Danelectro Guitar Kills Cancer!

Now for the finishing touch on the Danelectro.

You may not have seen that the guitar is pink. It's pink!  The color really grew on me as I was working on it.  Very cool I think.

And you'll see in a minute that the pink is an appropriate color for this specific guitar.

And I also thought a decal for it might be appropriate as well. So I did the artwork in Photoshop and then printed it onto some laser decal paper.

First we cut out the newly printed decal.

Then gather our decal-applying materials.

The Micro Set is what you put under the decal to help it adhere. The Micro Sol is what you put on top to help it assume the shape of what you're putting it on.

Both are made by Microscale Industries and you should be able to find them easily from many suppliers.

They're really intended for model making where you might have a rough surface with scale rivets, simulated wood, etc., for decals to adhere to. Even though the pickguard is smooth, I'm using those products to ensure the best quality application.

Apply the Micro Set to the surface you're going to put the decal on. As mentioned, in this instance, it's the pickguard of our Danelectro.

Place the decal in warm water for 30-45 seconds. The decal will begin to separate from the backing.

This decal is fairly large, so I had to handle it with care.

The first one split into 2 pieces, so I needed a second one. I'm glad I printed a few copies.

I try to plan for the worst.  I generally know the limits of my abilities and where I will likely goof.

With the decal placed where you want it, gently apply some Micro Sol onto the decal.

The decal may wrinkle in a few spots due to the fact that the solvent will soften the decal as it conforms to the surface you have it on. Don't panic! The wrinkles will go away as it dries.

The paper I've been using is pretty good, but it's a bit thick...I find you can see the edges of the decal when you're close up to them. I may look for some different paper eventually.

Here's the decal on the guitar.

My friend is part of the fight against breast cancer, so she can use the guitar to send out the message!

The decal is an obvious nod to Woody Guthrie, who of course had 'This Machine Kills Fascists' on a number of his guitars.  (Billy Bragg, in a more oblique reference, wrote "This Guitar Says Sorry").

The decal came out pretty well, I think.

Here's the guitar before it leaves The Dungeon and goes off to, well, kill cancer!

It's really fun to play. It plays super easily and you can play all over the neck since the intonation is good.

These are the stock pickups - they have that clear, chimey Danelectro tone. You may not have known this, but unlike a lot of 2-pickup guitars, Danelectros were (and are) wired so that the pickups are in series rather than parallel when in the middle switch position. So the middle position has the most volume and, to my ear, sounds the best.

Here's that way cool CJ Guitar Tooling bridge I put on it a post or so back.

Highly recommended. Adds more sustain and twanginess.  And looks really cool.

The earlier reissues such as this one have these cool "D" logo tuners. Really neat.

Another shot of the whole guitar.