I'm adding 4 pre formatted files to vintagemusictech.blogspot.com/2022/09/dc59-body-plan-for-scale-purposes-width.html I can't promise they'll download in the proper format, since it looks like they get converted, but each file should be 1275 x 1650 pixels, at 150 dpi for printing. Depending on how your printer treats border(for example if it reduces the size of your photo to add a border) you may have to edit the files(remove borders?) to end up with the 2.11 neck pocket. Good luck!
If you've seen the old danelectro's, they were made very similar to that. They look rougher, especially the bridge, which was just a bit of steel sheet 3 bends and a few holes in it. They sounded amazing. I nearly bought one for a 2000 a while back.
I've recently played a few vintage 60's ones. They are a marvel of construction- just good enough to pass for a "real" instrument. But they definitely have their own feel...the necks are comfortable and the guitars are just fun to play!
Honestly I think you'd be surprised. The guitars they built were designed to be cheap to mass produce, but they were also built like tanks. They saved money by doing things like repurposing surplus products from other factories, using offcuts of rosewood for bridge saddles, using cast aluminium nuts held on with a screw and using a steel bar instead of an adjustable truss rod. If you find one of those original run instruments and it's been reasonably well looked after it's still probably going to be really nice to play.
This is a great build! It's very much in keeping with the budget-minded vibe of the original Danelectros to build it with readily available materials and tools. A guitar-playing friend of mine had the 1457 Amp-in-Case model with a case that was in shambles and he wanted me to re-build it. However it was so beyond saving that I decided to build a whole new case to house the amp and guitar, which I documented on Instructables (you can search "Amp in Case Reproduction" to find it). It would be a great follow-on project to this one.
Thanks for commenting! I saw your case rebuild, nicely done! I always wanted one of those too, and I still love those silvertone danelectros! Maybe that'll be my next build!
I've been super curious to how Danelectro built their guitars -- I've read about it, but hadn't seen videos -- so this is super helpful. It makes the whole process seem so much more approachable.
Hey thanks! This is probably closer to how they make them today- cutting a frame out of plywood. I made one more in the original style using solid wood and gluing together pieces. Either way is fine, but this plywood style can be done without a router. In the other video, I use a router to cut the neck pocket and complete the profile shape: th-cam.com/video/wIU9_0O_gnA/w-d-xo.html Thanks again!
This has to be the easiest and cheapest diy guitar body you could possibly make. I'm really tempted to do one myself and just use whatever scrap wood I can get my hands on. I bet you could get really creative with the top/back materials as well, swap out the masonite for acrylic, aluminum, carbon fiber or fiberglass like the airline guitars used. Hell I bet you could even laminate fabric or paper in interesting ways to make your own synthetic hard board! You could also find 1/8 inch sheets of some nice hard wood like walnut if you wanted a more "premium" look haha. The possibilities for materials with this type of construction are only limited by your imagination!
100% agree! They are super easy, cutting and scraping can be done with hand tools. They can be made as cheaply as you can find the materials. I think most of us could make one for almost free with household scraps. And as you mentioned, the options for the top and back are virtually unlimited. If you wanted to go crazy, you could even mold a curved top and back from plywood and make an archtop style guitar.
@@FrankOlsonTwins A carved top would be wild! Over the past few days I've been thinking about building something with this style of construction as cheaply as I can. But I want to showcase the materials somewhat and not totally hide them. I'd still paint it on the front and back but maybe on the sides just stain the plywood dark so when you look at it close you can see what it really is. Maybe do an F hole as well so you can see into the body. I just love the fact that guitars made from materials most luthiers wouldn't even consider working with can make an awesome guitar. And not only that but most people expect cleaner tones from Danelectro type guitars, I want to use it for heavy stuff haha
Nice Frank I think it's superb. I'm left handed, i have my own collection of Guitars but i also have my late fathers collection. In that collection is a DC59. There's also a Dano 12 string, amongst some fine Guitars, pre CBS Fenders, Gibson's, you name it. Luckily the DC59 is one i can play upside down but i am considering your plans and using the Template in reverse. Thanks for sharing mate. Props from the UK.
Grab a decent lefty neck and put one of these together, you'll be glad you did! One year later and i still grab mine on a weekly basis and it's rock solid. People love the aluminum nut and wood Bridge of the originals (me too!) But this thing is great with the plastic nut and adjustable saddle. Looking at more pics since i made mine, the only things i might do differently on the next one is: to use a router to finish the edges, and: maybe make the outer skelton a little thinner. But i have another one in the planning stages... All the best with your build!
I'm going to get a cheap neck with a paddle headstock from Ali and build me a Flying V in Danelectro style from all recycled and second hand parts. I've always wanted something weird and fun like that and you've just shown me it really isn't that hard. I don't even need that many tools to get started. Thanks!
@@FrankOlsonTwins Yeah they're just regular ST/TL necks with dot inlays while a flying V neck with V headstock costs way more. These are only around $40 so if I mess up it's not a disaster
My first guitar was the 2 pickup " amp in case" Silvertone Dan Electro in 1967. @ $110.00 it was great especially since it was in stock at Sears ,while the 1 pickup model we went to get was not. Mom stepped up that day. Awesome design and bright pickups, cool for slide !!!
That orange on that Donner is beautiful. Would make for a great partscaster if someone had parts lying around. Personally I found a 30$ Ibanez Gax as a donor and I also have a loaded strat pickgaurd I could use.
$30 is a great price for a GAX. I'm a fan of Ibanez necks. I would have used an Ibanez donor for this guitar if I could have found one cheap enough. The orange strat copy I used was a decent sounding and playing guitar. The paint was definitely faded, although the basswood body is pretty nice. Overall, I'd say the whole guitar was worth about what I paid for it, about $40. I did keep the body for spare basswood. I may be able to use small blanks for other projects, such as converting stratocasters to "hardtail" strats. Good luck!
HI. Thanks for this video, ive been inspired. My only issue was/is when you cut the neck pocket outta the top peice of ply, the depth of neck pocket is about 18mm or 3/4inch approx. Once you add the 3-4mm masonite on, you hardly have any clearance. I got over this but adding a section of wood to the neck pocket to raise it up a bit, which was a pain in the ass :)
I didn't have that exact issue, perhaps my neck was just a bit taller? But, the pick guard was a little too thick. I had to shave down the back side with a plane. After that, it played much more naturally. What kind of bridge did you use?
@@FrankOlsonTwins Im doing two - a 56U2 copy, and a shape of my own design thats offset inspired. Cheap as possible components - one will have a dano clone bridge made from 3mm aluminium, the other a cheap strat-like hardtail adjustable.
I rechecked the the measurements on my DIY Dano and came up with 28mm from the bottom of the neck pocket to the top of the 15th fret. The top of the low E saddle sits at 10mm. The 21st fret sits about 8mm above the masonite top. The masonite top I used was 3mm thick. Let me know how the Dano Bridge turns out.
@@FrankOlsonTwins ive made dano bridge before for my "reissue" which sank. There is a nice video from Stewmac that I copied the idea from. Works great, as good as you can with the design. th-cam.com/video/sB9sBBpif4o/w-d-xo.html
That tape binding is tricky... I have a factory model from the the late 90's when they first started making them again, and the tape is pulling up in the interior curves just like yours.
Nice job. I'm prepping to make something similar but with Home Depot underlayment plywood instead of masonite. I know masonite is true to the original but...
You are almost there with the tone. I had silvertone U1 from 1960 somethings, and the sound was a little bit chimier. The usual suspect I believe, the aluminum nut. Still it's an amazing build that I'm planning to attempt; I like the clever way you re-used the strat bridge and turned it into a fixed one, genius¡
Thanks! I didn't show it, but I did sand the bottom of the bridge against a flat sharpening stone, then 600 grit sandpaper to make it nice and flat. Regarding the chime- another thing that helped was getting the pickups closer to the strings. The current setup recommendation on the Danelectro site is 5/64" (about 2mm) from the pickup to the string. When I did this recording, the pickups were much further away than that. I have no doubt an aluminum nut would get me closer to the original tone... If I ever decide to swap the neck, I'll consider making or buying one!
@@FrankOlsonTwins thanks for the info! Yes, the lipstick pickups are somewhat sensible to the distance to the strings. Do you have a recording with the adjusted distance?? Thanks Frank, really appreciate it!
Thanks, it's called "Leather(vinyl)" upholstery tape. I put a link in the description. Pretty much any sticky backed leather/vinyl will work, you can get it from any upholstery store. I had to cut it down to 1.5" to get it to fit. Originally it was 3 inches wide.
Well, I knew the thickness of my neck, and approximately how much clearance I needed to the top of the fretboard. I added the thickness of the plywood and hardboard and it happened to be perfect if building it in symmetrical layers of harboard/ply/ply/hardboard. If the pocket would have been too deep, I would have shimmed it.
This was amazingly awesome! I wish I had tools for projects like this, unfortunately, I live in a place that I have no location to use as a workshop of any kind, not to mention how much all the tools cost to begin with. Fantastic Job Sir!!!! I do have one question, did the neck you chose have the danelectro-type bar internal support, or is it a standard one with a truss rod? That being said, if it is one with a truss rod, is there still a way to adjust it> I just didn't see that part of the build mentioned at all (I don't think so anyway). Thank you for sharing this awesome project!!!
Hey Frank, awesome video! You inspired me to build a DC59 clone and a Silvertone 1448. How did your binding hold up over time? I imagine you had to trim it to the correct width? Thanks!
Cool, check back when they are finished and let me know how they turned out! The binding is surprisingly good. I play this guitar every week, and it sits on a little stand in a busy corner. It has been bumped, jostled and it even fell over once. The binding looks pretty much like it did in the video. My only advice is to give it plenty of "slack" when applying the binding around the curves in the cutout. I still have 1 little bubble in the lower cutout(maybe you can see it occur in the origninal vid?). That bubble, no matter how much or how often I push, always returns. I think there's just a little tension in that spot. I did trim the binding when I got it by wrapping it around a drill bit and cutting it with an Xacto knife while it spins. I could have made it 1/8" narrower but it's fine as is. It's surprisingly well stuck on. I'll have to do an update video since it's about 1 year old now. The other thing I might do on the next one is to put the output jack on the body of the instrument, like the telecaster does. The pickguard mounted one just doesn't feel right when removing the cable, it's a little too flimsy. Good luck!
Good advice, I did exactly that with the new tele I build. However, I opted to hand sand the edge instead of routing for a bit more slab-board look. th-cam.com/video/qtG8KfrEIEA/w-d-xo.html
I'm pretty impressed its sounds very nice for the type of music you wrote and performed. I have to say was a lil disappointed w the white tape but you do you. Overall its an A+ in my opinion.
Hey, thanks! I really enjoy making these Masonite guitars. They're nice playing guitars, and in my opinion, sound cool plugged in or unplugged. I made a tele version using douglas fir instead of plywood. Overall, I really like it, but next time I'd skip the douglas fir and use an aged pine 2x8 or 2x8.
A lot of people think that the bridge should be exactly the same distance from the 12th fret as from the nut, but that's not the case. You need to add 1/4 inch to allow for compensation. Also your guitar neck is a few millimeters too deep into the body.
That's a good point about the bridge. Though I still have a bit of travel left on my intonation screws, it could benefit from another 1/8" to 1/4" of play. Regarding the neck height, the saddles(and set screws) are pretty much the perfect height for a nice low action. Even the pickups are at a good height. It plays well and sounds good so I don't plan to change anything on it soon. Perhaps on the next one, I'll rout the neck pocket allowing for a few mm of extra height depending on the hardware... Good eyes, thanks!
@@FrankOlsonTwins If you're going to use Bondo or similar filler, get a flat and a convex Surform, AKA cheesegrater files. A square of Plexiglas works well for mixing the filler on. It'll wipe clean with acetone if you don't let the filler fully cure on it. After applying the filler, let it cure until you can just dent it with a fingernail, then shape with the cheesegrater files to get down close to the shape you want. My father most often used the surforms (Surform is a Stanley trademark) bare handed, without any of the fancy handles and holders. I haven't done anywhere near as much auto body work as he did in his life, but I learned how to do it (and much more) from him.
Good tips, I didn't know that about the bondo/acetone cleanup but I did some body work on several cars in my teen years. One of them was my beloved(now gone) 74 Pontiac Ventura. I remember the Surform all too well! The car was in great shape overall- just a hole in the fender behind each front wheel. What I always thought I needed was a sandblaster, but a friend pointed out a good sanding disc works pretty well too. You just have to put in the work, and you can't leave any rust behind!
This is 3/4" plywood. The actual thickness comes in a little thinner than that, but the final thickness is just right with the masonite. If you have very thick masonite(3/8" or more) you might need to shim the neck with a flat shim of a mm or two. This guitar is still playing great 1.5 years later!
hey again, was just curious: how did you make the files you made for the printed template? ive got them all printed out, was more curious about how you got all the measurements and design correctly to be cut into a properly sized template. im considering doing a similar build style for another guitar or two since i've gotten an excess amount of plywood and i played a rickenbacker 330 that spoke to me the other day but was $2000 too expensive
So, basically I found a plan online that had the exact dimensions for the guitar I wanted to make. I then used photoshop to make the neck pocket and bridge placement as close as possible to the known dimensions. Bascially, that would just be scaling it up or down to get the right printout. Then I print the files until they are printing at the right size for the neck pocket. That should give you a pretty close sizing of your guitar body. Then I tape the sheets together as closely as possible to the original dimensions of the guitar. Getting all of them exactly perfect is unlikely and kind of unnecessary. Generally the printing of each page will be slightly different, so I just try to get them to overlap getting the best general size and shape I can. One thing I've noticed about guitar building is that guitars vary from instrument to instrument to make up for slight inconsistencies during the manufacturing process. So get the template as close as you can and just move forward from there. So then I cut out my taped up template, and if I have large paper I'll cut a second template. If you have all the measurements for the bridge, pickups, and pots you could mark and cut them from the first or second template, but it's not necessary. Of course, the easiest thing would be to find a template online to buy. You might be able to get an MDF one of the exact guitar you want, but our template way works great as well. Good luck, and keep me updated on your progress!
Also, if you're in North America, I see there's someone on Etsy selling 330 plans for approx $35usd. It's a vinyl sticker template that you could just stick onto whatever material and make a template. That would save a bit of fuss over printing and taping.
Interesting one! Proof that you don't need thousands of buck's worth of tonewood and vintage hardwear to have a perfectly usable and good sounding guitar. Keeping the punk ethos alive :-) Your song was good as well. Tom Verlaine fan by any chance?
Thanks! Yeah, I think these guitars can be as good as you want them to be. I was shooting for a guitar that stays in tune and sounds similar to the originals. After almost 2 years, I can say I was pretty successful in that challenge! It keeps tune really well and sounds great plugged in. Acoustically, it does what I want- which is loud enough to hear myself in the room without plugging in. I'd never heard of Tom Verlane but I just listened to a song. I do hear a similarity!
Hey, I am considering building one of these, but I have 1/2 inch plywood on hand. I guess you'd just use 3 layers instead of 2? Would you double the top plywood layer?
Hmm, yes 3 layers would make an appropriate body thickness, but you'll have to figure out how to get the correct depth for the neck pocket. You could cut the top two layers and then use a shim to get the neck just right. So you'll have to buy a shim or buy a hobby sheet of 1/16 or 1/8" plywood(or whatever thickness you prefer) to make a shim or two. And no, i wouldn't double up any of the hardboard layers, that would be difficult and make the guitar a lot more unpredictable.
Thanks for checking out the vid! The original guitars were a brilliant in their simplicity and overall "cheapness." To be fair, they are not world class instruments. However, they are unique and for a beginner they offered a great value and opportunity to learn on a very functional instrument.
Hello there. Been a while since this video was upload but I'll ask anyway maybe I'm lucky 😅 is that wood 'masonite'? is masonite hardwood? In my country if I search for something similar 'chapadur' (cheap, non chemical treated fiber wood), is what I get. Would that be what I should use?
There's a fair amount of information online about how they were built. Also, I've worked on several over the years and I've played many vintage Danos. You can scour ebay or other sites for project parts pictures, such as bodies that have fallen apart or necks or wiring harnesses- all of which can lead to valuable insights about how they are cut out, assembled and generally manufactured. There really isn't much to these guitars- the necks were well made and bodies were hit or miss. They were a feat of inexpensive manufacturing for their day. I think they are a great first or second guitar build, since they are pretty low stakes. The wood for the body can be had cheaply or free. Masonite is on the back of nearly every cheap poster frame and the body skeleton can be made from any scrap wood the will glue together. Or spend a little more for new materials and you still have a fun project that will be interesting to play and keep around.
Maybe I missed it but did you say what the tape was? Like what kind or brand? Wonderful build. I want to build a single cutaway bass in this style like the Danelectro 56 Single Cut bass.
Oh I almost forgot about the tape. It's a faux-leather heavy upholstery vinyl tape. I updated the links in the descriptions. There are 2 types: one that I used which has little texture, and a slightly more expensive one with deeper texture. All the Dano's I've played have had the more expensive tape. I did have to cut it down to about 1.4", which is why the first shot of application shows a bad cut mark. If you do build one, I'd just make sure you have your bass neck at hand before you begin, so you can cut your neck pocket close before finishing it up. That said, if you have a router, it's a non-issue. Good luck!
Hello! I'm German and would like to recreate this simple guitar. But unfortunately you can only see the shape on the link in your building instructions How do I get a plan with measurements I need. Unfortunately the link to your plan doesn't work.Best regards
Good questions! The plan I posted is the one I used. The width of the neck pocket near the very top of the body should be 2.11 inches(or 54.7 mm) across. That's the width of a Strat/Tele neck, by the way. Once you get that critical measurment sorted and formatted to 150 dpi in your favorite photo editing software, you should and print it out to scale size. I used photoshop and separated it into 4 quadrants(upperbouts left, right, and lower bouts left and right.) Then I taped the 4 peices into one body plan, lining up the printing that had overlapped. It took some effort to do so, but I didn't want to spend money on plans. I believe there are several ready made plans for sale for the DC59, but I've never used one so I can't recommend one in particular. I checked this link, and it works fine here in the U.S. vintagemusictech.blogspot.com/2022/09/dc59-body-plan-for-scale-purposes-width.html I'm adding 4 pre formatted files to vintagemusictech.blogspot.com/2022/09/dc59-body-plan-for-scale-purposes-width.html if you want to try to use those. I can't promise they'll download in the proper format, since it looks like they get converted, but each file should be 1275 x 1650 pixels, at 150 dpi for printing. Depending on how your printer treats border(for example if it reduces the size of your photo to add a border) you may have to edit the files to end up with the 2.11 neck pocket. Good luck!
@@FrankOlsonTwins Thanks for the detailed answer. The second link works perfectly, but unfortunately the sections of the overall plan are also without dimensions. And without dimensions it is not possible to recreate the original guitar because I don't have any photo editing software either. Thanks a lot you for the effort I have given you
The neck pocket, which is 2.11" wide x 2.27" long is the important dimension. Once you have it printing out with that specification, you can measure all the dimensions on the plan, and they should be accurate. Then, the only other truly important measurements will be the bridge, but you'll figure that out by the length of whatever neck you use. Though I can't give detailed dimensions, The total length of my DC59 body is 16 7/8" and the width of the lower bout is 13 13/16. However, those dimensions are somewhat irrelevant because of final sanding, etc. Figure out how to print the plan so the neck pocket is 2.11" and 2.27" long and all the rest will fall into place.
Thanks! I've been doing random woodworking projects for a long time, though I'm far from an expert. Btw, the song at the end has all of the parts recorded with the guitar. Thanks for checking it out!
Really enjoyed this build, it was part inspiration for my build of a Danelectro style electric baritone ukulele ( on my channel). Thanks for a great video.
really enjoyed your video - own a couple DC -59's and always thought "geez, these could be easy to build" ! Now I have the perfect DIY instruction. Just one question - did you get that jigsaw in a box of ceareal? 😁
Lol, have to admit, that jigsaw is hard to watch...and even harder to use! I've been playing this guitar weekly. It keeps it's tuning surprisingly well, despite the inexpensive neck. Good luck with your build!
hey! this looks sick. how's the guitar holding up now? im thinking of using this as a guide to doing the same so im also wondering if you have any hindsight to offer in changing how you did this one
Thank you! I have played this guitar for 2 years and it stays in tune great and the action and playability have never changed. It is rock solid The only thing I might do differently next time is move the entire bridge assembly back an extra 1/4". It gives just a little more room for intonation. On this one, the low E string was maxed out when fully intonated. One thing I didn't show was after a few months I shaved down the back side of the pickguard to make it about half as thick. That was the only thing I felt improved playability. Aside from those 2 minor details, you can make this guitar as is and have a great playing instrument that you can be proud of! I made similar Tele style guitar this summer using a method closer to the original Danelectros: th-cam.com/video/wIU9_0O_gnA/w-d-xo.html It plays and sounds great, so don't be put off by people when they talk trash about masonite. And they are really fun to make! Good luck!
Wow great skills and planning and video.thank you for sharing.Excellent precise amazingly clean work with a mere handful of tools.You also did a great job with your song...production melody and audio. I say thanks to Jesus for your gift to us ..
Thanks! I hope the song turned out as good as the guitar! It's basically the first thing that came out as I started jamming on it, so I made sure to record as soon as the idea struck me. Each instrument has its own voice and this one has a few things I like: A nice warm neck pickup position and a bright bridge position that can cut through for melodies and arpeggios.
Some of the old Silvertones (1457 I believe)that were made by Danelectro used particle board for the body "skeleton." They play and sound just fine and some have lasted 60+ years!
Good job. I would call this more "Inspired By" than an actual "Clone" of a Danelectro DC-59. I've owned a few Danelectros from a DC Bass, a Baritone, a Hodad, a Convertible, and a DC-59. In some ways your guitar has advantages over the Danelectro models. That crazy bridge for example, you can intonate far better than the three screw metal and rosewood bridge. Your electronics are essentially a stripped down Telecaster version (volume, tone, three way switch, and jack) to the stacked volume and tone knobs for each pickup. The neck is going to be more familiar to a Fender player than the "Coke Bottle" headstock of the original. Your guitar definitely sounded better than I was expecting for using an inexpensive Strat clone as a parts donor. If you play this against a real Danelectro DC-59 you are going to find that they will feel and play differently. I would definitely encourage you to try it. The reason I had several Danelectros is back in the late 1990s and early 2000s you could pick them up used for well under $200. They tend to be kinda flimsy and to my ear, a "one trick pony" compared to my other guitars. There was also a banjo like "Twang" component to their sound. So my Telecasters and Epiphones just were more versatile overall to them. So they came and went but none of them ever ended up as a main player. One last tip, if you want this to seem more like a real Danelectro, have an aluminum nut blank made for the guitar (they are not something you can find but a machine shop can make them for you pretty easily) and put an aluminum nut on the neck. I did this on my Blackguard Tele in my pick (once upon a time it had a GFS Danelectro style Lipstick bridge pickup by GFS Pickups in it) but compared to the Filtertron pickup in the neck it wasn't loud enough. I ended up putting in a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder in there to balance out the sound. The idea was to make that Tele part Fender (Mexican neck), part Gretsch (knobs and neck Filtertron) and part Danelectro (aluminum nut and Lipstick bridge pickup). The body is a two piece Swamp Ash Warmouth body with a very crappy finish. I am it's third owner as far as I know and that guitar plays so well. I am reminded of that every time I play another guitar I own and go to that one. Again, good job on your guitars and I think you will find compared to the real Danelectro that yours has advantages over that one.😉👍✨
Thanks! Your Tele sounds really cool- very unique! I've played more than a few vintage and reissue Dano's over the years. They always surprise me with the ability to just sing when unplugged, excellent for songwriting. Also, they are so light! I think my next build will be a Dano "Convertible." When I made this guitar, the cost of used guitar necks and parts were at an all time high. My preference would have been a true scale Danelectro neck(similar to Gibson scale) but after months of searching I couldn't find anything for less then $300+. Much more for a vintage Dano neck. Now that prices have come down a good amount, I can consider making something closer to a "clone" of a Convertible. Though, I'll need to source some fake wood print Masonite! Thanks for checking out the vid!
@@FrankOlsonTwins Thanks for the reply. My main Tele (in my pic) definitely excels at being a bit more aggressive than the average Tele from the pickups. It has a bit of zing too. I would suggest looking at Jerry Jones versions of Danelectro guitars, I know he no longer makes them but many professional musicians played them back in the 2000s and 2010s. The things with owning Danelectros (I'm talking about 1996 and on) is that they feel like cheap guitars. Not cheap in a bad way, just limited to what they could do. I can count on one hand how many times I have seen a vintage Danelectro and each time they were pretty thrashed, so no way was I going to buy that. I bought a few Danelectros I owned new and because I lived and played back in the 1990s and 2000s where they could be bought used for $200 or less, that's all I would buy one for. If you want an affordable Danelectro I would probably suggest finding one that doesn't work and repairing that or using it as the next donor. The other concept you could do is find a nice Squier Affinity Strat and put in three Danelectro lipstick style pickups like SRV did. Danelectro made the 84 that is basically a Strat copy with stock Dano pickups in it. The biggest issue with Tele or Strat sized pickups is that the E strings are close to the edge of the magnet and wires and you lose some definition and sound, so I would say rout the pickguard and guitar to take the real pickups for your best option. I am a huge fan of the original, big metal Danelectro pedals and I have many of them still and use them on two of my three pedal boards. Great stuff there!😎👍✨
My ex brother in law has a couple of original Danelectro guitars, and one original case. The cases, like the guitars, were pretty cheaply made. The cheapness is what makes them rare today because many of them didn't survive.
Yep, cheaply made guitars just don't get treated with the same respect expensive ones do. So many cheap guitars of that era were thrown away because once the original purchaser was done with it they were passed on and treated as toys. I can't imagine how many Danelectros were sold in the 50's and 60's vs how many made it through to today. Maybe like 50 to 1?
@@FrankOlsonTwins The newer one he has is in excellent condition but compared to a Fender it looks like a toy with the nearly sharp corners and extra glossy, plastic looking surface. Sounds pretty good, which is what's important.
Yeah, compared to my fender strat(or any of my other guitars, really) this also feels like a toy when switching between them. The thing I really like about these guitars is their moderate acoustic volume. You can pick it up and play guitar or write songs without plugging into an amp. For that reason, I almost didn't put pickups in this one but I decided that I may make a couple more- one of them being the "acoustic" model called the convertible. I think the next one will have a nicer neck too. This neck is fine, but a decent Squier neck with slightly bigger frets would be just a little nicer to play.
screw a handheld router to a piece of flat thick board with a hole to fit the router bit through then turn it upside down and screw it to a work mate to create a bench router tool ..!
I can’t believe you were able to do it that well with a little jig saw. I know exactly what goes into cutting something with one of those. Very cool man. You and I need to get a router tho.
Thanks! Well, i did end up getting a small router, I used it in a new video to cut the neck pocket of a tele style guitar! It really is perfect for that
This was 3/4" plywood sheathing, though I think technically it's 23/32" thick. It's commonly referred to as 3/4" sheathing. With the hardboard(masonite) glued up, it ends up being about 1.7" thick, which is about as thick as many electric guitars.
No, it's the same material as the rest of the body. "hardboard" or "Masonite" It's a manufactured pressboard material, easy to finish/paint on the smooth side, but really tough on tools and sandpaper!
No worries. The plywood is 3/4" AC grade, but actual measurement is 23/32. That's just how they sell 3/4" plywood. If you're going the plywood method to make the body, I would use the thinner Masonite board we chatted about. Since the neck pocket will be exactly half the thickness of the body, you'll get a little more room near the neck to sit above the top layer of masonite. The masonite board i used in this video is about .12" thick, or almost 1/8." If you use anything thicker, you might need to shim the neck pocket(if you use my method in the video here).
This would be my first guitar 🎸 These options make me confused 1. Acoustic guitar 2. Electro acoustic guitar 3. Electric guitar 4. You tell if I am missing something Please help.
I can add a few to your list: Hollow body electric (such as Ibanez AF75) Semi-Hollow body (Gibson ES-335) Acoustic-Electric(Danelectro DC59, Danelectro Convertible, Fender acoustasonic) There are many options in guitars. There's lots to read and understand about the history of guitars but if you're looking to make an informed decision, you'll have to either read about guitars or watch some videos about their history. Or, do what many people do: buy the kind of guitar their favorite artist plays. You learn alot about a guitar by playing one every day!
It's sometimes called "hardboard" and one brand name is "Masonite." It's sometimes called "pressboard." Basically, it's a wood product that exists between cardboard and Medium Density Fiberboard. It was often used on the back of old televisions or radios and sometimes I see it on the back of poster frames.
Hello! Your guitar building is so creative work, without professional tools. The wiring work is not a Dano, because you did a parallel pickup connecting, similar to a tele. This is reason of different sound like Dano. The other key factor of Dano wiring is tone pot 1 MOhm, volumen pot 100 KOhm, and three way switch ON-OFF-ON. I tried this with lipstick and get same tone as Dano, no matter the tone wood. My best sound I have tried is P90s with Dano wiring in a Lespaul. This is the new world of the guitars sounds...
Thanks for checking out the vid! In the future I may rewire the guitar. At the time of making the video, I could only find an SPST swich, so parallel wiring for the second pickup was the easiest way to add a neck pickup. Also, I'm more interested in using this guitar as a songwriting tool, so I often only play it unplugged. I find that its just the right volume for playing chords and simple melodies without the need to plugin or be tethered to an amp or interface. I really considered not even putting pickups in, since I knew that was my goal. I guess that means I need to make a Dano Convertible next! ;)
its funny how back in the day this was the cheapest way to build guitars, but the modern dano's are all solid wood because its now actually cheaper to do things the better way now doing things the original way is a lost art
According to the website, the new Dano's are still semi-hollow, with a centerblock. I'm not saying they aren't built on a CNC, because they most likely are, but they are probably a pretty close approximation of the original. From what I've seen, many boutique builders are making guitars with hand routers and band saws, just like the old days. I made another Tele style Dano Build, which uses a single section of Home depot lumber for the frame: th-cam.com/video/wIU9_0O_gnA/w-d-xo.html I could have used scraps, but for such a time investment, I wanted to keep the quality decent for the price point.
My cnc is just a little too small to carve a full DC59 guitar body in one pass 😰😅 I miiight be able to squeeze a telecaster build into it, but it's right up to the mm of the body length. I have to give it a shot, though!
The springs to adjust the pickups have not been fitted. The pickups are completely down and cannot be adjusted upwards. First you have to put the screws in, then the springs and finally the pickups. I imagine it is not easy but it has to be done this way. The sound will be weak. The video is missing the final test. 🤪🙃
Sure, the springs are helpful. In this case, the screws in the back are tight enough that they keep the pickups securely in place. Also, the song at the end is recorded with this guitar.
Got you, I will mate 😂 was about ask you if I can record some 12 bar noodeling for you to use under those builds, but respect if you want to keep this style. Cheers.
Right on, I appreciate the offer! I personally like background music but it's literally been like 50/50 over the years. It seems that for every who person loves the song, another says they hate it. I just subbed your channel, nice studio(and playing)! Deck the halls turned out great!
@ Thanks mate! I really apreciate that. Most of that was recorded in my living room, drums in garrage just the jingle bells were done in studio in my work 😂 Returned the sub favor, build 3 guitars in my life, just bodies, necks were always something I rather buy than male some bad one 😂
I hear that, I'd also rather use some one else's professionally made neck than whatever I come up with! I ended up with a Warmoth for the last one. Your Deck the Halls video reminded me that I made a similar style video a looong time ago(2016!), where I played all the parts, and there was a Christmas tree in the background! (Obviously mine's not Christmas themed!) Don't mind the dirty camera lens...makes the whole thing appear a bit foggy. th-cam.com/video/zSmmDEeMwzQ/w-d-xo.html -Best!
I’m discovering that the price point on building an economy guitar is ironically, comparable to using quality hardwood when you consider the work involved in piecing together the frame and construction time it takes to build one of these.
Absolutely correct. I think that's why most people only make one or two before moving on to more professional quality materials. There would be pretty much zero profit margin to make and sell guitars like this by hand. It can only really be profitable for a larger company. As you said, for a similar amount of work, you could make a solid wood guitar and charge a reasonable rate!
I'm adding 4 pre formatted files to vintagemusictech.blogspot.com/2022/09/dc59-body-plan-for-scale-purposes-width.html
I can't promise they'll download in the proper format, since it looks like they get converted, but each file should be 1275 x 1650 pixels, at 150 dpi for printing. Depending on how your printer treats border(for example if it reduces the size of your photo to add a border) you may have to edit the files(remove borders?) to end up with the 2.11 neck pocket.
Good luck!
Amazing patience and absolute craftsmanship. ! Mucho respect to you, sir !
Thank you! It's a fun guitar to play!
If you've seen the old danelectro's, they were made very similar to that. They look rougher, especially the bridge, which was just a bit of steel sheet 3 bends and a few holes in it. They sounded amazing. I nearly bought one for a 2000 a while back.
I've recently played a few vintage 60's ones. They are a marvel of construction- just good enough to pass for a "real" instrument. But they definitely have their own feel...the necks are comfortable and the guitars are just fun to play!
It’s a little ironic that this plywood guitar is probably of higher quality than the original Danelectro.
Honestly I think you'd be surprised.
The guitars they built were designed to be cheap to mass produce, but they were also built like tanks.
They saved money by doing things like repurposing surplus products from other factories, using offcuts of rosewood for bridge saddles, using cast aluminium nuts held on with a screw and using a steel bar instead of an adjustable truss rod.
If you find one of those original run instruments and it's been reasonably well looked after it's still probably going to be really nice to play.
i would seriously doubt it
Which is why they're still around, do you think?...
This is a great build! It's very much in keeping with the budget-minded vibe of the original Danelectros to build it with readily available materials and tools. A guitar-playing friend of mine had the 1457 Amp-in-Case model with a case that was in shambles and he wanted me to re-build it. However it was so beyond saving that I decided to build a whole new case to house the amp and guitar, which I documented on Instructables (you can search "Amp in Case Reproduction" to find it). It would be a great follow-on project to this one.
Thanks for commenting! I saw your case rebuild, nicely done! I always wanted one of those too, and I still love those silvertone danelectros! Maybe that'll be my next build!
I've been super curious to how Danelectro built their guitars -- I've read about it, but hadn't seen videos -- so this is super helpful. It makes the whole process seem so much more approachable.
Hey thanks! This is probably closer to how they make them today- cutting a frame out of plywood. I made one more in the original style using solid wood and gluing together pieces. Either way is fine, but this plywood style can be done without a router. In the other video, I use a router to cut the neck pocket and complete the profile shape: th-cam.com/video/wIU9_0O_gnA/w-d-xo.html
Thanks again!
Cool build, reminds me of my first build, only mine was a tele shaped body with a single HUM, and I used a first act guitar as the doner.
Thanks! I think a pine tele will be my next build!
Danelectro shows that you don't need the rarest and expensive wood to make a good guitar.
100% agree!
This has to be the easiest and cheapest diy guitar body you could possibly make. I'm really tempted to do one myself and just use whatever scrap wood I can get my hands on. I bet you could get really creative with the top/back materials as well, swap out the masonite for acrylic, aluminum, carbon fiber or fiberglass like the airline guitars used. Hell I bet you could even laminate fabric or paper in interesting ways to make your own synthetic hard board! You could also find 1/8 inch sheets of some nice hard wood like walnut if you wanted a more "premium" look haha. The possibilities for materials with this type of construction are only limited by your imagination!
100% agree! They are super easy, cutting and scraping can be done with hand tools. They can be made as cheaply as you can find the materials. I think most of us could make one for almost free with household scraps. And as you mentioned, the options for the top and back are virtually unlimited. If you wanted to go crazy, you could even mold a curved top and back from plywood and make an archtop style guitar.
@@FrankOlsonTwins A carved top would be wild! Over the past few days I've been thinking about building something with this style of construction as cheaply as I can. But I want to showcase the materials somewhat and not totally hide them. I'd still paint it on the front and back but maybe on the sides just stain the plywood dark so when you look at it close you can see what it really is. Maybe do an F hole as well so you can see into the body. I just love the fact that guitars made from materials most luthiers wouldn't even consider working with can make an awesome guitar. And not only that but most people expect cleaner tones from Danelectro type guitars, I want to use it for heavy stuff haha
I think I found my next project - absolutely love it. And what a great tutorial. Thanks so much for sharing. Subscribed!
Thanks! They make great guitars.. one year on mine and it's still going strong!
You never cease to amaze me… Great job!
Thanks! This one was a lot of fun to make, but more fun to play!
Nice Frank I think it's superb. I'm left handed, i have my own collection of Guitars but i also have my late fathers collection. In that collection is a DC59. There's also a Dano 12 string, amongst some fine Guitars, pre CBS Fenders, Gibson's, you name it. Luckily the DC59 is one i can play upside down but i am considering your plans and using the Template in reverse. Thanks for sharing mate. Props from the UK.
Grab a decent lefty neck and put one of these together, you'll be glad you did! One year later and i still grab mine on a weekly basis and it's rock solid. People love the aluminum nut and wood Bridge of the originals (me too!) But this thing is great with the plastic nut and adjustable saddle. Looking at more pics since i made mine, the only things i might do differently on the next one is: to use a router to finish the edges, and: maybe make the outer skelton a little thinner. But i have another one in the planning stages... All the best with your build!
I'm going to get a cheap neck with a paddle headstock from Ali and build me a Flying V in Danelectro style from all recycled and second hand parts. I've always wanted something weird and fun like that and you've just shown me it really isn't that hard. I don't even need that many tools to get started. Thanks!
I also want to make a Flying V, that sounds like a good way to do it!
@@FrankOlsonTwins Yeah they're just regular ST/TL necks with dot inlays while a flying V neck with V headstock costs way more. These are only around $40 so if I mess up it's not a disaster
My first guitar was the 2 pickup
" amp in case" Silvertone Dan Electro in 1967. @ $110.00 it was great especially since it was in stock at Sears ,while the 1 pickup model we went to get was not. Mom stepped up that day. Awesome design and bright pickups, cool for slide !!!
A great first guitar! Not exactly a "cheap" guitar in 1967!
You make building guitars look easy!🎸🎸
You should make one, I bet it would turn out great!
This is a nice build for the budget and is probably up there with the original in terms quality, great work👍
Thank you! I enjoyed building this guitar!
I had a 90s u1 reissue that sounded really sexy with some overdrive, always wanted a dc though
The first one I played was a 98 or 99 u1 reissue- should have bought it for $199 new!
That orange on that Donner is beautiful. Would make for a great partscaster if someone had parts lying around. Personally I found a 30$ Ibanez Gax as a donor and I also have a loaded strat pickgaurd I could use.
$30 is a great price for a GAX. I'm a fan of Ibanez necks. I would have used an Ibanez donor for this guitar if I could have found one cheap enough. The orange strat copy I used was a decent sounding and playing guitar. The paint was definitely faded, although the basswood body is pretty nice. Overall, I'd say the whole guitar was worth about what I paid for it, about $40. I did keep the body for spare basswood. I may be able to use small blanks for other projects, such as converting stratocasters to "hardtail" strats. Good luck!
HI. Thanks for this video, ive been inspired. My only issue was/is when you cut the neck pocket outta the top peice of ply, the depth of neck pocket is about 18mm or 3/4inch approx. Once you add the 3-4mm masonite on, you hardly have any clearance. I got over this but adding a section of wood to the neck pocket to raise it up a bit, which was a pain in the ass :)
I didn't have that exact issue, perhaps my neck was just a bit taller? But, the pick guard was a little too thick. I had to shave down the back side with a plane. After that, it played much more naturally. What kind of bridge did you use?
@@FrankOlsonTwins Im doing two - a 56U2 copy, and a shape of my own design thats offset inspired. Cheap as possible components - one will have a dano clone bridge made from 3mm aluminium, the other a cheap strat-like hardtail adjustable.
I rechecked the the measurements on my DIY Dano and came up with 28mm from the bottom of the neck pocket to the top of the 15th fret. The top of the low E saddle sits at 10mm.
The 21st fret sits about 8mm above the masonite top. The masonite top I used was 3mm thick.
Let me know how the Dano Bridge turns out.
@@FrankOlsonTwins ive made dano bridge before for my "reissue" which sank. There is a nice video from Stewmac that I copied the idea from. Works great, as good as you can with the design. th-cam.com/video/sB9sBBpif4o/w-d-xo.html
That's clever! If I make an aluminum bridge, I'll def keep this in mind. I do like the sound of the rosewood bridge!
That tape binding is tricky... I have a factory model from the the late 90's when they first started making them again, and the tape is pulling up in the interior curves just like yours.
Yep, every one from the 90's I've played does it too...
Maybe next time, put the seam where the neck is?
Nice job. I'm prepping to make something similar but with Home Depot underlayment plywood instead of masonite. I know masonite is true to the original but...
I'm sure plywood will be cool too. It might even sound better!
You are almost there with the tone. I had silvertone U1 from 1960 somethings, and the sound was a little bit chimier. The usual suspect I believe, the aluminum nut. Still it's an amazing build that I'm planning to attempt; I like the clever way you re-used the strat bridge and turned it into a fixed one, genius¡
Thanks! I didn't show it, but I did sand the bottom of the bridge against a flat sharpening stone, then 600 grit sandpaper to make it nice and flat.
Regarding the chime- another thing that helped was getting the pickups closer to the strings. The current setup recommendation on the Danelectro site is 5/64" (about 2mm) from the pickup to the string. When I did this recording, the pickups were much further away than that. I have no doubt an aluminum nut would get me closer to the original tone... If I ever decide to swap the neck, I'll consider making or buying one!
@@FrankOlsonTwins thanks for the info! Yes, the lipstick pickups are somewhat sensible to the distance to the strings. Do you have a recording with the adjusted distance?? Thanks Frank, really appreciate it!
Hello! Great job! Won`t you tell what material did you use for binding? What is it like and where one can buy it? Is it some furniture material?
Thanks, it's called "Leather(vinyl)" upholstery tape. I put a link in the description. Pretty much any sticky backed leather/vinyl will work, you can get it from any upholstery store. I had to cut it down to 1.5" to get it to fit. Originally it was 3 inches wide.
There is hardly any info, diagrams, specs on the danelectro out there, how did you find the neck pocket depth?
Well, I knew the thickness of my neck, and approximately how much clearance I needed to the top of the fretboard. I added the thickness of the plywood and hardboard and it happened to be perfect if building it in symmetrical layers of harboard/ply/ply/hardboard. If the pocket would have been too deep, I would have shimmed it.
Dimensions for hardboard?? Please
1/8" or 3mm is what I used here. You could go up to 3/8" thick, but you may need to shim or adjust the neck pocket accordingly.
This was amazingly awesome! I wish I had tools for projects like this, unfortunately, I live in a place that I have no location to use as a workshop of any kind, not to mention how much all the tools cost to begin with.
Fantastic Job Sir!!!! I do have one question, did the neck you chose have the danelectro-type bar internal support, or is it a standard one with a truss rod? That being said, if it is one with a truss rod, is there still a way to adjust it> I just didn't see that part of the build mentioned at all (I don't think so anyway).
Thank you for sharing this awesome project!!!
Hey, thanks for checking it out! Yes, this neck has a regular modern trussrod. It's adjustable at the top with a hex key.
Hey Frank, awesome video! You inspired me to build a DC59 clone and a Silvertone 1448. How did your binding hold up over time? I imagine you had to trim it to the correct width? Thanks!
Cool, check back when they are finished and let me know how they turned out! The binding is surprisingly good. I play this guitar every week, and it sits on a little stand in a busy corner. It has been bumped, jostled and it even fell over once. The binding looks pretty much like it did in the video. My only advice is to give it plenty of "slack" when applying the binding around the curves in the cutout. I still have 1 little bubble in the lower cutout(maybe you can see it occur in the origninal vid?). That bubble, no matter how much or how often I push, always returns. I think there's just a little tension in that spot. I did trim the binding when I got it by wrapping it around a drill bit and cutting it with an Xacto knife while it spins. I could have made it 1/8" narrower but it's fine as is. It's surprisingly well stuck on. I'll have to do an update video since it's about 1 year old now. The other thing I might do on the next one is to put the output jack on the body of the instrument, like the telecaster does. The pickguard mounted one just doesn't feel right when removing the cable, it's a little too flimsy. Good luck!
Get a router and use a straight flush-cutting bit to trim the edges of the top and back to the sides.
Good advice, I did exactly that with the new tele I build. However, I opted to hand sand the edge instead of routing for a bit more slab-board look. th-cam.com/video/qtG8KfrEIEA/w-d-xo.html
Great build, inspiring. Got to do this before I die. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, I love these old dano guitars. I've got another video in the works!
I'm pretty impressed its sounds very nice for the type of music you wrote and performed. I have to say was a lil disappointed w the white tape but you do you. Overall its an A+ in my opinion.
Hey, thanks! I really enjoy making these Masonite guitars. They're nice playing guitars, and in my opinion, sound cool plugged in or unplugged.
I made a tele version using douglas fir instead of plywood. Overall, I really like it, but next time I'd skip the douglas fir and use an aged pine 2x8 or 2x8.
A lot of people think that the bridge should be exactly the same distance from the 12th fret as from the nut, but that's not the case. You need to add 1/4 inch to allow for compensation. Also your guitar neck is a few millimeters too deep into the body.
That's a good point about the bridge. Though I still have a bit of travel left on my intonation screws, it could benefit from another 1/8" to 1/4" of play. Regarding the neck height, the saddles(and set screws) are pretty much the perfect height for a nice low action. Even the pickups are at a good height. It plays well and sounds good so I don't plan to change anything on it soon. Perhaps on the next one, I'll rout the neck pocket allowing for a few mm of extra height depending on the hardware... Good eyes, thanks!
Nicely done, I like it. Bondo (the car body filler) is great for filling plywood edge grain and more durable than wood putty.
Thanks! I'll take that under advisement for the next build...which will likely be soon!
@@FrankOlsonTwins If you're going to use Bondo or similar filler, get a flat and a convex Surform, AKA cheesegrater files. A square of Plexiglas works well for mixing the filler on. It'll wipe clean with acetone if you don't let the filler fully cure on it. After applying the filler, let it cure until you can just dent it with a fingernail, then shape with the cheesegrater files to get down close to the shape you want. My father most often used the surforms (Surform is a Stanley trademark) bare handed, without any of the fancy handles and holders. I haven't done anywhere near as much auto body work as he did in his life, but I learned how to do it (and much more) from him.
Good tips, I didn't know that about the bondo/acetone cleanup but I did some body work on several cars in my teen years. One of them was my beloved(now gone) 74 Pontiac Ventura. I remember the Surform all too well! The car was in great shape overall- just a hole in the fender behind each front wheel. What I always thought I needed was a sandblaster, but a friend pointed out a good sanding disc works pretty well too. You just have to put in the work, and you can't leave any rust behind!
Love it, want to build it, what is the thickness of the plywood
This is 3/4" plywood. The actual thickness comes in a little thinner than that, but the final thickness is just right with the masonite. If you have very thick masonite(3/8" or more) you might need to shim the neck with a flat shim of a mm or two. This guitar is still playing great 1.5 years later!
hey again, was just curious: how did you make the files you made for the printed template? ive got them all printed out, was more curious about how you got all the measurements and design correctly to be cut into a properly sized template. im considering doing a similar build style for another guitar or two since i've gotten an excess amount of plywood and i played a rickenbacker 330 that spoke to me the other day but was $2000 too expensive
So, basically I found a plan online that had the exact dimensions for the guitar I wanted to make. I then used photoshop to make the neck pocket and bridge placement as close as possible to the known dimensions. Bascially, that would just be scaling it up or down to get the right printout. Then I print the files until they are printing at the right size for the neck pocket. That should give you a pretty close sizing of your guitar body. Then I tape the sheets together as closely as possible to the original dimensions of the guitar. Getting all of them exactly perfect is unlikely and kind of unnecessary. Generally the printing of each page will be slightly different, so I just try to get them to overlap getting the best general size and shape I can. One thing I've noticed about guitar building is that guitars vary from instrument to instrument to make up for slight inconsistencies during the manufacturing process. So get the template as close as you can and just move forward from there.
So then I cut out my taped up template, and if I have large paper I'll cut a second template. If you have all the measurements for the bridge, pickups, and pots you could mark and cut them from the first or second template, but it's not necessary.
Of course, the easiest thing would be to find a template online to buy. You might be able to get an MDF one of the exact guitar you want, but our template way works great as well.
Good luck, and keep me updated on your progress!
Also, if you're in North America, I see there's someone on Etsy selling 330 plans for approx $35usd. It's a vinyl sticker template that you could just stick onto whatever material and make a template. That would save a bit of fuss over printing and taping.
Interesting one! Proof that you don't need thousands of buck's worth of tonewood and vintage hardwear to have a perfectly usable and good sounding guitar. Keeping the punk ethos alive :-) Your song was good as well. Tom Verlaine fan by any chance?
Thanks! Yeah, I think these guitars can be as good as you want them to be. I was shooting for a guitar that stays in tune and sounds similar to the originals. After almost 2 years, I can say I was pretty successful in that challenge! It keeps tune really well and sounds great plugged in. Acoustically, it does what I want- which is loud enough to hear myself in the room without plugging in.
I'd never heard of Tom Verlane but I just listened to a song. I do hear a similarity!
Hey, I am considering building one of these, but I have 1/2 inch plywood on hand. I guess you'd just use 3 layers instead of 2? Would you double the top plywood layer?
Hmm, yes 3 layers would make an appropriate body thickness, but you'll have to figure out how to get the correct depth for the neck pocket. You could cut the top two layers and then use a shim to get the neck just right. So you'll have to buy a shim or buy a hobby sheet of 1/16 or 1/8" plywood(or whatever thickness you prefer) to make a shim or two.
And no, i wouldn't double up any of the hardboard layers, that would be difficult and make the guitar a lot more unpredictable.
This is a very interesting video, particularly the construction of the original guitar and how they were built, seen through your reconstruction.
Thanks for checking out the vid! The original guitars were a brilliant in their simplicity and overall "cheapness." To be fair, they are not world class instruments. However, they are unique and for a beginner they offered a great value and opportunity to learn on a very functional instrument.
Hello there. Been a while since this video was upload but I'll ask anyway maybe I'm lucky 😅 is that wood 'masonite'? is masonite hardwood? In my country if I search for something similar 'chapadur' (cheap, non chemical treated fiber wood), is what I get. Would that be what I should use?
Yes, I looked up chapadur- that looks like the correct product to use. Good luck!
Very nice. Did you have any resources on how the vintage Danos were built, or did you just go off the plans themselves?
There's a fair amount of information online about how they were built. Also, I've worked on several over the years and I've played many vintage Danos. You can scour ebay or other sites for project parts pictures, such as bodies that have fallen apart or necks or wiring harnesses- all of which can lead to valuable insights about how they are cut out, assembled and generally manufactured. There really isn't much to these guitars- the necks were well made and bodies were hit or miss. They were a feat of inexpensive manufacturing for their day. I think they are a great first or second guitar build, since they are pretty low stakes. The wood for the body can be had cheaply or free. Masonite is on the back of nearly every cheap poster frame and the body skeleton can be made from any scrap wood the will glue together. Or spend a little more for new materials and you still have a fun project that will be interesting to play and keep around.
Maybe I missed it but did you say what the tape was? Like what kind or brand?
Wonderful build. I want to build a single cutaway bass in this style like the Danelectro 56 Single Cut bass.
Oh I almost forgot about the tape. It's a faux-leather heavy upholstery vinyl tape. I updated the links in the descriptions. There are 2 types: one that I used which has little texture, and a slightly more expensive one with deeper texture. All the Dano's I've played have had the more expensive tape. I did have to cut it down to about 1.4", which is why the first shot of application shows a bad cut mark.
If you do build one, I'd just make sure you have your bass neck at hand before you begin, so you can cut your neck pocket close before finishing it up. That said, if you have a router, it's a non-issue.
Good luck!
Hello! I'm German and would like to recreate this simple guitar. But unfortunately you can only see the shape on the link in your building instructions How do I get a plan with measurements I need. Unfortunately the link to your plan doesn't work.Best regards
Good questions! The plan I posted is the one I used. The width of the neck pocket near the very top of the body should be 2.11 inches(or 54.7 mm) across. That's the width of a Strat/Tele neck, by the way. Once you get that critical measurment sorted and formatted to 150 dpi in your favorite photo editing software, you should and print it out to scale size. I used photoshop and separated it into 4 quadrants(upperbouts left, right, and lower bouts left and right.) Then I taped the 4 peices into one body plan, lining up the printing that had overlapped. It took some effort to do so, but I didn't want to spend money on plans. I believe there are several ready made plans for sale for the DC59, but I've never used one so I can't recommend one in particular.
I checked this link, and it works fine here in the U.S. vintagemusictech.blogspot.com/2022/09/dc59-body-plan-for-scale-purposes-width.html
I'm adding 4 pre formatted files to vintagemusictech.blogspot.com/2022/09/dc59-body-plan-for-scale-purposes-width.html
if you want to try to use those. I can't promise they'll download in the proper format, since it looks like they get converted, but each file should be 1275 x 1650 pixels, at 150 dpi for printing. Depending on how your printer treats border(for example if it reduces the size of your photo to add a border) you may have to edit the files to end up with the 2.11 neck pocket.
Good luck!
@@FrankOlsonTwins Thanks for the detailed answer. The second link works perfectly, but unfortunately the sections of the overall plan are also without dimensions. And without dimensions it is not possible to recreate the original guitar because I don't have any photo editing software either. Thanks a lot you for the effort I have given you
The neck pocket, which is 2.11" wide x 2.27" long is the important dimension. Once you have it printing out with that specification, you can measure all the dimensions on the plan, and they should be accurate. Then, the only other truly important measurements will be the bridge, but you'll figure that out by the length of whatever neck you use.
Though I can't give detailed dimensions, The total length of my DC59 body is 16 7/8" and the width of the lower bout is 13 13/16. However, those dimensions are somewhat irrelevant because of final sanding, etc.
Figure out how to print the plan so the neck pocket is 2.11" and 2.27" long and all the rest will fall into place.
Very nice achievement, I am impressed. I don't know if you've learned woodworking or violin making, but it's promising. Can't wait to hear it ring.
Thanks! I've been doing random woodworking projects for a long time, though I'm far from an expert. Btw, the song at the end has all of the parts recorded with the guitar. Thanks for checking it out!
@@FrankOlsonTwins Ok. I Have hear it again, very good sound. 🙂
Really enjoyed this build, it was part inspiration for my build of a Danelectro style electric baritone ukulele ( on my channel). Thanks for a great video.
Cool build! Your neck turned out great, and I'm jealous of the Wilkinson bridge! Easy to cut the neck pocket this way, right?
@@FrankOlsonTwins Thanks. Yes, the neck pocket worked out nicely that way.
really enjoyed your video - own a couple DC -59's and always thought "geez, these could be easy to build" ! Now I have the perfect DIY instruction. Just one question - did you get that jigsaw in a box of ceareal? 😁
Lol, have to admit, that jigsaw is hard to watch...and even harder to use! I've been playing this guitar weekly. It keeps it's tuning surprisingly well, despite the inexpensive neck. Good luck with your build!
hey! this looks sick. how's the guitar holding up now? im thinking of using this as a guide to doing the same so im also wondering if you have any hindsight to offer in changing how you did this one
Thank you! I have played this guitar for 2 years and it stays in tune great and the action and playability have never changed. It is rock solid The only thing I might do differently next time is move the entire bridge assembly back an extra 1/4". It gives just a little more room for intonation. On this one, the low E string was maxed out when fully intonated. One thing I didn't show was after a few months I shaved down the back side of the pickguard to make it about half as thick. That was the only thing I felt improved playability. Aside from those 2 minor details, you can make this guitar as is and have a great playing instrument that you can be proud of!
I made similar Tele style guitar this summer using a method closer to the original Danelectros: th-cam.com/video/wIU9_0O_gnA/w-d-xo.html
It plays and sounds great, so don't be put off by people when they talk trash about masonite. And they are really fun to make!
Good luck!
@@FrankOlsonTwinsawesome, thank you so much! this will come in handy
With that Stratocaster neck, it almost is a temptation to say this is a combination Danelectro and Silvertone. Sears brands shake hands.
True, it does look like the Silvertone Dolphin neck!
Yes of course..leave a large mesure on the heel behind the table is very important 👍it's a good idée...usually the fixing measurements are shorter
Wow great skills and planning and video.thank you for sharing.Excellent precise amazingly clean work with a mere handful of tools.You also did a great job with your song...production melody and audio.
I say thanks to Jesus for your gift to us
..
Thanks! I hope the song turned out as good as the guitar! It's basically the first thing that came out as I started jamming on it, so I made sure to record as soon as the idea struck me. Each instrument has its own voice and this one has a few things I like: A nice warm neck pickup position and a bright bridge position that can cut through for melodies and arpeggios.
If you can make a video of how this guitar actually sounds plugged in, it would be great.
I think I have some samples, It will likely be Shorts format, however
@@FrankOlsonTwins Either way it would be interesting to hear how it sounds and appreciate your work.
Wicked! This is how I can do my Rickenbacker 330 Build.
Great, would love to see the final result if you do!
I wonder how it'd sound using OSB instead of plywood. Would be cheaper as well.
Also curious about fiber and particleboard.
Some of the old Silvertones (1457 I believe)that were made by Danelectro used particle board for the body "skeleton." They play and sound just fine and some have lasted 60+ years!
Nice build! What size paper did you use to print the guitar body plan on? I'm having a little trouble with the scale, it's my first build
I printed it onto 4 separate pages of regular office printer paper(8.5")
x 11")
Then I taped it together.
Good job. I would call this more "Inspired By" than an actual "Clone" of a Danelectro DC-59.
I've owned a few Danelectros from a DC Bass, a Baritone, a Hodad, a Convertible, and a DC-59. In some ways your guitar has advantages over the Danelectro models. That crazy bridge for example, you can intonate far better than the three screw metal and rosewood bridge. Your electronics are essentially a stripped down Telecaster version (volume, tone, three way switch, and jack) to the stacked volume and tone knobs for each pickup. The neck is going to be more familiar to a Fender player than the "Coke Bottle" headstock of the original.
Your guitar definitely sounded better than I was expecting for using an inexpensive Strat clone as a parts donor. If you play this against a real Danelectro DC-59 you are going to find that they will feel and play differently. I would definitely encourage you to try it.
The reason I had several Danelectros is back in the late 1990s and early 2000s you could pick them up used for well under $200. They tend to be kinda flimsy and to my ear, a "one trick pony" compared to my other guitars. There was also a banjo like "Twang" component to their sound. So my Telecasters and Epiphones just were more versatile overall to them. So they came and went but none of them ever ended up as a main player.
One last tip, if you want this to seem more like a real Danelectro, have an aluminum nut blank made for the guitar (they are not something you can find but a machine shop can make them for you pretty easily) and put an aluminum nut on the neck. I did this on my Blackguard Tele in my pick (once upon a time it had a GFS Danelectro style Lipstick bridge pickup by GFS Pickups in it) but compared to the Filtertron pickup in the neck it wasn't loud enough. I ended up putting in a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder in there to balance out the sound. The idea was to make that Tele part Fender (Mexican neck), part Gretsch (knobs and neck Filtertron) and part Danelectro (aluminum nut and Lipstick bridge pickup). The body is a two piece Swamp Ash Warmouth body with a very crappy finish. I am it's third owner as far as I know and that guitar plays so well. I am reminded of that every time I play another guitar I own and go to that one.
Again, good job on your guitars and I think you will find compared to the real Danelectro that yours has advantages over that one.😉👍✨
Thanks! Your Tele sounds really cool- very unique! I've played more than a few vintage and reissue Dano's over the years. They always surprise me with the ability to just sing when unplugged, excellent for songwriting. Also, they are so light! I think my next build will be a Dano "Convertible."
When I made this guitar, the cost of used guitar necks and parts were at an all time high. My preference would have been a true scale Danelectro neck(similar to Gibson scale) but after months of searching I couldn't find anything for less then $300+. Much more for a vintage Dano neck. Now that prices have come down a good amount, I can consider making something closer to a "clone" of a Convertible. Though, I'll need to source some fake wood print Masonite!
Thanks for checking out the vid!
@@FrankOlsonTwins
Thanks for the reply. My main Tele (in my pic) definitely excels at being a bit more aggressive than the average Tele from the pickups. It has a bit of zing too.
I would suggest looking at Jerry Jones versions of Danelectro guitars, I know he no longer makes them but many professional musicians played them back in the 2000s and 2010s.
The things with owning Danelectros (I'm talking about 1996 and on) is that they feel like cheap guitars. Not cheap in a bad way, just limited to what they could do. I can count on one hand how many times I have seen a vintage Danelectro and each time they were pretty thrashed, so no way was I going to buy that. I bought a few Danelectros I owned new and because I lived and played back in the 1990s and 2000s where they could be bought used for $200 or less, that's all I would buy one for.
If you want an affordable Danelectro I would probably suggest finding one that doesn't work and repairing that or using it as the next donor. The other concept you could do is find a nice Squier Affinity Strat and put in three Danelectro lipstick style pickups like SRV did. Danelectro made the 84 that is basically a Strat copy with stock Dano pickups in it.
The biggest issue with Tele or Strat sized pickups is that the E strings are close to the edge of the magnet and wires and you lose some definition and sound, so I would say rout the pickguard and guitar to take the real pickups for your best option.
I am a huge fan of the original, big metal Danelectro pedals and I have many of them still and use them on two of my three pedal boards. Great stuff there!😎👍✨
Nice flipping build!
Hey, Thanks!!
My ex brother in law has a couple of original Danelectro guitars, and one original case. The cases, like the guitars, were pretty cheaply made. The cheapness is what makes them rare today because many of them didn't survive.
Yep, cheaply made guitars just don't get treated with the same respect expensive ones do. So many cheap guitars of that era were thrown away because once the original purchaser was done with it they were passed on and treated as toys. I can't imagine how many Danelectros were sold in the 50's and 60's vs how many made it through to today. Maybe like 50 to 1?
@@FrankOlsonTwins The newer one he has is in excellent condition but compared to a Fender it looks like a toy with the nearly sharp corners and extra glossy, plastic looking surface. Sounds pretty good, which is what's important.
Yeah, compared to my fender strat(or any of my other guitars, really) this also feels like a toy when switching between them. The thing I really like about these guitars is their moderate acoustic volume. You can pick it up and play guitar or write songs without plugging into an amp. For that reason, I almost didn't put pickups in this one but I decided that I may make a couple more- one of them being the "acoustic" model called the convertible. I think the next one will have a nicer neck too. This neck is fine, but a decent Squier neck with slightly bigger frets would be just a little nicer to play.
screw a handheld router to a piece of flat thick board with a hole to fit the router bit through then turn it upside down and screw it to a work mate to create a bench router tool ..!
I can’t believe you were able to do it that well with a little jig saw. I know exactly what goes into cutting something with one of those.
Very cool man.
You and I need to get a router tho.
Thanks! Well, i did end up getting a small router, I used it in a new video to cut the neck pocket of a tele style guitar! It really is perfect for that
great build mate.Makes me, a DIY DUMMY, want to give it a go! How thick is the ply you used? cheers
This was 3/4" plywood sheathing, though I think technically it's 23/32" thick. It's commonly referred to as 3/4" sheathing. With the hardboard(masonite) glued up, it ends up being about 1.7" thick, which is about as thick as many electric guitars.
Nice job! You could carve that strat headstock into a "dolphin" style danelectro headstock to give it more dano vibes.
That's a good idea, I've been considering some type of headstock shape change, i don't care for the current one
I subscribed just because You have a great name for your channel.
Is it 1/2” plywood?
3/4" plywood
Dan electro should do a kit guitar range! Where you build it yourself!
That's a good idea, I'd buy it!
Loved the video
What did the guitar end up weighing ?
Thanks
Thanks, the final weight is 6.2 lbs.
Is this an asbestos pickguard? Cool build!
No, it's the same material as the rest of the body. "hardboard" or "Masonite"
It's a manufactured pressboard material, easy to finish/paint on the smooth side, but really tough on tools and sandpaper!
Lovely, great tone!
Thanks! And thanks for checking out the vid!
amazing work man
Thank you!
What material did you used for the back and front plate ?
Hardboard, also known as Masonite.
Sorry for being annoying but what is the thickness of the plywood ?
No worries. The plywood is 3/4" AC grade, but actual measurement is 23/32. That's just how they sell 3/4" plywood.
If you're going the plywood method to make the body, I would use the thinner Masonite board we chatted about. Since the neck pocket will be exactly half the thickness of the body, you'll get a little more room near the neck to sit above the top layer of masonite. The masonite board i used in this video is about .12" thick, or almost 1/8." If you use anything thicker, you might need to shim the neck pocket(if you use my method in the video here).
@@FrankOlsonTwins ok man, thanks for replying !
No problem!
nice build. routers are cheap used on craigslist. thumbs up.
Thanks! I ended up getting a router for the next build😉
sounds great 👍🍺
Thanks! I was really happy with the result!
This would be my first guitar 🎸
These options make me confused
1. Acoustic guitar
2. Electro acoustic guitar
3. Electric guitar
4. You tell if I am missing something
Please help.
I can add a few to your list:
Hollow body electric (such as Ibanez AF75)
Semi-Hollow body (Gibson ES-335)
Acoustic-Electric(Danelectro DC59, Danelectro Convertible, Fender acoustasonic)
There are many options in guitars. There's lots to read and understand about the history of guitars but if you're looking to make an informed decision, you'll have to either read about guitars or watch some videos about their history. Or, do what many people do: buy the kind of guitar their favorite artist plays. You learn alot about a guitar by playing one every day!
@@FrankOlsonTwins very helpful, thank you.
Respect
🙏🙏
I mean... you could be my best friend, hehe. Great project!
If I can also use your awesome studio! 😉🎙
@@FrankOlsonTwins man, please!
What was used for the top and back
It's sometimes called "hardboard" and one brand name is "Masonite." It's sometimes called "pressboard." Basically, it's a wood product that exists between cardboard and Medium Density Fiberboard. It was often used on the back of old televisions or radios and sometimes I see it on the back of poster frames.
@@FrankOlsonTwinswhat size plywood did you use 1/2 inch?
3/4"
@@FrankOlsonTwinsthank you
Nice job
Thank you!
Very nice build. Dadgad tuning for Kashmir.
Thanks!
Muito legal em ❤TOP🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Thanks!
Hello! Your guitar building is so creative work, without professional tools. The wiring work is not a Dano, because you did a parallel pickup connecting, similar to a tele. This is reason of different sound like Dano. The other key factor of Dano wiring is tone pot 1 MOhm, volumen pot 100 KOhm, and three way switch ON-OFF-ON. I tried this with lipstick and get same tone as Dano, no matter the tone wood. My best sound I have tried is P90s with Dano wiring in a Lespaul. This is the new world of the guitars sounds...
Thanks for checking out the vid! In the future I may rewire the guitar. At the time of making the video, I could only find an SPST swich, so parallel wiring for the second pickup was the easiest way to add a neck pickup. Also, I'm more interested in using this guitar as a songwriting tool, so I often only play it unplugged. I find that its just the right volume for playing chords and simple melodies without the need to plugin or be tethered to an amp or interface. I really considered not even putting pickups in, since I knew that was my goal. I guess that means I need to make a Dano Convertible next! ;)
Que finito el bloque del puente 😮
The original Dano blocks were even smaller!
Truly inspiring
Thanks!
its funny how back in the day this was the cheapest way to build guitars, but the modern dano's are all solid wood because its now actually cheaper to do things the better way now
doing things the original way is a lost art
According to the website, the new Dano's are still semi-hollow, with a centerblock. I'm not saying they aren't built on a CNC, because they most likely are, but they are probably a pretty close approximation of the original.
From what I've seen, many boutique builders are making guitars with hand routers and band saws, just like the old days. I made another Tele style Dano Build, which uses a single section of Home depot lumber for the frame: th-cam.com/video/wIU9_0O_gnA/w-d-xo.html
I could have used scraps, but for such a time investment, I wanted to keep the quality decent for the price point.
WAIT! YOU HAD A CNC MACHINE THIS WHOLE TIME? you are a masochist for not using the cnc until the very end lol
My cnc is just a little too small to carve a full DC59 guitar body in one pass 😰😅 I miiight be able to squeeze a telecaster build into it, but it's right up to the mm of the body length. I have to give it a shot, though!
Big fan from India. I m a beginner and learning watching your shorts. Gift me one guitar 😂❤
🎸🎸
The springs to adjust the pickups have not been fitted. The pickups are completely down and cannot be adjusted upwards.
First you have to put the screws in, then the springs and finally the pickups. I imagine it is not easy but it has to be done this way.
The sound will be weak.
The video is missing the final test. 🤪🙃
Sure, the springs are helpful. In this case, the screws in the back are tight enough that they keep the pickups securely in place. Also, the song at the end is recorded with this guitar.
well cool
Hey, thanks!
Dude nice video but you need some background music. This was like watching someone sandpaper their eyeballs 😂😂😂
I used to use BG music, but it's like anything else...polarizing due to personal tastes. So keep those safety goggles handy!
Got you, I will mate 😂 was about ask you if I can record some 12 bar noodeling for you to use under those builds, but respect if you want to keep this style. Cheers.
Right on, I appreciate the offer!
I personally like background music but it's literally been like 50/50 over the years. It seems that for every who person loves the song, another says they hate it.
I just subbed your channel, nice studio(and playing)! Deck the halls turned out great!
@ Thanks mate! I really apreciate that. Most of that was recorded in my living room, drums in garrage just the jingle bells were done in studio in my work 😂 Returned the sub favor, build 3 guitars in my life, just bodies, necks were always something I rather buy than male some bad one 😂
I hear that, I'd also rather use some one else's professionally made neck than whatever I come up with! I ended up with a Warmoth for the last one.
Your Deck the Halls video reminded me that I made a similar style video a looong time ago(2016!), where I played all the parts, and there was a Christmas tree in the background! (Obviously mine's not Christmas themed!) Don't mind the dirty camera lens...makes the whole thing appear a bit foggy.
th-cam.com/video/zSmmDEeMwzQ/w-d-xo.html
-Best!
What, no demo???
The song at the end is the demo. All the guitar parts were written and recorded with this guitar
Why not buy one? it would prob have saved you some
That doesn't sound like a very interesting video!
If you don't use the wooden Danelectro type of bridge the guitar IS not Going to get the Danelectro sound
I’m discovering that the price point on building an economy guitar is ironically, comparable to using quality hardwood when you consider the work involved in piecing together the frame and construction time it takes to build one of these.
Absolutely correct. I think that's why most people only make one or two before moving on to more professional quality materials. There would be pretty much zero profit margin to make and sell guitars like this by hand. It can only really be profitable for a larger company. As you said, for a similar amount of work, you could make a solid wood guitar and charge a reasonable rate!
Dude harbor freight router
I ended up with a decent Dewalt router. I used it make another guitar! th-cam.com/video/qtG8KfrEIEA/w-d-xo.html
Не пойму, в чём прикол делать гитару из фанеры и ДВП ?
Try a Danelectro guitar. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't like it. But some of us do like it! 🎸