Okay, the Danedetto [Danelectro meets Benedetto] project is 99.99% done so I thought Id post up this project and call it a wrap.
Just to recap, this project started with a neck I had left over from a Danelectro double-neck it was a 12/6 but I replaced the 6 neck with a baritone. I always liked the funky body shape of the Dano Longhorns and snagged an archtop body from eBay for $71 just before Xmas 05. I took it to local luthier Paul Iverson [Bryan Adams original bass player, luthier to people like U2, David Gilmour, Sarah McLaughlin, etc. and all around nice guy] to get the neck attached. I asked him where I could get a tailpiece and bridge and he suggested, although Im sure hes come to regret it, that he could make them for me.
After checking some forums and doing some research into archtops I decided to keep it as pristine as possible. Benedetto is the best of the best so I used their designs as a model. Absolutely nothing was to violate the soundboard [top of the body] and all the pieces were to be in ebony to ensure the best transfer of string vibrations to the body as possible.
First step was to get rid of the cheesy Danelectro silkscreen logo on the headstock and we decided to go with an ebony laminate.
Paul had some Larrivee machines left over from a previous job that he graciously donated to the project. [Yeah, he was getting intrigued by what I was on about.]
Next came attaching the neck to the body. As you can see he had to route quite a serious angle in the heel to get the neck to sit right.
Because there were some holes left over from a previous neck attachment we had to cover over, he made an oversize plate out of brass.
With the neck attached, he sculpted a Benedetto style tailpiece and floating bridge out of ebony and attached the tailpiece with a small hinge unit. You cant see it here, but he also installed a piece of metal under the string holes with a wire running to the hinge so the strings ground properly.
Next the electronics. Tone wised I was looking for something that would give me a nice acoustic sound but also a jazz-box vibe so I chose to go with a Kent Armstrong floating humbucker and piezos. You cant see it in the pictures, but I installed 4 piezo transducer mics to the underside of the soundboard inside the guitar. Paul mounted the floating humbucker on a Benedetto style ebony fingerrest [thats what the jazz guys call a pickguard]. The challenge here being to ensure that nothing attached to the guitar body.
Heres a view of the fingerrest where you can see the volume and tone thumbwheel pots that Ill get to in a bit. They mount so they poke out the bottom of the fingerrest just enough so you can turn them but not enough to be noticeable. Notice how he fashioned the fingerrest so it matches the body cut-away at the neck pocket.
Here is the fingerrest removed from the body. We wired it with a connecting harness so the fingerrest can be completely removed from the guitar with 2 screws. Im making a dummy plug so without the fingerrest it can still be used as a piezo electric sans volume and tone controls.
To make the fingerrest float off the soundboard, Paul fashioned a mounting bracket from brass that attaches to the heel of the neck.
The fingerrest itself holds the humbucker plus a subassembly I put together for the volume and tone wiring for piezos and the humbucker. One of the last things to do will be to put some copper foil on the backside of the fingerrest to provide shielding for the electronics.
Paul is very meticulous and made sure that the humbucker wing attachment was set into the ebony so its totally flush mount.
The electronics PCB is attached by 2 screws with stand-offs.
The electronics are pretty straightforward. I found some 500K thumbwheel pots that I used throughout, .022 mf cap for the humbucker tone and a .067 mf for the piezos. Mogami shielded wiring is used throughout.
The electronics feed to a Fishman PowerJack that doubles as an endpin jack. The PowerJack has a JFET preamp built into it and provides a stereo feed through its TRS jack. The piezos are wired into the preamp, run out to the fingerrest, through the volume and tone pots, then back to the PowerJack and out the TS portion of the jack. The humbucker runs out the RS side and isnt affected by preamp.
Notice how the hinge is in direct contact with the endpin jack providing grounding for the strings. We needed a place to put the preamps battery, so Paul fashioned a neat little battery holder beside the endpin jack.
There were some holes left over from where a previous tailpiece was attached and, as you can see, with the hinge and the battery compartment things were getting a bit messy. Paul tidied it all up with a nice ebony dress plate that nicely hides the mess and holds the battery firmly in place.
Aside from shielding the back of the fingerrest and finding some black screws, the Danedetto is done.
As far as tone goes, this thing is a monster. I initially tried some jazz flatwounds but didnt like how the low E and A have a dead thud to them, so I installed a set of DR Zebra strings that are alternate wound nickel and brass. It is simply the best sounding electric guitar Ive ever played or heard. It goes from a deep mellow jazz to a huge, and I mean huge, acoustic tone. Unplugged its got a really nice and complex tone you expect from an archtop not hugely loud, but definitely loud enough for what Im looking for. Paul also did a top-notch fret-dress and setup [same as he does for U2 and Gilmour] and I must say it plays like a dream.
Thanks to everyone for your kind advice and help - it's been a ton of fun and hugely educational. Oh yeah, luthier Paul Iverson rocks!
LOL.
