It’s a "close-ish" copy of a guitar from the late 50’s-early 60’s, a Danelectro 59DC. Danelectro had been making cheap guitar amplifiers for Sears and Montgomery Wards catalogs, and the two of them asked Danelectro if they could also supply electric guitars to go with them. Danelectro said “sure”, and produced a guitar as cheaply & efficiently as they could- plywood inner core with masonite front & back: So I headed to the local Home Depot to pick up some 3/4" plywood and 1/8" masonite and started cutting & pasting on a full size drawing and had it printed out: Mine's gonna have a whammy, 'cuz every guitar needs one; here's a mockup with a vintage NOS Japanese whammy I found: I use unfinished "paddle" necks that allow me to carve my own headstock shape; here's what I did: After some amber-tinted lacquer on the neck, I thought some Rustoleum Hammered Copper would look nice for the body with the neck: Totally new method of construction for me, but still a fun learning experience. Anyone here ever had a Dano?
I worked for them about 1960. First job, for the Christmas rush. They actually made some that maybe not Fender-like, didn't sound terrible. I think the cheapie sold for $39,95 at Sears.
PS: the neck below the fret board had 2 slots with mill steel bars in them, maybe a quarter by a half. Buck and a quarter an hour and a free turkey at thanksgiving. Thanks for the memory.
Cool story. I've read about the 'steel reinforced neck', rather than a truss rod. Pretty clever guy that Nathan Daniel.
There's a couple things about various electric guitars, solid vs. hollow bodies in particular, that begs one question: how much of an electric guitar's body assists in amplifying notes, if at all?
That's essentially the function of the top on an acoustic guitar, a soundboard that moves air, amplifying the sound of the vibrating strings within the hollow body, expelling it though the sound hole. Not so much on a solid body electric; the pickups and the amplifier do the amplification of the strings movements within a magnetic field. This Danelectro could technically be called a semi-hollow based on it's unique construction, but it doesn't have any sound hole or f-holes for air to escape, so it's basically a solid body. Most believe the type of wood on an electric also plays a part in tone, and I would say that's true; an all maple guitar will sound much brighter than a mahogany one.
Body glued together, edges rounded over, mocked up to check neck alignment, primed, pickguard drilled for controls, and first couple coats of hammered copper color on. I'm toying with this idea for the headstock; thoughts?
Another progress mock up. I'm loving the look of this hammered finish, and no wet sanding! I had to figure out a way to keep the body horizontal when painting, as I got a couple of runs while I was painting when hanging it. I also ordered some vinyl edge trim; that's how the factory covered the edges to hide seams.
Nice! I have a couple of original Dano pickups I need to put in something someday. I just don't have your talent for building.
On a Gibson guitar with 2 pickups, there’s a toggle switch with a plate that says which pickup you’re on- ‘Rhythm' for the neck pickup, and ‘Treble’ for the bridge pickup: On mine, the choice will be labeled differently:
