I added some notes on this subject, see page linked below. I keep seeing truly horrific advice being dispensed online by luthiers, when the correct solution is easy and free.
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For a while now I've been working on the WordPress plugin that does the slideshows. I had re-written the php back-end from NivoSlider, and then I decided to rewrite the front-end. The front-end is driven by jquery, so it was a good opportunity to get familiar with that. It's actually pretty simple.
Over a few months of tinkering, I added several hundred slide transitions, grouped in families to make things manageable. Eventually, I pretty much exhausted all the things you can do by animating css with jquery. So I turned to inline svg image masks. You can do much more with real graphics than just css, but there is one hitch - svg is poorly supported in Chrome and all its derivatives, including Opera, Edge, and Brave. But if you load this page in Firefox or Safari, it will demonstrate what you can do with svg.
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This wound up on the back burner for a while, but I finally got back around to it. The black stripe is 1/16" tape from the roll there, applied to the shiny under-layer. It wasn't that hard to apply, using the screw holes as guides. It's not awfully sticky, but should hold up well sandwiched between the clear pickguard and the body. You can get that tape at Hobby Lobby. I finished the pickup 'routs' with hand files.
More: At Least I Learned Something ...
I've been experimenting with some Gargle stuff lately, and the experience is not good.
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Danelectro Catalog 1963
Here are some catalogs from the two golden eras of Danelectro - the sixties and the nineties. Use the arrows to flip through the pages.
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This is a pack of Duracells I found in my dad's closet. The 'use by' date is January 2002, you can see it right there. Yet, there is not a speck of white mange on them. They have not leaked after over twenty years! These batteries were made in the USA. Modern Duracells are made in China, and are pretty much guaranteed to leak in 20 weeks, if not 20 days. The whole point of alkaline batteries once upon a time was that they didn't leak like acid batteries. You paid extra for that.
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More: Back to the '80s Again ...
These all share the same 'melted' body style pioneered by the Fender Jazzmaster in 1958.
More: More Variations on a Theme ...
This is a project that took a long time, mainly due to the lacquer sunburst, which took several tries to get right. In the end, I even 'bursted the back of the neck. While it looks like an old Silvertone, it is actually thoroughly modern inside. 90's Danelectro lipstick pickups - the good ones, wired in series with a selector switch like they should be.
More: Silvertone 1443 Bass ...
This beauty is Evets' reissue of a 1960s Danelectro Hornet. The solid-body Hornet has the same body outline as the Silvertone 1452, a sort-of cross between a 1457 and a Fender Jazzmaster. But unlike the slab-sided 1452, the body of the Hornet is a continuous curve, front and back, with a completely rounded edge. ( This is as sexy as a guitar gets, but makes it a little slippery on your knee. ) The reissue from Evets has the same contours as the original, and even the same 'lightshow' pickguard. The three-tone sunburst on this one was an exclusive to Guitar Center. I picked this one up as an 'open-box' from their subsidiary Music123 for a song, so to speak. The body was originally slathered in dullcote, which I polished off, resulting in a beautiful shine with just a bit of orange peel that I left.
The Silvertone 1450 is a relatively rare model from 1965 to 1967. It is identical to the much more common 1452 "Amp-in-Case" model, except that the 1450 has a three-ply tortoiseshell pickguard in place of 1452's white masonite, and the 1450 did not come with an amp. The three-bolt neck attachment indicates that this is a fairly early example. There should be a date stamp inside the neck pocket, but I don't want to take it apart. For a long time I thought this was a 1452, I was quite pleased to discover while writing this that it is actually the more deluxe 1450.
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This is a Harmony-made Sears Silvertone 1478. This body style was originally called the "Silhouette", and Harmony sold similar models under their own name. Later it became known as the "Bobkat". I can't find a serial number anywhere, and I'm not taking it apart to look for one, so I don't know the exact age of this guitar.
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This started as a Squier Jaguar body with a Mighty Mite neck. Stock pickups ( which are pretty decent ) with cream-colored covers and upgraded electronics. I used a MusicMan bridge to evoke the round Jazzmaster tailpiece, and likewise cream Strat knobs. I think it is a vast improvement over the Jaguar it started out as. The Cowbell inherited some of the Jaguar electronics.
More: Jazzmaster Bass 1 ...
This started as a stock Squier Jaguar bass body. This 32" conversion neck was my first bass neck build. Stock pickups ( which are pretty decent ) with cream-colored covers and upgraded electronics. I used a MusicMan bridge to evoke the round Jazzmaster tailpiece, and likewise cream Strat knobs. I think it is a vast improvement over the Jaguar it started out as. The Cowbell inherited some of the Jaguar electronics.
More: Jazzmaster Bass 2 ...
Hollow plywood body with Mighty Mite 34" neck. Graphtech Ghost piezo saddles with a backup soundhole-mounted magnetic pickup, active electronics.
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This pretty little thing is a Harmony H617 Bobkat. The H-bodied series of guitars, originally known as the Silhouette, began in 1963 and ended in 1973. This one is from 1972 or 1973. Harmony built a number of guitars for Sears under the Silvertone name, at first as a step up from the Danelectros, and ultimately replacing them. See the Silvertone 1478.
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Solid poplar body, lightly stained and finished in polyurethane. Korean Squire neck, active electronics. Is it a reverse, or a non-reverse? Since this is a reverse of the original Thunderbird body ( more-or-less ) I say it is a reverse. If this is a non-reverse, then the original would have to be the reverse. Reverse of what? Makes no sense.
More: Reverse Fenderbird ...