Danelectros?

[Yew]

Hey everyone, sorry for not posting as much as i should recently, I blame KIMH's Karma rating ^^

Recently I was lookign through some old LZ videos, and saw that Jimmy page's danelectro wasnt as hideous as i once thought it was. Then I proceeded to google Danelectro, and some up with some very reasonably priced, good reviewed products. Im wondering if you have any experiences with these isntruments? and which models are best?

Unfortunately It requires a lot of travelling to get to a dano dealer from lincoln, and i dont want to chase them if they will either be totally unsuitable or somthing terrible.

Thanks, Yew

[newey]

yew-

i dont want to chase them if they will either be totally unsuitable or somthing terrible.

Danos are like a cult all their own. Those that love 'em, love 'em, and there ain't no talking sense to 'em.

Those that hate 'em will never understand those that love 'em.

The lipstick tube pickups are very low output and have a sound all their own that is distinctively Dano. Not a modern "shredder" guitar by any stretch, although used by JP as you noted. Page also recorded a lot of the classic LZ stuff through a 5 watt Fender Champ, overdriven to God knows where- which was a weird set-up even back in the day.

I would say play one first, again, it's a love it or hate it kind of thing. Personally, I like them a lot. The reissues are actually nicer than some of the originals, basically because the tuners and bridge are better. Remember, these were the cheap alternative to a Fender, back when a USA Strat (the only kind there was) could be had for $350.

The story back in the '60s was that Townsend used to wreck his guitars when he was playing Danelectros, and quit doing so when he got a contract with Gibson. May be apocryphal, who knows?

I have played and liked the sound of Danos, back in the day, but disliked the neck profile. But that's just a personal preference, I could live with it for the tone.

[sbgodofmetal]

not sure on the instruments but they've got some killer fx pedals on the cheap side with some really akward names, like black coffee, grilled cheese, ect... i always called them the fat mans fx because their names alone made you hungry

[Yew]

From what ive seen and heared on youtube, they sound good, and are somtihng different from your usual Fender or gibson (or ibanez/prs if thats your genre ^^) now the question is.



or

[asmith]

A friend of mine has the top model, and takes it to his open mic nights. I used to play Blue Valentines on it with him. It had a uniquely metallic but haunting sound. If I had the disposable income it would be a very welcome acquisition.

[Yew]

I Like the features on the bottom guitar, but the shape and Semi-hollow-ness of the top (i Have a firebird, similar to the bottom guitar)

[asmith]

Why not get the top one and mod in the features of the bottom? Adding and wiring in two more pots to the pickguard shouldn't be difficult. The whammy may be more difficult to be whorkable. What else is attractive about the bottom one that you'd like in the top one?

[newey]

What's interesting is the marketing strategy for the "New Dano" company doing the reissues. They put out only a couple of reissues at a time, and when they come out with a new reissued model, they stop selling the older models.

The two models pictured above (a '59 style and the '67 with the whammy) are no longer available, unless your guitar shop has a few left-overs.

Currently, you can get what they call the "mid-60's" version:



or a " '56 single cutaway" model:



By selling them this way, they keep some of the cachet of "exclusivity", even though they make a ton, they only do so for a limited time.

[Yew]

There are plenty of the old models in stores in the UK

although the humbucker on that 56 could be an intresting sound I would imagine you would have somthing very stratty in parallel, and maybe somthing very...... filtertrony? like a humbucker pinched in?

[ijustwannastrat]

the 12 string DC59 is the best 12 string electric I've ever played. I also played a DC59 with a leo quan bridge. I loved the cleans, but when I got into distortion I couldn't use it for what I needed at the time. Looking back, I should have tried some fuzz.

[andy]

I also had a DC59 12. It was a really well built guitar, but I was stuck playing it through my old Tascam 4 track, because of where I lived at the time. Obviously, it didn't sound so good in that situation so I traded it in for some other thing. As soon as the deal was done, one of the guys in the shop plugged it in and started picking away, and through a proper amp it sounded fantastic. I kick myself occasionally to this day!

[newey]

Andy-

Welcome back!

For our newer members, Andy is probably our longest-standing UK member. We wish we'd hear from him more often!

[andy]

Thanks Newey,

I guess it has been quite a while!

Good to see you again- still shirtless, I see!