Got it today and have spent only about 2 hours with it so far. A brand new Duo Sonic HS in the Lake Placid Blue. A few imperfections like a couple spots of left over polishing compound and a couple indents on the back but over all a very good, quality build.
After a couple of hours on it there are a few things I don't like but mostly thinking this is going to stay. One thing that is really bugging me is the gigantic chrome switch tip. The location and size really gets in the way. Might look into a LP style smaller one.
Give it a week. You may get used to the switch (and maybe not). It took me a bit of time to find the sweet spot of tone, as the controls are quite sensitive. I've had mine for six months and enjoy it very much. Congratulations on your NGD!!!
Not sure how I missed this thread yesterday but beautiful guitar and congrats. They both look awesome.
Thanks everybody. I do like it alot but just not loving it yet. A couple things I didn't know about this model was that the neck has gloss finish on the front but a satin finish on the back. The body is thinner like an Affinity strat. Neither of those things are deal breakers for me but just an observation that I don't think were mentioned anywhere. I already did my first mods to it which were to switch out the string tree to a Tusq and the strap buttons to the larger mushroom style. The action from the factory was too low for my liking and buzzed in a few spots. The pickup heights were almost touching the strings. So after the initial setup, it plays much better. Going to play with it for a couple weeks and see how it goes.
Yeah, a full size "standard" Stratocaster is normally 1.75 inches (around 44mm) A Duo-Sonic will be 1.5 inches (appr. 38mm)
Every NGD, is like a first date. Sometimes first impressions are correct, sometimes not. Every guitar will reveal it's true personality in time, and then you will know if it's right for you. The Duo-sonic is an interesting hybrid somewhere in between a strat and tele. Not for everyone, but like goldilocks famously once said: "just right for me".