OMG what the hell did I just buy ;]]]

Guildedagain

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So I got the Silvertone amp in case 1448, and wouldn't you know it, another victim of home guitar repair, not 101, but more like 1.

Just minor things, like if you see dust, use an old set of cat claws or an ice pick to brush it away.

If you see a little tarnishing on the absolutely impossible to find/replace pickguard screws, use fine sandpaper, luckily they took the screws off first, but lost one, probably blew off the buffing wheel, and replaced it with something from Dad's miscellaneous drawer.

The two bridge adjustment screws were over the top of the bridge (kids, don't do drugs) so to raise the bridge up enough to get "a little action", glue some funky piece of plastic under the bridge.

And then make sure you dab the glue here and there to create odd dull spots in the finish.

Dunno how old this thing is but it's pre "skate key" tuners, so it's got reverse rotation Waverly "Butter Bean" tuners, will take some getting used to.

Really odd metal bridge saddle, can't even find a pic of another one. Early 60's "metal" mod, I'm guessing, but could it be original somehow, the bridge saddle (which was backwards, as well as intonation orientation) is pinned on to the base, what the h is it?

And the frets had been leveled here and there, ugh... fingerboard sanded (why?) but with the usual nasty razor wire fret ends.

So everything gets dropped to fool with the new baby.

A teeny baby, weighs 4lb 15oz, wow, under 5lb electric guitar.

The ampcase smells like a WWII bunker that hasn't been open since the end of the war, so that's nice, no Febreze this time.

The body issues polished up super with Meguiars Cleaner Wax.

I pulled the neck, which would not go back in, a little moist in the house. Dano sure knew how to do a tight neckpocket, Fender could have learned a lot from these guys.

Did the frets ends with my Swiss file made for this. Freehand with strong glasses, I turn the square edge of the frets oval next to the wood, a bit of an art form.

Followed by 1000 grit wet or dry, then 0000 steel wool outside. Then a polish with Fret Not, my Gorgomyte replacement therapy, comes pre cut, very nice.

Reassembled now but unstrung yet.

I'd plugged it in on arrival, shipped fully up to pitch with one string wrap per capstan. Healthy output, sweet tone.

Such a gorgeous little guitar.

Strings next after some other things that actually need to be done.

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Getting it clean with ice pick, the claw marks are all over the edges of the bridge plate. Why? Get a load of the height screws on top of the plate...

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Pine and Masonite construction, Tilt neck adjustment, 10 years ahead of Fender.



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That weird bridge saddle, anyone seen one of these?

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Fret ends, I've gotten good at these, the bottom edges are rolled.

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One helluva Brazilian Rosewood slab! Poplar neck.

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Guildedagain

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Strung it up with 10's. Now I can see why they had the screws over the top of the bridge plate. The metal saddle, which oddly has double marks as if previously used on a 12 string, is ridiculously thick, seriously raising the strings. As well, it's totally flat on top, not angled back like the Rosewood saddles, so the intonation goes to poop if the bridge is level, now it almost makes sense why they had it turned around.

Gotta score a wood saddle. Not a biggie, Allparts makes it, but there's an outfit Rhoads Music that has a bunch of stuff from the defunct Danelectro factory in Neptune NJ, including "hundreds" of the original Brazilian Rosewood saddles, $25 a pop but no screw, which is a shorty for sure, with that unique Dano screwtop.

Anyway with strings up high, it's tuned to Open E and sounds pretty damn good as it settles in.

Tuners are reverse for sure, odd but you get used to it. Clockwise to tighten.
 

SFIV1967

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That weird bridge saddle, anyone seen one of these?
I'Ve never seen that metal saddle either. Originally they came with a wooden saddle block. The rear screw holds the bridge plate/string attach to the guitar (actually the bridge block under the top), and the two front screws are the height adjustment.

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The front two holes work more like "bolts" to set the correct saddle height of the total bridge. Actually screws with a head that fits exactly inside the holes, so you first screw in the screws and set the bridge on top.
Also here you see the little screw threaded through the slot from the underside of the bridge plate holding the wooden saddle in place.

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There is this great page with 49 pictures of the 1448 and also great catalog pictures (click on the catalog icon):



The schematics of the amp are here:


Another tip from one owner: Wind the low E-the other way around as the other 5 strings!

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Ralf
 
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Guildedagain

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So it settled in and I tuned it to open E and plugged it in, and it's a bit bassy, a bit woofy with that pickup position only, but what a BIG and gorgeous tone. Somehow feels like the .46-.36. E-A strings are too big, too bassy, but really good tone for slide and open E riffs. So then I plugged in my Strat to compare, and boy did it sound like the wimpy dog that it really is by comparison.

How weird is that, a 1964 student guitar that gets a better tone than a guitar I could sell for $3k?

One of the drawbacks is a short neck, so no slide licks past the 18th fret, even the 19th is tough to properly sound out properly. There is nothing worse than slide notes sharp or flat, especially a triad across the high E/B/G.\

Reverse winding one tuner is totally unnecessary, I would never do it. And this is weird enough with the reverse rotation tuners.

The bridge design, screws fitting in the underside, etc, are pure genius, Nat Daniel style.

 
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Guildedagain

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Thx for the link Ralf, a lot of good info on the 1448 site, detail stuff about older ones vs the later models, the pattern of the vinyl, the knobs, the neck attachment, earlier ones have two bolt neck with no tilt. Mine is just the right one, has three bolt neck attachment with tilt neck. In typical odd early Dano fashion, the volume knob is below the tone knob. I think I see a 64 date code on the speaker transformer in the ad pics.
 
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Nuuska

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Guildedagain

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It's ok, I probably won't even be playing through it, although I should check and see if it works as advertised. All original Silvertone branded tubes, I imagine made by RCA?
 
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