Doing Things Wrong

Projects By Category

Instruments that I have built or significantly modified.

Projects


This is a real Danelectro Silvertone 1452 from the 1960s. When I got it, it was a sad box of parts. Some hillbilly had stripped it, by rubbing it on the sidewalk, I think. The fretboard had delaminated, and the old repair had simply made the problem permanent. I repaired the neck and fixed all the other issues, replaced the lipstick tubes, which had split, and clear-coated the whole thing in modern poly. I was not able to fully repair the neck, there's just not enough wood left, so I don't keep it under tension. The pickguard is stained dark for contrast. I cleaned tarnish off the old metal bits with oven cleaner, and replaced all the corroded fasteners with shiny new stainless ones.


I have several hand drills, cordless and corded. For real work, a massive DeWalt cordless powers easily through concrete. But you don't need all that to build a guitar, in fact, you don't even want it. The DeWalt is expensive and weighs a ton. For light use, a little cordless Ryobi or Black&Decker will do just fine and is a lot lighter on the arm and the wallet.