Danelectro/Silvertone sears - Summer project!

CROSS

Hi, I have approximately a week to build this guitar.

I have had this old Danelectro neck sitting around for ages. It's 60s NOS neck. It's in poor condition but it should be really good once it's painted.

Since that photo I have veenered the headstock with flame maple.

The body is one piece solid student grade wood. Not sure of the exact name, but it was cheap, it's similar to Alder but ugly. I don't have time to make a fancy template so I cut it out with the bandsaw, which I'm fairly confident with, (although I snapped the blade today).

The body will also be capped with Flame maple veneer and bound. It's going to be tobacco burst. I'm going to install body mounted lipstick pickups.

More pics tomorrow.

robertoriginal

i actually have a template for a vintage silvertone,

your better off working on memory tho cuz the neck pocket area is WAY too skinny on the og version.

CROSS

I own a real Silvertone, Which I am using for measurements. I have indeed enlarged the neck socket area. The whole idea behind this project is to improve the design.

robertoriginal

are your tuners backwords also?

the one that i made the templates from was almost mint and sounded kinda cool, but it had some design flaws, the bridge was horrid. and the tuners went the wrong direction, it was the weirdest thing, and since its the only one i have ever worked with im not sure if its normal or what.

CROSS

Yeah, the tuning heads are really crap. They are loose and tune backwards like you said. I can't bring myself to put new tuners on it, because the only ones that would fit are locking tuners which are too heavy for a guitar like that. I don't wanna redrill the holes.

robertoriginal

i definitly wouldn;t, you are probly doing the best thing by building one and leaving the silvertone to take it easy.

those things were tempermental then and tempermental now.

CROSS

Headtsock with flame veneer and Dano tuners.

Back of neck. I am spraying black sunburst over the veneer join to hide it.

Flame capped body. For some reason the split down the middle got bigger. I'll have to fill it.

I stuck the veneer on with Contact adhesive.

CROSS

I strung it up today to see how it plays. The neck is really good. It's very thin and easy to play, with only a small amount of fret buzz.

I still have a lot of sanding to do.

What do you guys reckon?

CROSS

I'm excited about these reissues.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/INTRODUCING-THE-2008-DANELECTRO-63-PRE-ORDER-NOW_W0QQitemZ120194620524QQihZ002QQcategoryZ33036QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

jayson

its cool

robertoriginal

im suprised you didn't opt for a 4 bolt.

i do like the improved neck pocket.

very ace indeed!

are you going to stain it? and then clear it or do a trans burst type finish deal?

CROSS

The maple becomes a dark golden colour when it's wet, so I'll leave it and just do the tobacco burst around it. The back of the body I'm going to stain a walnut colour as well as the tobacco burst, it's ugly wood. And the sides will just be black. The headstock will be sunburst too.

I've never done a three bolt before. It's actually very secure.

CROSS

Just a few more shots with the first few coats of sanding sealer.

All the routs are done and look good. Not bad for a 7 day project...

CROSS

I finished it today.

It' s a total rush job. But I'm very happy with it considering. All I need to do now is put some clear over the Dano logo and then wait for all the parts to arrive.

Coolguy

It's looking awesome 😀

jayson

how do u do that s h i t

CROSS

I tried to document this project as much as possible with my camera, but I found it too distracting. It requires so much patience.

Are you referring to the sunburst? I used a compressor air gun. I had it on a very low setting, so it comes out dry. I spray from the inside of the body around the edge very slowly. It would be good if I had access to transparent colours. I would have liked to have done a two tone sunburst. But tobacco burst looks awesome anyway.

I might sell this guitar soon, if anyone wants to make an offer?

grunge-fan

damn that is quite awesome

jayson

how much would that go for?

and how much did it cost to make

sttawke

Totally not loving the flame maple (on a Dano? Seriously?), but everything else about this project and thread is awesome. That's some excellent work there.