]

I can understand not wanting the mint green on the Capri orange but I have the Surf Green and I think Fender got it perfect with the pickguard for the Surf Green. I do wish that the Neck pup cover and bridge Hum matched the shade of the pickguard though. By the way, Brian , I'm giving a thumbs up for the video. Thanks for putting it together. I may not agree with your preference over the factory pickguard but everyone has and is entitled to their own taste. Thanks for the info on where to get the new pickguard. After checking the site , I'm definitely ordering a vintage white Pearl pickguard for my 3 color sunburst Jag. Once again, thanks for taking the time to put this video out, seems you've found the one place to get ANY pickguard. Take care and keep rockin man.

[@joeyball3342]

Pretty nice man, good job!. Your guitar is not a plain Jane anymore. That tortoise shell is a big improvement over a plain white pickguard. There's something about a tortoise shell. It's an upgrade/improvement to almost any guitar.

[@corvuscorax9265]

Hi, old video but let me ask anyway: would humbucker fit into the single coil pickup cavity? (Of course the pickguard hole would need to be enlarged). Thanks.

[@BrianPremo]

Yes. It was pretty roomy in both pickup locations.

[@BeardnScars]

I did this a couple years back to my duo Sonic, had this exact one. The pickguard was from pickguard planet, TAFKAP or something like that. Changing it out ruined it. When you had this tortoise pickguard out to compare with the original, was it the same thickness and all?

[@BrianPremo]

Everything seemed the same to me, I can’t remember the exact model number of it. I know you can get different ply levels. I don’t have the original pickguard to compare it to anymore but they seemed to be the same thickness to me. I just know I didn’t have any issues with it. Would swapping the original pickguard back in fix the issue? (I know that would defeat the purpose of changing the pickguard in the first place, but I guess the priority would be for the guitar to be working properly.

[@BeardnScars]

@@BrianPremo I get you. No, this was a while ago all that stuff is long gone now. BUT I just got a duo Sonic again, and wanna do it the right way this time. So that’s why I wanted to know if you had any info.

[@Seventeen_Seconds]

Looks really nice great video! I've just ordered a surf pearl Duosonic, should be here any day, first thing I'm doing is ordering the Kurt Cobain mod pickguard and metal tone and volume plate 👌🏻

[@BrianPremo]

They are wonderful guitars, probably the most fun to play of any guitar I've ever played. You're going to love it. The mods will definitely step it up to a whole new level.

[@Seventeen_Seconds]

@@BrianPremo got it delivered yesterday and haven't put it down since, feels great and the colour is to die for. Mods are ordered and on their way. Was thinking maybe gold anodised pickguard at some point.

[@lukesandroni3436]

Just ordered this guitar, God it looks beautiful with that new pick guard. 😻😻

[@BrianPremo]

Vince Z. V. You're going to love it.

[@lukesandroni3436]

Brian P, hope so! I also got the new Orange 20rt just to practice at home and become familiar with those lightweight, responsive, dynamic amps. I also ordered a new pickguard which makes the guitar look super rad, Ray Ban clubmaster look to it 🧡

[@BrianPremo]

@@lukesandroni3436 Awesome. I've never heard anything from the Orange line sound bad. That new pickguard is going to look sweet.

[@lukesandroni3436]

@brian premo did anything happen to your coil split after tightening with the needle nose?

[@BrianPremo]

@@lukesandroni3436 No, not that I can hear/see/feel. The tone of the split is pretty flimsy (before and after the needle nose), probably my least favorite thing about an otherwise amazing guitar.

[@Pepotion]

Hey, what number of color do you choose on the page? I want the same pickguard for my Duo. Thanks for the video!

[@BrianPremo]

Hey! The color I got was Color 41: "Classic Brown Tortoise" 4-ply . It's a beauty, you're going to love it.

[@GiselleDK]

I wish the duo sonics would come already from factory with the tortoise pickguard. I'm also considering getting one but it's so difficult to find a decent pickguard that doesn't cost almost half of the price of the guitar itself 😅

[@BrianPremo]

I agree! Today’s day and age you should be able to custom pick whatever pickguard you want on a guitar, especially with big names like Fender or Gibson. I ended up selling my duo sonic, it had too many tuning issues and was a liability on stage, but man they are sweet guitars. I miss it. I use a Godin “session” as my main axe now and am in love with it.

[@andrehorbach]

Nice meat-looking pickguard.

[@Electro_Chromatica]

Thank you. Even got the same colors.

[@coltwalker6990]

Hey bro I want to do this exact same thing, and I think that you're a bad-ass pioneer in the duosonic pickguard game. My question for you is this: I'm on the pickguardian site and I want to get the red pearloid for my duosonic hs, but I don't see any templates and they only have the old styled duosonics. Did you have to send your pickguard in for them to replicate or how did you get that set up?

[@BrianPremo]

I had the same issue at first, the site can be tricky to navigate. If you click on this link www.pickguardplanet.com/fender-duo-sonic-pickguards/ and scroll to the bottom of the screen you'll see the Duo Sonic HS . (Bookmark it in case you lose it) If you hover your mouse over the red font itll pop up a window with options. You want to click on the options and jot down the info for each thing you want, for example, you want Red Pearl - that would be "Color 84" - you need that info when you fill out the sales order. It sounds more complicated than it is, if you need any help just let me know. And I just realized I used Pickguard Planet and not Pickguardian I need to fix that!

[@coltwalker6990]

Brian Premo Thanks so much man :D

[@BrianPremo]

No problem, sorry about the misinformation there before.

[@coltwalker6990]

No problem at all man. I have one more question to bug you with though lol. Is the pickguard that you got the red tortoise or the retro red tortoise? It looks so DAMN cool on this guitar. I'm ordering tomorrow, I just wanna make sure I copy you and don't order something that comes out brown. Yours is the perfect red.

[@BrianPremo]

You're not bugging me at all. The color I got was Color 41: "Classic Brown Tortoise" 4-ply .095 - Definitely worth the money, your guitar is going to look gorgeous! One more thing I forgot to note in the video is that the Neck pickup hole on the new pickguard was VERY snug. It took quite a bit of wiggling to get it in there. The humbucker pickup goes in very easy, I think it's the plastic cover over the neck pickup that makes it a little tougher to get on, but it will fit so don't get discouraged. Keep me posted with how it goes for you please.

[@dylanvogel4503]

Oh ps you did a good job man I remember the first time I took my strat apart i was like what am I doing 😂 oh and maybe if you put a semour duncan distortion or jb humbucker in the bridge it would look ten times better

[@BrianPremo]

Yea, springs and stuff fell out when I first opened it up, I think everything ended back in it's proper place when all was said and done. I've considered switching out pickups, but as of right now I'm pretty happy with the factory humbucker, we will see what the future holds. If I swap anything out I'll be sure to document it.

[@RichardLuna2025]

It looks like the top route is a humbucker route???? If so let me know, please....

[@fedestrat2caster]

Hi! I have a question, please. When you use the guitar in standing position, hanging on a strap: Does the neck dives? I mean if the neck tend to down to the floor, as in some SG's type guitar. Thank you!

[@BrianPremo]

Sorry for the super late reply, I didn't see your question until now. No, there is no neck dive at all. This guitar is light as a feather, you barely notice you have it on you. It's nice and balanced.

[@fedestrat2caster]

@@BrianPremo Thank you!

[@tjjr1062]

Looks great.

[@jbauer315]

I was like "wow, he looks just like Premo". Lmao! I'm looking to change the pickguard on my American Pro Jag and just so happened to see this.

[@BrianPremo]

Hey! It's been forever. Love Jags. I'd love to see a before and after if you end up doing it. I'm glad to hear you're still playing, I hope all is well in your life.

[@jbauer315]

@@BrianPremo It has certainly been some years man. I may do my own video because I didn't find anything for a Jag. You still in the area?

[@BrianPremo]

@@jbauer315 You totally should, I bet a lot of people would appreciate the video. I'm am currently in Utica, but feeling a change wouldn't be a bad thing. How about you?

[@jbauer315]

@@BrianPremo Utica as well, and same boat bro. Giving it another year or two and moving west to do some music stuff.

[@BrianPremo]

@@jbauer315 Exactly. If you're looking for music in this area you're definitely in the wrong place. I hope it all goes well for you. I'll find you on facebook, we'll have to keep in touch. Do you have any recording gear? Maybe we can do a casual long distance project.

[@Gaet502]

Hey Brian, great vid!! I getting a Duo Sonic but not the HS one, the Artic White, do you know what is the difference? And i'm gonna change the pickguard so thanks for the vid! :)

[@BrianPremo]

wolfever Hello! The HS model has a humbucker pickup for a bridge pickup, where as the non HS has a two single coil pickups. The humbucker will give you a little more bite to your sound , good for heavier grungier tones. Also the HS model allows you to pull the tone knob turning the humbucker into a single coil (split coil) - so in theory the HS can give you the sound of the non HS model and gives you more tone options overall. The HS doesn't come in Arctic white though unfortunately. Honestly I'm not impressed by the split coil tone on the HS, it feels lacking to me. I think if you're looking for that tone you'd be better off with the non HS model. Maybe you can see if a local guitar shop has them in stock so you can compare? Or check KZbin, I think there are a few videos out there comparing them. You can't go wrong either way, these are amazing guitars.

[@Gaet502]

hey bro!! thanks for this great answer! its really helped me to understand the shades! i'm going to take the artic white then and why not exactly the same pickguard as you, sorry for the steal ahahah ! it looks so great, and sure on a white duo sonic its will be cool! i will come back to you ! thanks again ! got a subscriber ;)

[@BrianPremo]

You're very welcome and that sounds like a good plan to me. This pickguard will definitely look great on the arctic white. Pickguard Planet's website can be a little tricky to navigate, if you have any issues just let me know and I'll try to help you out. It's going to ask you what color you want, if you want the same color I picked here, you will want color #41 "Tortoise Shell brown" - also make sure you are ordering the pick guard for the non-HS model if you are going with the Arctic White. Good luck!

[@phladjki]

Question: you left the components in the cavity. Were they attached to anything? or were they loose?

[@BrianPremo]

They were loose, other than a couple little zip-tie type things keeping the wires grouped.

[@julianramirez3445]

Thank you

[@goodgriefitssimon]

If you unbolted the neck from the body, & set the neck aside, you could have kept the strings.

[@BrianPremo]

That's a great idea. This was my first time ever doing anything to a guitar other than changing strings so I was a little hesitant to try anything like that. Next time though, great idea.

[@Lasuertez]

Looks so good)

[@namplifier]

Can you tell me weather the duo sonic has 250 or 500k volume pot???

[@BrianPremo]

I honestly don't know. But a person who swapped out the volume pot on his Duo Sonic put 250k's in. It's comment #5 on this forum www.tdpri.com/threads/new-fender-ofset-series-duo-sonic-and-mustang-mods-pictures-inside.715464/ Sorry I couldn't be more help.

[@WuziTV]

legend

[@ChrisCarrilloGuitar]

were you able to put the same strings back on? lol

[@BrianPremo]

Yes I did actually!. They were too new to throw away, they didn't give me any issues.

[@ChrisCarrilloGuitar]

whatever works works haha, just got a 3 ply matte black pickguard for my daphne blue duo sonic hs but also just put on new strings a week and a half ago so I'm like Ehhhhh I wanna put it on but dont wanna take these off just yet! might just do it honestly lol

[@BrianPremo]

Haha, yea, same here. Those strings were barely used so I had a hard time just tossing them. If I had a gig or something lined up I probably would've swapped them out, but yea in the end they were fine anyways. Black on Daphne Blue is going to look beautiful!

[@ChrisCarrilloGuitar]

agreed. and thanks man, I sure hope so.

[@jimsteele2072]

Painful to watch.....😅 I hope you learned, Strings off, pull pickguard screws, swap parts onto other pickguard, replace pickguard, screws, strings, and tune.