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Danelectro Coral Deluxe Bass project

#201
Finally got some decent pics playing the Coral live (last Friday) - it walks the walk! :bassist:

fullsizeoutput_146c.jpeg
 
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#202
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#203
The only vid on youtube of a guy playing a Coral Deluxe Bass in a music store from a few years ago. It looks like it's the Fire Red colour with red volume rings and missing the creme tone knobs, 2 finger rests and bridge cover. It's not a '65 either as they were made from '67-'69. (mine is a '68) I should do a vid on mine ... if I had someone to help me do that! :)

 
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#207
Jon Clegg said:
Yeah the sound on that Reverb vid of the Firefly was pretty impressive. Makes me want a hollow body with lipsticks.
Click to expand...

Since owning the Coral, I finally understand all the Dano lipstick love - it's as unique a sound as a P-bass, a Ric, or a MM. (and a few others...) I just love the sound of it, and that's up against all my other basses that sounds so good! (they get the love - I don't neglect any of them!) :)
 
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#208
I hope you can find an easy way to do a good one... I owe some TB people a vid, and the making of it is tougher than I would have thought...



JIO said:
The only vid on youtube of a guy playing a Coral Deluxe Bass in a music store from a few years ago. It looks like it's the Fire Red colour with red volume rings and missing the creme tone knobs, 2 finger rests and bridge cover. It's not a '65 either as they were made from '67-'69. (mines a '68) I should do a vid on mine ... if I had someone to help me do that! :)

Click to expand...
 
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#210
I'm getting itchy to start a new build. I was on Reverb yesterday and bought one cool item. It's a NOS (never installed) chrome metal head-stock face plate cover - (...wait for it...) for a Burns Scorpion bass! :wideyed: I considered buying it for about 10 secs. Many of my builds started with one part of a bass that inspired its creation. So you can't grab pics from Reverb - so I can't post a pic of it until I receive it later this month. It's quirky cool - right up my alley when it comes to appreciating left-of center design. Jim Ormston Burns is like Leo Fender, but British! :) My Galaxia was inspired by his 1st late 50's bass The Super Steamline! Totally club-footed and because of that - beautiful in a very unique way! I started drawing and so far so good. Looking at my cool Burns reference book "Pearls and Crazy Diamond" fifty years of Burns guitars 1952-2002 educated me on the Coral Deluxe Bass and Coral Wasp - Burns did essentially that body shape in 1962 for their Split Sonic and Vista Sonic guitars and in '63 on their (3 single-coil pu) Visa Sonic bass. The finish on the '63 VS bass looks exactly like the late 60's Silvertone (Dano) bass in trans red and tobacco-burst! So many connection made!

Anyway... will eventually start a thread for it but for now the concept is incubating.

Hah! found this pic on the inter-webs - same as the seller on Reverb. (successful end-run) Note roller-bearing string guides. Kind of scary looking! :D
c0ryc7enyylcavuuiegm.jpg

...only the chrome plate mind you...
What a Scorpion bass hs looks like from behind - this is a later one with less wonky tuner positions (which I very much appreciate! - the original that is)
burns.GP5156.JPG

And the aforementioned Vista Sonic (80's version - same body) - love how ungainly/ungraceful it is
magpie-bass.jpg
 
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#213
farace said:
You might appreciate this, then. My Ampeg by Burns of London Vista Sonic Bass and Jazz Split Sound guitar, from roughly '63 and '64, respectively.

View attachment 3528955
Click to expand...

Absolutely love them both, but most especially love the '63 Vista Sonic. Didn't realize Ampeg was selling them with their branding so early. Thanks for posting! :thumbsup: What does it sound like?
 
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#214
JIO said:
I'm getting itchy to start a new build. I was on Reverb yesterday and bought one cool item. It's a NOS (never installed) chrome metal head-stock face plate cover - (...wait for it...) for a Burns Scorpion bass! :wideyed: I considered buying it for about 10 secs. Many of my builds started with one part of a bass that inspired its creation. So you can't grab pics from Reverb - so I can't post a pic of it until I receive it later this month. It's quirky cool - right up my alley when it comes to appreciating left-of center design. Ormston Burns is like Leo Fender, but British! :) My Galaxia was inspired by his 1st late 50's bass The Super Steamline! Totally club-footed and because of that - beautiful in a very unique way! I started drawing and so far so good. Looking at my cool Burns reference book "Pearls and Crazy Diamond" fifty years of Burns guitars 1952-2002 educated me on the Coral Deluxe Bass and Coral Wasp - Burns did essentially that body shape in 1962 for their Split Sonic and Vista Sonic guitars and in '63 on their (3 single-coil pu) Visa Sonic bass. The finish on the '63 VS bass looks exactly like the late 60's Silvertone (Dano) bass in trans red and tobacco-burst! So many connection made!

Anyway... will eventually start a thread for it but for now the concept is incubating.

Hah! found this pic on the inter-webs - same as the seller on Reverb. (successful end-run) Note roller-bearing string guides. Kind of scary looking! :D
View attachment 3528878
...only the chrome plate mind you...
What a Scorpion bass hs looks like from behind - this is a later one with less wonky tuner positions (which I very much appreciate! - the original that is)
View attachment 3528879
And the aforementioned Vista Sonic (80's version - same body) - love how ungainly/ungraceful it is
View attachment 3528885
Click to expand...


Those string guides in the headstock picture look like bearings. Are they bearings? I guess it would help the strings move past them easier.
 
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#216
Matt Liebenau said:
Those string guides in the headstock picture look like bearings. Are they bearings? I guess it would help the strings move past them easier.
Click to expand...

Yes - they are roller bearings. An interesting touch even if not particularly necessary - a solution to a problem that never existed. Could follow through for Burns correct reference but I'll wait till I get that far.

Jon Clegg said:
Yeah the string guides appear to be on ball-bearings; a fine example of British over-engineering :D . The right one is attached using a non-orginal screw.

The plate outline is more evocative of a stylized cat than anything else, or maybe a gremlin (The Gildaxe Gremlin!)
Click to expand...

It has the 'horns' or 'pincers' aspect - it's definitely one of the more peculiar hs shapes out there. That style of hs was first seen on the Jim Burns Actualizers Ltd 'pincer' body Scorpion bass & guitars ('79-'83) and a similar version (same with a slight bump in the middle of the 'pincer') was coupled with the Bison bass in 1981. There's a somewhat similar wavy 2x2 hs on the '72 Hayman 4040 bass which has a body more like the one I've drawn - closer to my Coral than a Vista Sonic.

4040 - Love how the control plate looks like an 8-track cassette player. My first foray into 'modding' was stripping my new (trans red) 1970 EB-3 to natural and replacing the b/w/b pg with a 'smoked' translucent one, similar to this Hayman. Had the frets removed also...
11372a.jpg

Wavy 4040 hs minus pincers - the round logo was clear plastic set into a hole through the hs. It appears that this one has standard string guides.
images-1.jpeg
images-3.jpeg

Bison with pincer-esk hs shape lower right - Burns always did quirky hs shapes. I've never held a Bison but I imagine they weigh a ton.
burns-sheet-2.jpg
 
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#218
Jon Clegg said:
Yeah the string guides appear to be on ball-bearings; a fine example of British over-engineering :D
Click to expand...

Talk about over-engineering, the two Ampeg by Burns instruments I posted have little gearboxes in the neck heels for adjusting the truss rods. It's a bit like the mechanism in crank-out windows. Behind the neckplate is a hole, and you put the wrench thingy in there to turn the flatted shaft that turns the gears. Several parts to do the job of a nut.
 
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#219
farace said:
Talk about over-engineering, the two Ampeg by Burns instruments I posted have little gearboxes in the neck heels for adjusting the truss rods. It's a bit like the mechanism in crank-out windows. Behind the neckplate is a hole, and you put the wrench thingy in there to turn the flatted shaft that turns the gears. Several parts to do the job of a nut.
Click to expand...

Do you have a pic to illustrate that feature?
 
#220
JIO said:
Do you have a pic to illustrate that feature?
Click to expand...

From the outside, all you can see is a hole with a flat bladed shaft inside. The correct tool has a slot that fits that blade. I don't have the correct tool, and I managed by taking a length of stout tubing, bending it into an "L" shape, and flattening the end enough to hold the blade.

I did a search online, and did find this page, which shows more than I've ever seen of the gearbox (which really does look like a crank-out window gearbox). This person was making a repair; the flat blade portion of the shaft had broken off, and he has modified it to accept a hex wrench instead.

http://www.jroadman.com/instruments/burns-truss-rod-gearbox-repair/
 
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