The Steel Guitar Forum

I thought that Dual Pros were only made in Blond and Walnut. What do you think...is this really mahogany or a re-fin, or maybe original?

I offered a guy I know slightly, 400 bucks for one just like that. He thought it was worth a lot of bucks, but the wiring was bad, one pick-up dead, and the mahogany body had a split down the middle. I played the neck that worked, and thought it had a nice tone, not trebley like the stringmaster I had. Anyway, he still has it I was told.

I have one that has walnut stain but the wood seems to be mahogony. Someone gouged a hole at the end of the fretboard and put in a 6 string pickup, so I can see the bare wood. I'm putting in a True Tone pickup and having the old trap. rewound. Billy

Here's pictures of mine. It looks exactly like this one.
http://www.garymorrison.com/Steel%20Guitar%20Web%20Pages/Fender-Custom-Double-1619.htm

My D-8 Pro looks somewhat like yours shown.
Iam a little confused, I thought that mahogony was a little redish. I have been told that my D-8 Pro is walnut since you can see the grain.
I gess the question is how can you tell the difference between mahogony and walnut or any other types of wood.
Is there a source available to help identify
different woods?
Thanks
Alvin

Isn't "blond" and "walnut" referring to the finish?
Good question for the Knight of Tweed....

Jody???.........

Jay<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Jay Fagerlie on 06 October 2005 at 06:35 AM.]</p></FONT>

Wow Gary!!! That is one beautiful guitar. Does it sound as good as it looks?

Larry: Yes, this little beauty sounds great. I occasionally take it out to the night clubs and gig with it. We play a Hank Williams set, and it has that wonderful original sound. I bought it here on the forum a few years back or so. I'm certainly no authority on these guitars. When I purchased it, it was 'walnut', not mahogany. This is a question for 'the Knight of Tweed'.

I notice that Gary's guitar has it's date on the bottom, that seems very unusual since I have been told that Fender always put the date under the tuner pan. My guitar is dated 3/30/51 and I got the guitar 53 years to the day that it was manufactured.
Some time ago Jody posted here that the walnut guitars were discontinued in the fall of 1954 because nost customers preferrred blond (butterdcotch) rather than walnut.These walnut D-8 Pro's have a tone that can't be beat. I am sure their value will go up as time goes on.
Keep on pikin
Alvin

Alvin: Actually, the date is under the tuner pan. A photographer, I am not! I did take off the tuner pan and took a picture of the date. But the date was real dim, and although I could read it, it did not show up in the photo real well. What I did was I took the photo, and 'doctored' the photo in Paint, writing over the dim outline of the date under the tuner pan. The date is indeed there under the pan, it just does not show up real well in the photo.

Thanks Gary for clearing up my question on the date.
When I got mine the rear pickup was open and Jody recommended Jason Lallar to re-wind to 11,000 ohms.
My front pickup measures 9,000 ohms and the front is 11,000 ohms.
Does anyone know what the original impedance was when they left the factory?
Keep on pikin
Alvin

Alvin
To my knowlge the the orginal winds of the pickup were somewhere between 8 & 9 ohms
excuse my typing please.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Jody Carver on 07 October 2005 at 03:22 AM.]</p></FONT>

My traps are wound to 20K Jason Lollar did a great job<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Greg Sullivan on 07 October 2005 at 05:31 AM.]</p></FONT>

The early walnut guitars were made of in fact
"walnut" Fender finding the demand was for the blonde "butterscotch" finish" the early walnut guitars were discontinued, which were in fact walnut wood. Noel Boggs preferred the blonde so as Boggs was on KTLA TV in California with Spade Cooley, Blonde caught on fast and was known and the "Diamond" guitar, referring to the diamond metal caps on the front and back of the guitar which has a rod of steel running across the body.
This rod was to add stablilty according to Leo Fender. The stringmasters have a rod which is adjustable.

After discontinueing the walnut wood, Fender received a few more sparse orders for walnut
guitars. These orders were filled by using swamp ash and finishing the color to walnut.

I have both Walnut original and swamp ash blonde, I find little or NO difference in the tone or sustain. Both are equal in tone.
I myself prefer the early Dual Pro and Custom Fenders above the sound of the stringmaster.Though the stringmaster is a great guitar,I prefer the Custom and dual pro steel guitars. The traps make a big difference at least to my ears.

Thank you for allowing me to express my opinion.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Jody Carver on 08 October 2005 at 07:51 AM.]</p></FONT>

I had some scraps of wood lying around from totally unrelated projects. A piece of walnut and a piece of swamp ash. It struck me that aside from color (and with good skill, craft and materials you can finish almost anything to almost any color you wish) the grain textures and patterns were similar enough to be easily confused for one another (if dyed/stained to look alike). This means......nothing, really. Just an observation that surprised me at the time.

BTW--most mahogany I have seen has fairly even open pores without much swirl or other grain pattern. It's one of the things I look for in identifying wood, color, as I said, being easily altered. Maybe I've only seen choice mahogany with uniform grain.

I think now it is safe to say that calling these guitars "mahogany" is a misnomer. They may look like mahogany in color, but in fact are made of Walnut or Swamp Ash and stained the dark color as Jody says.
Here's a closer look at the grain of the guitar I was looking at;



Which wood do you think it is made out of?

I think it's swamp ash. I think walnut has more visible dark grain.

Keep on pikin
Alvin

Alvin
You are truly a "Fender" fanatic Very good
assumption and you are "Right On"

The Knight Of Fender Tweed Has Spoken

Jon By Jove, you are correct with regard to the mahogany.

Garry you are correct as well. This is a great thread. Its not that I know it all, I have all the old catalogues and manuals <font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Jody Carver on 08 October 2005 at 02:11 PM.]</p></FONT>

Jody, who are you kidding? you are "older" than any Fender catalogue ever printed

Only kidding pal.

Greg Sullivan

I have no doubt that Jody had somthing to do with what went into those old manuals and catalogues.
Jody your are an ace and remember Leo is watching you.
I send all my best wishes to you Jody.
Keep on pikin
Alvin

Not only did Jody have something to do with those Fender catalogues, Jody helped along with Noel Boggs and Leon Mc Auliffe in the design of those intruments. Alvin I always like to kid Jody. Jody get well buddy. Thanks Alvin for your post. Only kidding with Jody, he has a great sense of humor as well as we are all aware of.

Greg Sullivan <font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Greg Sullivan on 08 October 2005 at 06:23 PM.]</p></FONT>

Now, I don't know near as much about Fender as The Knight Of Fender Tweed, however; I have recently owned both a real Walnut~Wood and a Swamp~Ash~Wood ’49-’50 T-8 Custom. I had the P/U's of both guitars rewound by Jason Lollar to 1,100± and I considered the Walnut~Wood guitar to have a superior sound to the Swamp-Ash Wood! There is also a very destinguishable difference in the color of the bare wood. Although the grains may l©©k similar, the main color of the Walnut is more on the brown~side, whereas the Ash l©©ks a bit lighter. They both sound good, but; my preference is the Walnut~Wood, by far! My general understanding is that the original Trapizoids were not necessarily wound according to a spacific ohmage, but rather; it was decided to wind them at 9300 winds of #42/#43(?) wire and the result was 900± ohms. [That's about all that I don't know about the whole subject, except; that those models (Dual~Pro or The Custom) are the greatest!] IMHO
------------------
“Big John” Bechtel
’04 SD–10 Black Derby w/3 & 5 & Pad
’65 Re-Issue Fender Twin–Reverb Custom™ 15” Eminence
web site
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by John Bechtel on 27 November 2005 at 09:09 PM.]</p></FONT><font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by John Bechtel on 27 November 2005 at 09:13 PM.]</p></FONT>

Big John
You are sure wound up tonight. Thanks for your input. You are a very underestimated steel player and you play fine my friend.

blonde finish - swamp ash




rare pewter finish - ironwood


RA

I may be different but I like the looks of old steels that have marks, chips etc. I shows that they have been played and not just stored in a closet.

Any dealer will tell you that refinishing any antique will degrade the value. I have a Stringmaster that is pretty beat-up but sounds wonderful. I also have a Stringmaster that is in pristime condition and it also sounds great too. I don't think the finish really has anything to with it!

<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Gary Boyett on 16 October 2005 at 07:01 AM.]</p></FONT>