Jack & Danny Brothers JDL380

Here's a 24 fret rosewood board strat-style guitar by Jack & Danny Brothers. It had been lying unused, cold and naked in a dark corner of a rehearsal studio for quite awhile. The whole instrument was covered in a layer of dust and grime, which I had to painstakingly remove with naphta (Zippo lighter fluid). I really wish that people would take better care of their guitars, and not leave them naked and exposed to the elements. Even a cheap gig bag would be sufficient, you know.

Continuing our tale, the twin pivoted tremolo bridge showed signs of serious corrosion. That being the case, it took lots of elbow grease, steel wool, sandpaper, plus Autosol to get it looking presentable again. Luckily for me, the 12 saddle height adjustment and 6 intonation screws had not yet frozen in place, and a little WD40 had them turning smoothly again. The tremolo arm was also missing, so I went with a fixed bridge setup by adding another spring, screwing the trem claw flush with the body, and lowering the twin pivot posts. The electronics were pretty straightforward: two humbuckers, pup selector switch, master volume and tone controls.

Amongst the features I really liked about this guitar, besides the recessed bolt-on neck joint, was the thin dark brown body finish. It was velvety smooth and you could even see/feel the wood grain. Nice touch. Finally, as the truss rod was working, I managed to straighten the neck, and after action/intonation adjustment and a string change (009s); returned this JDL380 to its owner. But not before giving him a stern reminder to keep it in a gig bag when not in use. 'Nuff said, let's look at some pics.