Duck (guitar)
Encyclopedia
The Duck guitar is the name given to Yngwie Malmsteen's 1971 cream colored Fender
Stratocaster guitar. It is known as the Duck owing to a Donald Duck
sticker pasted on to the headstock of the instrument.
pickups. The fingerboard is made of maple
and is scalloped. The frets are jumbo sized Jim Dunlop 6000 frets. The guitar currently features a mint-green pickguard. The Duck guitar has various stickers pasted all over its body -- a Donald Duck sticker at the headstock, a sticker with the words "Play Loud" in front, and Ferrari
prancing horse logo stickers in the back. The guitar has numerous paint chips missing due to wear and tear over the years and also features several cigarette burns around the headstock.
Fender now makes a Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster
signature series, which are replicas of the original Duck guitar, minus the stickers and burn marks.
, back in 1978, while he was still a teenager. Around 1980, Malmsteen was apprenticed to a luthier's
shop named Tord's Guitar Verkstad and encountered a 17th century lute
that a customer had brought to repair. This lute featured a scalloped neck and intrigued Malmsteen enough to try scalloping the neck of an old guitar in similar fashion. The results were impressive enough to convince him to try the same operation out on some of his better guitars.
Around this time, he also replaced the standard frets on the fingerboard with jumbo frets. The guitar was refretted at least once in 1987 when an over-enthusiastic fan threw a half-empty bottle on stage in Anchorage, Alaska
, striking the guitar so hard that it caused the 17th fret to pop out of the wood.
Originally, Malmsteen had replaced the bridge and neck pickups with DiMarzio HS-3 pickups, leaving the middle pickup as the original Fender pickup. In recent years, the neck and middle are DiMarzio YJM models and the bridge is a DiMarzio HS-3.
The various stickers on the guitar's body were applied over the years, with the Donald Duck sticker on the headstock being one of the first ones, as seen in some of his earliest photographs with that guitar. The guitar has also gradually accumulated its share of missing paint chips, cigarette burns and grime due to wear and tear on the road.
In a 1994 interview, the guitarist mentioned that the instrument had suffered damage due to him throwing it in the air and occasionally failing to catch it on the way back down. He also said that the headstock had been broken and replaced at least six times and that he put out cigarettes on it several times.
Malmsteen considered retiring the guitar at one point due to all the abuse it had taken, but he has since used it on several album tracks, as mentioned in a 2001 interview with Guitar World Magazine.
Malmsteen has shown a preference for cream colored guitars and owns several models (including many Strats, one of which has gut
strings like a classical guitar
and another one which is a 6/12-string double-neck). He has also mentioned that the "Duck" Strat is actually not his favorite Stratocaster guitar, but for some reason is one of the best-sounding ones that he owns.
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...
Stratocaster guitar. It is known as the Duck owing to a Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
sticker pasted on to the headstock of the instrument.
Overview of the Duck Guitar
The Duck Guitar was originally a 1971 Fender Stratocaster finished in Olympic White. Throughout the years, the paint has been faded to a cream-colored Aged Vintage White finish. Duck has been featured in several of Malmsteen's album covers as well as various interviews in magazines. The standard pickups have been replaced by DiMarzioDiMarzio
DiMarzio, Inc. is an United States manufacturer best known for its revolutionary direct-replacement guitar pickups. The company also produces miscellaneous guitar accessories, such as cables, straps and hardware.DiMarzio became known for its Super Distortion model, which was the first after...
pickups. The fingerboard is made of maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
and is scalloped. The frets are jumbo sized Jim Dunlop 6000 frets. The guitar currently features a mint-green pickguard. The Duck guitar has various stickers pasted all over its body -- a Donald Duck sticker at the headstock, a sticker with the words "Play Loud" in front, and Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
prancing horse logo stickers in the back. The guitar has numerous paint chips missing due to wear and tear over the years and also features several cigarette burns around the headstock.
Fender now makes a Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster
Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster
The Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster is a replica of the guitar used by Swedish heavy metal guitarist Yngwie J. Malmsteen, made by Fender. It came originally with two DiMarzio YJM single-coil pickups paired with a DiMarzio HS-3 Stack humbucking pickup...
signature series, which are replicas of the original Duck guitar, minus the stickers and burn marks.
History
This guitar was originally purchased by Malmsteen in SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, back in 1978, while he was still a teenager. Around 1980, Malmsteen was apprenticed to a luthier's
Luthier
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...
shop named Tord's Guitar Verkstad and encountered a 17th century lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
that a customer had brought to repair. This lute featured a scalloped neck and intrigued Malmsteen enough to try scalloping the neck of an old guitar in similar fashion. The results were impressive enough to convince him to try the same operation out on some of his better guitars.
Around this time, he also replaced the standard frets on the fingerboard with jumbo frets. The guitar was refretted at least once in 1987 when an over-enthusiastic fan threw a half-empty bottle on stage in Anchorage, Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, striking the guitar so hard that it caused the 17th fret to pop out of the wood.
Originally, Malmsteen had replaced the bridge and neck pickups with DiMarzio HS-3 pickups, leaving the middle pickup as the original Fender pickup. In recent years, the neck and middle are DiMarzio YJM models and the bridge is a DiMarzio HS-3.
The various stickers on the guitar's body were applied over the years, with the Donald Duck sticker on the headstock being one of the first ones, as seen in some of his earliest photographs with that guitar. The guitar has also gradually accumulated its share of missing paint chips, cigarette burns and grime due to wear and tear on the road.
In a 1994 interview, the guitarist mentioned that the instrument had suffered damage due to him throwing it in the air and occasionally failing to catch it on the way back down. He also said that the headstock had been broken and replaced at least six times and that he put out cigarettes on it several times.
Malmsteen considered retiring the guitar at one point due to all the abuse it had taken, but he has since used it on several album tracks, as mentioned in a 2001 interview with Guitar World Magazine.
Malmsteen has shown a preference for cream colored guitars and owns several models (including many Strats, one of which has gut
Catgut
Catgut is a type of cord that is prepared from the natural fibre found in the walls of animal intestines. Usually sheep or goat intestines are used, but it is occasionally made from the intestines of cattle, hogs, horses, mules, or donkeys.-Etymology:...
strings like a classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
and another one which is a 6/12-string double-neck). He has also mentioned that the "Duck" Strat is actually not his favorite Stratocaster guitar, but for some reason is one of the best-sounding ones that he owns.