I built a guitar

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Technically I built a guitar body to rebuild an old Danelectro Convertible. When I got it in the late 70's it had been well used, abused, and generally unappreciated. It was finished off by a fire in about 1984. I took it apart and stored the various pieces for years. In the early 90's I threw out the body pieces (?!! I know) but first traced the body contour because I had this crazy idea of making a guitar someday. The many skilled and generous builders on this forum have inspired me to build the Tele I've always wanted and this project was undertaken to develop the skills necessary. Specific goals were to learn pattern making, routing and finishing skills. Along the way I decided to make this first build a gift to my daughter who has begun to get serious about playing guitar the last few years. Of course I asked for visitation rights (with the guitar) when I gave it to her on her birthday last April. Pictures and discussion of the build will follow.

Love the grain on the sides.

Good job

Pretty freakin cool

Love the grain on the sides.

Good job

Pretty freakin cool

Yeah... how 'bout some more pics.

Yeah... how 'bout some more pics.

Thanks Guitar novice and Colt. More pics are on the way jkingma.

Ok here's the beginning. The tuners are still a mess and I wasn't sure if they would be functional but they turned out fine for this build. I ended up not using the control assembly. I hadn't noticed this yet and the camera angle exaggerates the visual cues but I later discover the fret dot is indeed 1/32 of an inch off center. Gotta love Dano quality control. There were other issues with the neck that concerned me in terms of playability but it all came out good. It plays like a Danelectro believe it or not.

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Here's the neck and a piece of 2x10 pine from Lowes for the body. You can see a repaired split in the neck at the tuner holes. This piece of pine became the "test" build as it received various experiments and first attempts at many of the critical routing, cutting and finishing steps.

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I'm sure inquiring minds want to know WTF I was thinking with the psycho wall paper covering so here goes: 1)while I have adequate finishing skills I was not yet up to attempting a serious go at a decent finish job including polishing multiple coats etc. 2) I'm not an interior design history expert but I'm pretty sure this wall paper is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1950s' vintage so in my twisted mind it fits with the Danelectro asthetic. 3) I rescued it from the attic of an old house that has sentimental value to my family and my Daughter agreed it was cool.

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Here's some more pictures of the finished build jkingma:

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I like the wallpaper solution, very fifties, to me. And it's an easy way to get a finish on the instrument.

Fine work, vintage and original working together. I like the cut off Tele bridge.

Absolutely glorious! I love everything about this.

I like the wallpaper solution, very fifties, to me. And it's an easy way to get a finish on the instrument.

That's what I thought and it was pretty easy. I had to pick and choose what I was going to spend time on and the finishing went pretty quick.

Fine work, vintage and original working together. I like the cut off Tele bridge.

I was trying to get as much Tele construction experience as possible. I actually bought a cheapo full size bridge before I realized the lipstick PUs don't fit. Note to self, measure stuff.

Absolutely glorious! I love everything about this.

Thanks. It was great fun. I'm going to post more pictures of the construction although I sometimes forgot to take pictures for days and weeks on end. As I mentioned earlier none of this would have happened without the generous sharing of knowledge by many on this forum.

Hey d,

A VERY cool build! How do the mini and lipstick tube get along? Would love a video. I always think it's great to make an instrument with or for your kids. They'll remember you through it forever.

That neck burn reminds me of Peter Frampton's black LP that he just got back after thinking it was burned up in a plane crash in South America I think in the early 80's. It's the one on the cover of the "Frampton Comes Alive" album. Your neck has that "to hell and back and got the singes to prove it" look. :cool:

Rob

Really sweet build! :smile:

I think that I would want to buy that if I saw it!
Can you rotate the neck pickup to have the poles by the neck? I think it looks better that way but probably makes no difference sound wise.

Thanks Barncaster,crazydave911 and thinling. The lipstick and minihumbucker sound great together and I can dial in what I want separately but I am not 100% happy with the tonal difference when switching from one to the other. I've looked at threads regarding this and will eventually experiment to see if I can do something about that. Thinling, the placement of that minihumbucker is probably the only regret I have with anything on this build. Yes I could add wire to the PU and turn it around but I really think it would look better right below the neck like a Tele neck PU. I put it where it is with the poles down hoping to avoid the above problem and it didn't do that to my ears. It's all good though cause my Daughter could care less where the neck PU is. It's actually kind of refreshing to talk guitar with such an anti-guitar geek person. After a long winded explanation of how to use the volume and tone knobs she'll say something like: "So when you turn'em like this you can hear it better?" A, yea. I guess that's pretty much it.

What size pots do you have in that guitar?

250k.

Excellent work. Danos (and their clones) are great fun to build and play. Good solution on the wallpaper.

Great Job! I like the wallpaper...

What is that body core made of?

My plan was to use 2x10 pine and make something resembling the usual Danelectro framework to attach hardboard top and bottom, leaving the middle solid except for pickup and neck pocket routing.

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This is what I ended up with. I wanted something a little stronger then typical Dano construction. The original body was falling apart even before the fire caused it to completely pop apart. Guitars get dropped, sat on and fall over sometimes. This was Lowes pine for floor joists and I think it's probably Yellow Pine. It's heavy stuff and with the hardboard top and bottom this is a pretty heavy guitar. I haven't weighed it but it's a little lighter than my MIM Strat but heavier than my LP Jr.

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My wife and I were just looking at wallpaper today.

Looks good.

I wouldn't put that on my wall though.

Yea. Could you imagine coming home and trying to relax in a whole room covered with that?

Cool! Thanks for the body pics.

I am currently building a tele/ dano mix here (http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/329956-danelectro-style-tele-build.html#post4201052).

It's gonna look like this:

http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j371/sjohnbruton/jonelectro%20proto/Jonelectrov4side.jpg

I love seeing how other folks approach the construction aspects of Danelectro style guitars. What color was your original Convertible?

I recently fell in love with the Dano Convertible. Contemplating a build, but I can't find any plans or prints. Looks like I'm back to BigPrint and Illustrator.

Fantastic build/reanimation, mate! Brilliant work with the wallpaper.

Cool! Thanks for the body pics.

I am currently building a tele/ dano mix here (http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/329956-danelectro-style-tele-build.html#post4201052).

I love seeing how other folks approach the construction aspects of Danelectro style guitars. What color was your original Convertible?

It was that blond color fake wood grain like the one in the picture you posted on June 1. That's the only color I'm familiar with.

Sent from my iPad using TDPRI

Thanks bobbytouche. Research as much as you can and then go for it. There's something about Danelectros that invite creative license and the materials are pretty forgiving as well as cheap.

Sent from my iPad using TDPRI

Excellent work. Danos (and their clones) are great fun to build and play. Good solution on the wallpaper.

Thanks Picton. I do want to learn how to do a good traditional finish next but I'm kinda keeping an eye out for any other cool looking old wall paper. I would be tempted to do another one as it was pretty simple and quick to do.

Hey sjohnbruton. I just read the rest of your thread. It sucks about that GF pu not fitting. I will post pics and discuss how I mounted my dano pu Tele style next installment. Might be some ideas you could use. By the way can anyone tell me how to reply to more than one quote in a post? Or direct me to the instruction? I can't find crap with this iPad app.

Thanks Picton. I do want to learn how to do a good traditional finish next but I'm kinda keeping an eye out for any other cool looking old wall paper. I would be tempted to do another one as it was pretty simple and quick to do.

Hey sjohnbruton. I just read the rest of your thread. It sucks about that GF pu not fitting. I will post pics and discuss how I mounted my dano pu Tele style next installment. Might be some ideas you could use. By the way can anyone tell me how to reply to more than one quote in a post? Or direct me to the instruction? I can't find crap with this iPad app.

Oh well about GFS.... They are very nice to work with, but I was looking forward to the lipstick in the bridge position. Although now I will put one in the neck and be able to use a tele ashtray cover without covering up that cool looking tube! :mrgreen:

I'd like to see details on your dano pickup. I'll stay tuned.

What you want to do is called "multi-quote." Click on the quotes icon below all the messages you want to respond to, then hit "post reply." The reply box will then have all the messages quoted for you. Just respond at will and post. :wink:

Ah. Got it thanks. I'll try to post some stuff about the pickup tonight. I don't have all the pictures on my iPad at the moment and I'm working. Can't you tell?

Love it! And any finish that causes a camera to freak out is OK by me! :)

Thats a beautiful guit. Yours daughters a lucky girl. Nice job.

Love it, especially that you saved a guitar that would have probably ended up in the dumpster. (And not sure any of us would have come along to rescue it.) Good work.

Love it! And any finish that causes a camera to freak out is OK by me! :)
Thanks Jim Jones. It does look better close up for some reason.

Thats a beautiful guit. Yours daughters a lucky girl. Nice job.
She agrees. She can tell I really like the guitar and that means a lot to her.

Love it, especially that you saved a guitar that would have probably ended up in the dumpster. (And not sure any of us would have come along to rescue it.) Good work.
Thanks. It's kind of cool to think that neck and pickup could easily make music for another 50 years or more if they get taken care of better this time around.

My plan was to use 2x10 pine and make something resembling the usual Danelectro framework to attach hardboard top and bottom, leaving the middle solid except for pickup and neck pocket routing.
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Really, really cool build and creative vibe - great job!

My one strong suggestion if you do something like this again is to avoid the pith of the pine next time (the pith is the spongy wood at the very center of the tree - it is what remains of the sapling). You can see the pith in the center of the concentric growth rings in your picture which I tried to attach above.

The reasons to avoid the pith are that the wood is somewhat likely to crack at the pith over time, and the wood is somewhat likely to warp around an off-center pith (i.e. - if the pith is closer to the back than the top, for instance). For stability's sake, the pith is avoided in almost all woodworking projects (framing lumber is not included as "woodworking"; that's the one place where you will, and did, find the pith).

That doesn't mean that anything bad is going to happen to your guitar, just that it could. The longer the wood sat around before you used it, the better the chances that it will end up being stable. Which I hope will be the case, as it is a great project otherwise.

Thanks JoeDeF. The thought had occurred to me that I couldn't remember seeing that done. After gluing up, the piece sat for 3 or 4 months while I hacked away at the test body. There was slight warping that I sanded out before I began shaping and routing and then a tiny bit more by the time I glued the top and bottom on. Thanks for the tip.

Here's what was left of the original dano pickup and a couple of minihumbuckers I bought at a music store in the early 90s. Note the dano is in such bad shape it's attracting flies. The black stain around the middle is from the electrician tape that was holding the lipstick case together. The case was split on top and a piece was missing from the bottom. The tape repair was in place when I got the guitar and I took it off when I disassembled the guitar after the fire. As I couldn't think of a better solution and was able to find the proper old rubbery tape at Lowes, that would again be used to hold things together. I had seen the GF lipstick PU with Tele style base plate and was planning on using a Tele bridge so I ordered a few base plates from MOJO and proceeded. I hadn't gotten a Tele bridge yet and was unaware the dano tube is longer then a Tele PU.

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Can someone tell if these are Gibson or Epiphone?

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Ready to go. When I figured out it wouldn't fit in a Tele bridge I decided to use the half bridge and move on.

Ready to go. When I figured out it wouldn't fit in a Tele bridge I decided to use the half bridge and move on.

Hey d,

I found many times during the Challenge build where plans had to change due to unforeseen events like router accidents........ It's kind of design evolution so to speak. ;-) I really like this build. Thanks for sharing.

Rob

I went back and forth on a lot of stuff. Originally contemplated a regular Tele control cover and switch. When I realized the bridge PU would have be mounted from inside/back I figured just go with the dano manhole cover on the back and use a toggle switch like other two PU danos had. I do hate the switch I ended up with. It's a Fender after market replacement I think for a Bronco or something. Looks fine but it has a real crummy feel and action when switching. I will replace it eventually.