1960 Silvertone 1304 (Danelectro U-1) Semihollow Electric Guitar

Update 2023: this fella's back here for resale -- the current owner is tied pretty hard to Strat-style guitars, so this one's back in the pond. I've updated the description where necessary and shot new photos.

How many times have I worked on this same model? Oh, my, a lot. They're fun, they're compact, they're lightweight, and they're cool. The old Danelectro pickups (yes, this is a Sears-sold Silvertone but it was made by Danelectro) are the only ones that sound quite like this. I think they're great for acoustic players maybe moving into electric because the pickups respond well to acoustic-style playing (well, as well as electric-style playing, of course) and they don't get compressed or overly-snappy when dug-into. At the same time, they sound outrageously good with a bit of gain thrown at them, too.

This guy is mostly-original but the knobs are replacements, the back control cover is a replacement, the tuners are much-nicer-than-original Gotoh Kluson-style units, and the jack is a newer Switchcraft part. I've gone through it and spruced-up what needed work and now it's playing spot-on and fast.

Per the usual, the body's sides are blocks of pine and it has a poplar centerblock that extends to the bridge. The top and back are masonite and so the construction, while very lightweight, is actually semihollow rather than hollowbody like many people describe these to be.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, compensation of the rosewood saddle for modern 3-plain, 3-wound stringing, cleaning, setup.

Body wood: poplar/pine blocking, masonite top/back

Bridge: rosewood saddle, adjustable-height

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: poplar

Pickups: 1x original Danelectro lipstick single-coil

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast)
String gauges: 46w-10 lights

Neck shape: medium D

Board radius: ~12"

Truss rod: non-adjustable steel rod

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-wider

Scale length: 23 1/2"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

Body width: 13"

Body depth: 1 5/8"

Weight: 5 lbs 4 oz

Condition notes: there's plenty of pickwear next to the pickguard and various small nicks, dings, and scratches throughout the body. The vinyl side taping shows discoloration as normal. The back of the neck shows wear and tear. There's mild wear to the fretboard. The knobs are replaced, the back control coverplate is replaced, the tuners are replaced, and the jack is replaced but otherwise it's entirely original -- though I think I added the side dots while working on it. Oh, and also, the pickup's cover is a little split-open in the middle but poses no playability/sound issues.