Built as a testbed for a number of ideas:
And everything works great.
These are the rest of my experiments and a few modified factory pieces.
More: Miscellaneous Projects ...
Masonite is the classic Danelectro body material. Vintage Danelectros are Masonite over a poplar core, modern ones substitute plywood for poplar, which is actually better and cheaper. Masonite is available in 1/8" and 3/16" thicknesses. For luthiery, 1/8" is preferable, but 3/16" can also be used, especially if a slightly thicker and heavier body is desired.
More: Masonite ...
Here in the Northeast ( and probably everywhere ) Home Depot sells two grades of wood: Number 1, which they label as 'Select', and Number 2. Number 1 costs about twice as much as Number 2. Lowes is similar. Both grades are pine, not hardwood.
More: Radiata Pine ...
Tolex side binding is something that is particular to Danelectros. I love it. There are many good points to using Tolex side binding:
More: Danelectro Tolex Body Binding ...
These are all of my piezo creations, so far. All of them utilize a version of the original single-transistor CafeWalter piezo buffer. He encouraged me to use his newer two-transistor version, but I never did get it to work. The simpler circuit works just fine, and I am a great fan of simple things that work.
More: Piezos & Buffers ...
I just built this - my first bridge. The plate is 1/8" aluminum, screws from Home Depot, springs from the junk tone box. The saddle is from the truss rod I just destructed, plus a scrap of phenolic I found and shaped to a pointed 12" radius. The bushings are black plastic and were the hardest part to come up with, I finally bought some plastic chain that fit and cut them from that. They are drilled and threaded for the screws, although with plastic you can just force the screws in.
More: Fender-style Piezo Bridge ...
Hammered spray paint is formulated to produce a mottled two-tone finish. The surface is smooth but not perfectly even and can be anything from matte to high gloss metallic. Hammered paints are available in a range of colors at any hardware or hobby store.
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This is my favorite truss rod design. It is not my most advanced, but it is the simplest to build. Although it is a single-acting rod, a little forethought in routing the channel makes it reversible, effectively double-acting. That requires some disassembly of the guitar, but you only need to change the direction of the rod once or twice in the life of an instrument, until it settles in to a mature shape.
More: Single-Acting Truss Rod ...
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