Doing Things Wrong

Factory Mods

Brownsville Violin Bass
Danelectro Silvertone 1457 Rescue Guitar
Danelectro Companion Guitar
SX Precision Bass
Schwinn Stingray Bass
Samick SG450 Guitar
Fender Squier Stratocaster Guitar
Danelectro Pro-1 Guitar
Danelectro '63 Guitar

These are factory instruments that I either significantly modified, restored or refurbished.


This is the big brother to the Silvertone 1448, vintage 1964-67. Construction is basically the same, but with a full-scale neck, two pickups, and a much better amp. For a lot of details, see the 1448 page. This guitar is in excellent condition for being almost sixty years old, and apart from cleaning and re-stringing, it needed nothing.


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.


This is probably the cheapest violin bass on earth, and I got a discount on top of that because it had a persistent buzz that turned out to be a bad string. "Brownsville" is a house brand for Sam Ash, where I bought it on a whim. The scale is about 30.5". It's a beauty, isn't it?

Factory Mods


Oops, bridge assembled upside down

Some small parts for the new Ric. The logo is laser-printed on an adhesive packing label. A coat of poly locks-in the toner. The font is a free one called Dymaxion. It is a pretty good match for the Ric logo, which was actually hand-drawn.