GUITAR BUILD DIY Danelectro DC59 Plywood w/ basic tools for about $100 #guitar #guitarbuild

I built this electric guitar from plywood and masonite(hardboard) with just basic tools. It’s a DIY Semi-Hollow Danelectro DC59 clone, with lipstick pickups. The rest of the parts come from a donor guitar. At one point I did use a CNC to create the outline for the pick guard, but I cut it out and drilled it by hand. It was an experiment, and it would have been much faster to simply trace and cut it out by hand. Some Amazon affiliate commission links: Lipstick Pickups that I used: “Danelectro/Allparts brand pickup“: Strings: Tuning pegs: “Leather(vinyl)“ upholstery tape: This is what I used Better upholstery tape: This is probably like what Danelectro uses, deeper texture. You can download the body plan here: This is a heavily modded guitar, which starts life as a 2010 era economy import model. I’ve wanted a Danelectro guitar after playing one in a music store in the 1990s. The original models are from the 50’s and 60’s. But, like most guitars, they are creeping up in price. The easiest(and cheapest) way to achieve a current model was to build it with parts from this cheap “donor“ guitar. The build is made mostly with hand held tools. Traditionally, a router and jig are used to carve the neck pocket, but I thought with some clever cutting I could do the task by hand. I was right! The coolest part of making this guitar was it felt like stepping back in time, when Nathan Daniel created Danelectro guitars. In a way they were revolutionary, because they were made of such cheap materials. The originals used wood cutoffs that were pieced together to make the frame. Hardboard(Masonite) was cheap then too. The famous “lipstick“ pickups literally used surplus lipstick cases to house the absolute cheapest guitar pickup Daniels could create- a single magnetic bar wrapped in wire- no bobbin. The necks of the 60’s were made to high quality, using Brazilian Rosewood fastened with 3 screws(vs the industry standard of 4). The later models of the original guitars used only 2 screws! They were a marvel of engineering and manufacturing that has created an instrument with a lasting impression that is coveted by many. The 90’s saw the guitars reissued, with plywood used for the frame(what I opted for). The guitar could be made even more cheaply if one is not a stickler for tradition. I could have definitely found wood scraps to make the frame and reused the original pickups for the new guitar. Maybe on the next one...