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Danelectro Coral Deluxe Bass project

#241
When I saw that chrome headstock plate, I immediately thought chromed larger jack plate/cover plate on the body, bridge covers, and chrome cover plates. Maybe not all together. :D I also think that headstock chrome plate would look cool with gold tuners as well... :woot:
 
#242
Looks like it's going to be a busy winter of GEO bass-building and vintage bass resurrecting. Just scored this late 60's Silvertone 1443 34" scale bass (made for Sears) in very sad DIY condition. Very similar to the Coral Deluxe Bass and Dano through-and-through. Body shape is slightly different and not sculpted as much as the CDB. Neck is pretty much the same other than a different hs shape. It has the twin steel bars, flat profile, aluminum nut & 22 tapered-ends frets. Frets are in good condition ATC, and like my Coral the neck is dead-straight. It's missing a Dano bridge, (easy - the repro's are readily available) the triangular neck-plate, (which I can easily fabricate) and a tone knob, (should be able to find one) but it's also missing its tuner ferrules which will be a (not fun) treasure-hunt to locate. The (original) tuners also have an assortment of different gear bolts and a couple are missing washers - but that isn't too difficult to remedy. It obviously needs a lot of TLC refinishing - but that's ok considering what I got it for. Will most likely do my own finish on it similar to my Coral, but in a different color. It will be for sale once done - just throwing this out there in case anyone is interested. (and has a favorite Dano colour!) It'll be fun to transform it into a cool bass from its current... state. :rollno:

s-l1600.jpg


s-l1600-1.jpg

A hodge-pudge of bolts and missing washers and black screws aren't original either. Because this isn't a high-dollar vintage bass, getting it presentable will be good enough.
s-l1600-2.jpg

The edges are more conventional compared to the Coral DB - this design has an inward 'dip' at the strap-peg.
s-l1600-3.jpg
 
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#243
Beej said:
When I saw that chrome headstock plate, I immediately thought chromed larger jack plate/cover plate on the body, bridge covers, and chrome cover plates. Maybe not all together. :D I also think that headstock chrome plate would look cool with gold tuners as well... :woot:
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the plate won't be a part of the Scarab DB. Due to the 'pincer' motife at the butt of the body, I want to leave that area open (as in, no control plate) for a clean gestalt which will highlight the green/black-burst. Thanks for your thoughts though :)
 
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#246
JIO said:
Looks like it's going to be a busy winter of GEO bass-building and vintage bass resurrecting. Just scored this late 60's Silvertone 1443 34" scale bass (made for Sears) in very sad DIY condition. Very similar to the Coral Deluxe Bass and Dano through-and-through. Body shape is slightly different and not sculpted as much as the CDB. Neck is pretty much the same other than a different hs shape. It has the twin steel bars, flat profile, aluminum nut & 22 tapered-ends frets. Frets are in good condition ATC, and like my Coral the neck is dead-straight. It's missing a Dano bridge, (easy - the repro's are readily available) the triangular neck-plate, (which I can easily fabricate) and a tone knob, (should be able to find one) but it's also missing its tuner ferrules which will be a (not fun) treasure-hunt to locate. The (original) tuners also have an assortment of different gear bolts and a couple are missing washers - but that isn't too difficult to remedy. It obviously needs a lot of TLC refinishing - but that's ok considering what I got it for. Will most likely do my own finish on it similar to my Coral, but in a different color. It will be for sale once done - just throwing this out there in case anyone is interested. (and has a favorite Dano colour!) It'll be fun to transform it into a cool bass from its current... state. :rollno:

View attachment 3619105

View attachment 3619106
A hodge-pudge of bolts and missing washers and black screws aren't original either. Because this isn't a high-dollar vintage bass, getting it presentable will be good enough.
View attachment 3619856
The edges are more conventional compared to the Coral DB - this design has an inward 'dip' at the strap-peg.
View attachment 3619857
Click to expand...


I saw that on Reverb and thought about it I just don’t need anything else to have or to work on. Glad it went someplace cool. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!
 
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#249
Matt Liebenau said:
Now that you say it, I think it was on both. I do remember seeing it on eBay and then, a little later, on Reverb.
Click to expand...

What was the asking price on Reverb? I looked and couldn't find a trace. Did find this one (sold for about $1000) from Jeff Tweedy's collection. Cool colour - British Racing Green. May be a consideration...

jvweejc2qavyng4ajyss.jpg
 
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#251
Ordered a (new RI) Dano bridge, another Dano RI aluminum nut and found an original chrome-metal Silvertone hs badge. Looked for a matching silver knob and so far not one to be found. If anyone has a source possibly offering one - let me know. I'll be checking Real Guitars in SF as they might have something like this in a parts bin.
 
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#252
Matt Liebenau said:
I don’t remember specifically. It was close to the eBay price. I’d vote for BRG. Green is a favorite of mine.
Click to expand...

Well, The Scarab Deluxe Bass is going to be green & black, so maybe this will become my 'green & black' phase... The seller's copy said it wasn't the original pg and was painted (black) but it looks original to me and if painted, it may be tort underneath. Time will tell.
 
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#253
I may have lucked out - found (new) press-in 'vintage style' nickel tuner bushings (guitar - so 6 of them) that should fit the Silvertone hs holes which have narrow (guitar like) 3/8" diameter posts. They look pretty similar and were cheap. The Coral DB/Silvertone Hornet tuners look like Gibson or Mustang shortie clovers but have narrow posts.

s-l1600-1.jpg
 
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#256
JIO said:
What was the asking price on Reverb? I looked and couldn't find a trace. Did find this one (sold for about $1000) from Jeff Tweedy's collection. Cool colour - British Racing Green. May be a consideration...

View attachment 3620114
Click to expand...
From what I’ve seen (Reverb/Music-go-round) they range $900-$700 depending on condition.
I’ve seen this one on CL for what seems like couple of years now. I just haven’t played one that I’ve been that nuts over. For as much as I love the neck on the Coral Deluxe, these ones didn’t win me over. I do appreciate the original advert though - $114 new.
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#257
Cyberhippo said:
From what I’ve seen (Reverb/Music-go-round) they range $900-$700 depending on condition.
I’ve seen this one on CL for what seems like couple of years now. I just haven’t played one that I’ve been that nuts over. For as much as I love the neck on the Coral Deluxe, these ones didn’t win me over. I do appreciate the original advert though - $114 new.
View attachment 3622724 View attachment 3622730 View attachment 3622731 View attachment 3622732 View attachment 3622742
Click to expand...

I like "...accented by sparkling pick guardplate" :)

Yah, I've also seen a couple in the $1300 range on eBay. Being that there are a lot more of them out there than the Coral Deluxe Bass - it's not like I plan to make a killing reselling this one after resurrecting it. But I'm looking forward to going over the mongrel I acquired. Part of investing in these old (vintage) basses is a real attraction to them and also being engaged with taking the raw materials and making them very playable instruments. Without a proper set-up and some targeted upgrades/modifications, getting one 'as-is' usually doesn't guarantee it being ideally playable. My Coral and Custom Kraft were both in that category. After dialing them in - they've become my favorites!

Addition: After thinking about what I wrote I feel the best way to help sell this resurrected bass, and for a reasonable cost (for the buyer and for myself - aka, not losing money) is to make it special/unique, make it different than the ones out there. (mostly red/black/tort) The green is a consideration, but there have already been a couple. (one very nice one still available) So whatever finish treatment I do will need to be special/different than what can be had currently. I have some thoughts but want to get it and see what the wood looks like once stripped. Why reproduce it's original look when they are out there and affordable?

The Silvertone necks are different hs-wise as the Coral has the grafted-on tilt-back rosewood hs and the Hornet has a Fender-style one-piece straight hs. (with string retainer) Looks like it also had a 3 screw bridge cover (like the Coral) but the Coral's angular 'open-box' integrated design is much more interesting/funky. I first was made aware of the Hornet's by the band Persephone's Bees bass player. (a fun late 90's Oakland band)

 
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#258
Got the tuner ferrules - too small (for guitar tuners). Back to the search for the correct size. If the search leads nowhere - a nice set of (a few different brands) tuners will suffice. I want to stay classic clover-head, short stemmed and open gear like the set it came with.
 
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#259
This is a first - I got an email stating the Silvertone arrived at my door at 5:01 this evening via FedEx... tomorrow. ??? (Thurs Dec 12th) Nothing I can see unless it's going to materialize overnight... I'm hoping it's a glitch of holiday shipping madness.
 
#260
This time of year is the worse for shipping - I just shipped a bass I sold via UPS and hope for the best. So I called FedEx and due to over-demand this time of year, they pass-off their shipments/deliveries to 3rd party deliverers. According to tracking, it was "delivered" today (yesterday) but not to me - instead it was handed-off to one of these businesses, but with no linked tracking. It is "supposed" to be delivered today (it's already after 7PM my time) and it's still not here. Our culture now is buy it on the computer/phone - have it delivered tomorrow. I get deliveries on Sundays sometimes. Crazy.
 
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