Jeff Mead asked me about the dimensional differences between my Fender Stringmaster D8 and my Dual 6 Professional in the "Show Us Your Stringmasters" thread. I decided to start a separate thread to avoid cluttering up that one.
Both of my guitars (pictured below) are short scale and the body length is the same (approx. 32-1/4"). The dimensions of the hardware appear to be the same as well. The draw-stamped tuner pans measure the same: just different holes punched for 6 or 8 tuners. The blank stamping for the control plates has the same outside dimensions: just different width holes punched for the pickups and a different number of holes for the strings to anchor in. I was surprised to find that the fretboards are also the same.
As Jeff found out when he restored his Stringmaster Quad, the Stringmaster bodies are tapered toward the tuner pans. This is one place where I did see a difference. On the D8, the two bolted bodies taper from about 9-1/2" down to about 8-5/8" whereas the D6 bodies taper from about 9-1/4" down to 8-5/8". So the difference was only about 1/8" for each body and only on one end. I wonder if this small of a difference could even be a "tolerance" issue from a slightly different setup of the tablesaw fence (or whatever they used) from one year to the next rather than different specs for the 6 and 8 string models.
I'll post some more info and comments tomorrow but right now I need to go to bed!
Yes, I'd say the 1/8" difference has to be a tolerance issue - it doesn't make sense to have 2 different bodies so similar and it is ideal from a manufacturing point of view to make 6 or 8 stringers by just using a couple of different bits of hardware,
Nathan Laudenbach wrote:Those are two string masters in your picture right?
Some people get their panties in a wad if you call the six string version a Stringmaster because the Fender catalog refers to it as a Dual 6 Professional - which is confusing because I believe that is the term for the trapezoid pickup version of the Dual 6 as well. It looks and quacks like a Stringmaster though.
I believe they made the bodies to go either way. I say that because the pickup slots in both of my double six Fenders are routed out exactly the same as my my double and triple-eight Stringmasters.
