The secret to Danelectro guitars is their use of old growth tone wood masonite grown exclusively in the factories of northern New Jersey. Accept no substitutes if you really want that unique bright and warm mellow vintage tone that only old growth masonite tone wood can bring.
Don't forget, Masonite ain't what it used to be. Eisenhower era Masonite was the really good 33rd degree Freemasonite, and the Merrovigian overlords halted all production of it after the Vietnam War. It's now reserved only for the backs of the furniture and the clipboards of the ultra elite, like the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds, and certain selected members of the British Royal family. You must not inquire too persistently into the reasons for this, lest you end up like princess Diana. Just play your old Dano and enjoy it, but don't ask too many questions. I gotta go now. I have to patch a hole in the ol' tinfoil hat.
I INSTANTLY subscribed when you started the phrase "guitar are made to be fun, give us enjoinment, not a status symbol etc" , i always want to support people with a healthy mindset. You gained a subscription at 2:48. Greetings from Cyprus
To remove stubborn knobs - use two desert or soup spoons. Put them opposite each other on the opposite sides of the knob (convex side down, bowl side up) and push down the handles gently to lever the knob up from both sides. Saw this in a guitar magazive many years ago, the broad bowl of a spoon doesn't leave any marks on the guitar or knob but you could always use a credit card under each spoon bowl to protect if you want.. I've used this technique on my most precious guitars in the past, never any damage.
Been using the spoons trick to remove stubborn guitar knobs for decades. As long as you can get the spoon's tips under the rim of the knob on each side, works perfectly every time!
ABSOLUTLY....fascinating... !!! I ... almost... bought a Danelectro 6 years ago, just like the one you disassembled. Loved the sound, tone and ,"voice" of it ... and the price ... It was $299.00 plus tax (and plus a case...and any other "add-ons" I might want to include...)... at a well-known music chain. I'm pro multi-instrument musician (with guitar as primary), and songwriter/composer...former Live/touring, etc Your vid just REALLY opened my eyes --- to a LOT of things in this area of musical knowledge, etc.
The metal casing for the pickups is not surplus lipstick tubes, but the were made by the company that made the Max Factor lipstick tubes. Probably a little larger in diameter also.
It’s probably worth pointing out that Nat Daniel isn’t the only guitar maker out there who didn’t come from a background in luthiery. Leo Fender was another example.
The design reminds me of the French Deux Chevaux by Citroën. They had the exact same approach, find the cheapest way to assemble a car, make it work and do the maintenance. It's all very clever engineering, almost soviet like when there's shortage on everything and every penny (or Ruble) counts! Thanks for this video, it's very interesting and you also have a clever approach.
This was such a cool video - I truly loved it! I have one of the newer masonite Danelectro’s with a metal Wilkinson tremolo bridge. But it still has the double lipstick humbucker pickup in the bridge and still has the Danelectro chime and I love it. It was so cool for me to see how these guitars are constructed because I’ve always wondered what was inside of my guitar as I knew they were hollow but that was about it.
I waited a couple years for a late 90s U1 to pop up in used listings, and finally got one just like yours a few years ago and love it. Really nice rosewood fretboard on it! I don't see me ever trying to "upgrade" the bridge like some do. I love the bridge with rosewood saddle. Even the "Made in Korea" sticker on the back of headstock is in great shape! I like the Plum U1 so much, I'm watching this vid going; that's beautiful, I must have one........and I have one.
Really informative video on Dano's and the construction methods used. As for building your own, go for it! I built a DC 59' copy with a single pickup like the U1, although with a slight slant. Made the neck from readily available woods at the hardware store and the fret board used to be the gate post from my neighbors garden. The only purchased items were the tuners, frets, electronics, strap buttons and the pickup. I love playing it and it sounds great, also the range of tones available with a single pickup and a 3-way switch are pretty amazing.
Yes.. was going to point that out also.. ironically.. I live about 10 min away from red bank. The building in red bank for many years was a stair mfg company and my interior stairs in my house were built and designed there.. and I recently found out it was the original Danelectro building.
I bought my Tan Dan at Mars Music in Nashville in the late 90's for about 120.00. It's been tuned to DADGAD most of the time and sounds wonderfully skronky . Thanx for this video..it was illuminating!
This video popped up in my feed today. Great video, Keith. Thanks. A few years ago, I was gifted a first reissue 56 U2 (single cutaway) by a good friend. It looks like the same color as the DC you took apart. I researched it when I got it and found a catalog in an online Danelectro fan site. It said that color was called "Commie Red"!
Yeah… there a bunch. I showed the folks I could find pictures of holding and/playing in a way that it is easy to see it was a Dano… that’s harder then you might think.
When you apply an equivalent dollar calculation to the 1954 prices, they were still pretty expensiev guitars. The $189.95 model is $2168 in 2023 dollars, the $38.95 model, $445.
I've owned several Dano 12s over the years; I really like the one with the F-hole. There are some great hacks you can do with the bridges to get both perfect intonation and also level the string height!@@TheTapeFarm
Very great informative Vid. I especially like the Intro, where you`re asking about what a guitar may cost and that it`s a tool to bring a smile on peoples faces...very true! But then, I was kinda shellshocked...I cannot believe that the scratch Plate was/is glued to the Top!!!!??? What the hell....?
I wire my (bass) guitars in series. It provides a deeper tone. I really want a Danelectro bass, and I'm glad to learn they are wired in series. If they were wired in parallel, I suspect it would have a horribly thin sound. There is math to go with this, concerning how pickups as inductors create low pass or high pass circuits, depending on how the pickups are wired.
Parallel vs series: parallel - signal from each pickup goes directly to the output. series - output from one pickup goes directly to the OTHER pickup, thus providing it with a boosted signal, making the series output significantly greater when both pickups are selected… ‘Simples’! (UK-ism)
I just read an article just last night about how Jimmy Page guitar tech made a more modern bridge for his black Dano. Page played it and told him to put the rosewood bridge back on. It sounded better to him and I think you’re right it’s part of the Dano, mystique and part of that wonderful sound. they say you can’t policy turd, but clearly they did here. I have a danelectro Korean made 12 string that is really the best 12 string I’ve ever played in fact, modern guitar had an article of 2022’s 10 best 12 string guitars. Of course, there was Taylor, Martin, and some other wonderful acoustics, but there was one Electric and it was the Danelectro 12 String. I also on a 1999 Dano, longhorn bass that is phenomenal.
@6.50--Get one of those plastic bags you find in the vegetable section of the market, then wind a section of it under the entire knob. Work it up little-by-little and the knob will be pulled free with no damage to anything except perhaps the plastic bag. (Don't leave the bag lying around if their are infants or toddlers around.). Try it. Works well with any instrument with push-on knobs.
Nice video! Wonder if replacing some components like the wooden screws, soft rubber mat for the pickups, etc. would improve the tone of the guitar. Sometimes simple little things makes a big difference. 🎸🎸
Very cool to see the photograph of Richard Thompson with a Danelectro, I hadn't seen that before even though I've been a fan of his for decades. David Lindley should have been pictured as well since he played a 2 pickup Danelectro (the amp & case guitar, minus the amp case) on big stages around the world with his 1980s mutant reggae jam-band ElRayo-X; check out the three German concerts ---- Rockpalast, Loreley and Metropol Berlin ---- featuring ElRayo-X on TH-cam, as well as the Reggae on the River performance of "Quarter of a Man" to see and hear the Danelectro in action. Lindley also played the Dano 6-string bass (it's actually a baritone guitar) on records, such as "Your Old Lady" from the first ElRayo-X record. The opening chords of "The Boulevard" by Jackson Browne is quite obviously Lindley on a Danelectro, though I can't tell if it's a regular or baritone guitar. As for the Who, John Entwistle played a Danelectro bass for the original recording of My Generation and was playing one on stage around that time, but he kept breaking strings, and the short scale round wound strings weren't available separately in England at the time; so when he broke a string he went out and bought a whole new Danelectrol bass. He ended up with 3 of them!
That also explains why lipstick pickups are three-wire. If they wanted to go really cheap, they could have settled with two wire (Hot and ground), but then series wiring would not be possible.
Great video. It was nice to see the innards of your Dano. I have a Vintage 12 string with 56' vintage pickups, in the Dark Aqua color and I wanted to see inside, but I really didn't want to take it apart. It is new enough that it doesn't have the white tape trim. I heard someone playing it in the guitar store. They were playing a Byrds song, and I thought it was a Rickenbacker. It has a really similar jangly sound. It's close enough for me that I'm not really interested in spending spending 3 1/2 times more money get get a Rickenbacker.
Is that a purple Peavey Patriot hanging up by itself on the right behind you? I had a black one and those are sweet guitars with awesome maple necks!! Whatever it is I love me a purple guitar 💜
It’s actually a Kramer Baretta Special. I did a review on it you can check out if you’d like. Since the review I’ve upgraded the pickup and trem system. Super fun guitar to play. And like the Peavey, the neck is great.
The aluminum nut on your reissue Dano looks to have been properly cut and filed the same way you would see a bone or plastic nut cut and filed on a Fender or Gibson, to pinch or choke off the string vibration at that point, but on the original early Dano's the nut has big rectangular notches with a fair bit of slop and play, and therefore having the potential for some string buzzing at that point. If you watch closeups of David Lindley playing his Danelectro on stage, he has a capo directly over the nut, and probably something filling in those notches so that the capo puts downward pressure on the strings and pinches them off where they enter the big notches in the nut. Be careful with those Magic Sponges, they're made of melamine laminate which has been foamed up with air, very useful, but they have an abrasive sandpaper effect, especially when dry. Always test on an inconspicuous area first to make sure it won't damage the finish.
I have recently purchased a 90’s Danelectro Hodad which had been comprehensively rebuilt by a very clever luthier. It is no longer a Danelectro, and I am not sure what it is, other than it is now my favourite instrument.
Sorry if this video bursts the bubble of some guitar snobs. Tonewood is bs. Some guitars were made of plexiglass, others of plastic. Why not Masonite and plywood?
Danelectro amplifiers incorporated tremolo circuits a decade or so before Fender did! I read somewhere that they were the 1st amplifier manufacturer to do so. (Sidebar: I never refer to a tremolo circuit as "vibrato" ---- that honorific belongs to Magnatone amplifiers).
Like the video but you tore down a reissue Dano. While some of the building techniques are similar to the original designs, there were many different built techniques used previously. Cool video nonetheless 👍🏼
Danos are cool! They shouldn’t sound good given the almost Rube Goldberg design, but they do! My cousin and I started playing acoustic in 1962, two years later we got electrics. I got a St George-branded Teisco with a little Melody amp, and he got a Danelectro-built Silvertone with the amp built into the case. I used to wonder why his single-pickup Silvertone sounded better through my little amp than my two-pickup St George did! (Nothing sounded good through the amp-in-case.). Fast-forward forty years, and I got a new Danelectro DC-12 in Purple Sparkle. First 12-string I’d had since 1966, when I got a Vox Phantom XII. My Dano 12, of course, is way better than the Vox was, but almost anything is better than the Vox was. The Dano plays better than a Rickenbacker-I have a tough time with the narrow necks on most Rick 12s. I seem to be acquiring 12-strings-in 2019 I got a Fender Electric XII reissue-I’d only been waiting 50 years for Fender to bring those back, as I couldn’t afford one when I was a teenager in the ‘60s. Still got the Danelectro, though! And I’d love to find one of the 6/12-string doublenecks that Dano made in the early 2000s! They haven’t brought those back either-come on, Dano-get on it!
I noticed that the compartment that holds the wiring is not lined with copper sheet My danelectro is an old original model Bought it for 25 dollars back in the seventies
Awesome video! I wish you had gone into the tuners. I've got a 2010's DC '59 and would really love to replace the stock 3 on a plate tuners. I tried a couple of different makes, 3 on a plate but nothing was an easy swap so it's clear that individual 3 left, 3 right would be the way to go..... or is it??? OR is leaving it stock a better idea? It doesn't look like your model has the 3 on a plate tuners. One other thing - the pickguard seems to be plastered to the guitar body. Is there a good reason for that? Did you reapply some kind of adhesive when reattaching?
Tuners came and went if I remember. Different types depending on the year and model. That said pretty much any 3+3 tuner set should work. There were some that also had 6 in line tuners so it’s really going to depend on the guitar. The only ones I would leave as stock as possible are the one s where the tuners are working (ain’t broke, don’t fix it), and original Danos/Silvertones. Other that use use what works. I dig Hipshot tuners. They work great and usually don’t break the bank.
I love that you’re paying tribute to Danelectro guitars. I love them and they deserve much more credit for their input. But, how come your video intro didn’t include Duane Eddy. If HE hadn’t used a Danelectro 6-string bass on his early work, I doubt whether many of the other artists in your intro would have ever picked one up. 😎
@@TheTapeFarm I hope you didn't mind me mentioning it. Duane always used his Gretsch or his Guild guitars for album cover pics, probably because they were considered prettier than the Dano, which he played on most of the tracks for his third album, "The Twang's The Thang" in 1959.
Not hard to understand the mojo in a Danelectro.. I kind of view them as the Caddilac of cigar box guitars, fully optioned up.. which in no way reduces their status as a great instrument. No other six string in my collection gives me the gorgeous resonant tones I get out of my U2, I love that guitar.
Very close on the history. Been a fan of Danelectro from early on. Have an original '59 dc-2 that's been re-wrapped, re-guarded, re-knobbed, and re-tunered, and she plays like new. If you saw the neck-wear you'd know why! In the post-apocalypse of MCA there were some leftover guitar parts. Dan Armstrong got some. Got some of those in my Dan Armstrong Modified Danelectro. ;D Dan went on to a 'clearer' future with Ampeg. Not entirely sure, but it seems like Reverend stole the recipe for secret sauce? Just kidding. ;P It really doesn't take endangered exotic tone-woods to make a resonant guitar. If Nate could do it with Masonite I might have to try some Formica?! ;O
@@TheTapeFarm The budget doesn't allow for one of the Ampeg Lucites, but I was lucky enough to get the Modified and keep up with the mortgage. Still got a piece of history that sounds incredible and was made by a true master. Just knowing that he had his hands on this one makes it mean that much more to me. ;D
I really enjoyed the episode, I own two Danos myself Which I will never part with. Plus I agree with you about the the bridge, I does mellow out the sound of the guitar, simple tech that really works. I must say if you ever want to sell your U1 I'm interested. PS i love the Chickens, very cute.
Absolutely makes some difference in tone. But as others have explained far better than me here in TH-cam with electric guitars pickups, hardware and electronics make up the majority of an electric guitar’s tone. Construction plays some part, but very little.
The next best thing to an original REAL Danelectro were the Jerry Jones series. In fact they were better in many ways. Especially in their resale value. The sweat shop derived 90’s and after “Danelectros” are ok at best in comparison.
yes that other stuff matters... it makes it sound and play different, which is implied in the title of your video; otherwsie, there'd be no danelectro 'mojo' for you to look into 😊
It just doesn’t matter to the point some people, mainly marketing companies, would have you believe. There are many things that make an electric guitar sound the it does, but the 2 most important are the pickups and the speaker. Everything else with the amp being number 3 fall into place well behind those 2 things. There are many videos on TH-cam that prove that point so I won’t belabor it here.
I enjoyed your history of Dano... but a couple things. Looks like you disproved your own statement that it doesn't matter what the guitar is made of. Let's see... the mojo comes from things like aluminum nut, rosewood saddle on metal plate etc. .... that's ok. If it was me, I'd have installed a Switchcraft jack in that guitar. Plus you're wrong about the binding tape coming off being "no big deal" .. I think it is. But that's just me. Maybe you meant that reattaching the tape is no big deal. If so... you should have shown how you did it. If you didn't reattach it, you should.
Hard to be “wrong” about an opinion. No big deal to me, big deal to you.. ok. Didn’t fix it because… it’s no big deal. It’s just cosmetic. It is easy to fix… usually just using a blow dryer to heat up the tape and mold it back into place. If that doesn’t work the tape would need to be replaced. My statement wasn’t that it doesn’t matter what materials are used, it was obsessing over the materials is pointless. Naturally if you make a guitar out of paper-mâché it probably won’t work out. So the materials have to be capable of performing. But the obsession some folks have with the types of wood being used, and the building techniques being employed are largely pointless when it come to electric guitars. That was my point.
Of course it matters what it's made of. And, unkess youre Elon Musk, it matters how much it costs, too. The point is, though...that while mahogany single cut body with maple carved cap and another mahogany set neck + rosewood finger board guitars that are priced well within the several thousand dollar range, are fantastic,! We have unanimously agreed, as the guitar community, that these guitars...be they Gibson, Gretsvh, Epiphone etc,... that construction recipe creates a certain sound .most of us really like. Dano's have their own construction recipe. And even though their mandate was to make a Fender type of guitar but for much less - it isn't the low price that gets people liking these - its the unique tone these strange guitars put out. It didnt sound , or even look, like a Fender, only cheaper ...it looked totally original...and sounded totally original. Now, this is where the price matters... Danos were kind of like the chilli flakes in your spice rack, while Fender & Gibson were like the salt & pepper. If Danos were expensive...not many people would get them, seeings it was never to be their primary - or even secondary one. Since it was such a niche sound, its'cheap price helped facilitate its' wide spread picking up as a 3rd, 4th....17tg guitar!
You forgot to mention Jerry Joneso Nashvilsle who was making the best replicas of the original Danos. And was making them four yrs before Ridinger, also firgor about Dan Armstrong’s associstion with Danelectro. There is still a dispute about osnership , Dan bought all of the inventory of the original Dano factory. Steve R claimed it belonged to him a# did Dan , Again nearly all the t8necin the US justice syst3m. He who has thec money always wins.. However Steve R lost his suit againts Jerry Jones, Steve R dies o2bs tg3 Name, but the body ab$ peghead shape (trade dress) he lost on prior art. There were Dano copies made by msny ithe4 c9mpsnies before Steve R, one from Itaky, three compsnies in japan,, So Korea, the UK, germsny, Canada three in the USA. I was the main witness for Jerry and broughtvall my cakagoues, photo, notes to the desposition in Nashville. btw. St3v3cwas sued by VOX for selling Vox30 ammplifiers be called them FOXX amps
Yup good info. Thanks! I knew some of that mostly the Dan Armstrong stuff, but I did cut out it because it is a bit convoluted and a inside baseball kind of thing. A really fascinating story of something that is truly greater than the sum of it’s parts.
What I find the most amusing is the guitar company’s these days try to convince you that buying a guitar made out of an exotic wood is going to improve the way your playing sounds. “Tonewood”, a scientifically debunked theory, It’s all the rage with the ignorant and uneducated, But it works for guitar companies they are selling record amounts of “tonewood” guitars.
The neck, he showed said, made in USA. But the new ones are made in Korea and China. I know the new Harmony's are made in the USA. I just got a Vintage 1960 Harmony Stratotone. Man, you really FU that guitar,
I showed a picture of a neck that showed the “Steel Reinforced” label that was made in the US. The guitars I have were both made in Korea. Not sure what I “FUd”. The guitar plays and sounds awesome.
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The secret to Danelectro guitars is their use of old growth tone wood masonite grown exclusively in the factories of northern New Jersey. Accept no substitutes if you really want that unique bright and warm mellow vintage tone that only old growth masonite tone wood can bring.
#truth
Don't forget, Masonite ain't what it used to be. Eisenhower era Masonite was the really good 33rd degree Freemasonite, and the Merrovigian overlords halted all production of it after the Vietnam War. It's now reserved only for the backs of the furniture and the clipboards of the ultra elite, like the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds, and certain selected members of the British Royal family. You must not inquire too persistently into the reasons for this, lest you end up like princess Diana. Just play your old Dano and enjoy it, but don't ask too many questions. I gotta go now. I have to patch a hole in the ol' tinfoil hat.
😂😂🎉
😂😂😂😂
Well said that man! 👏👏
I INSTANTLY subscribed when you started the phrase "guitar are made to be fun, give us enjoinment, not a status symbol etc" , i always want to support people with a healthy mindset. You gained a subscription at 2:48. Greetings from Cyprus
To remove stubborn knobs - use two desert or soup spoons. Put them opposite each other on the opposite sides of the knob (convex side down, bowl side up) and push down the handles gently to lever the knob up from both sides. Saw this in a guitar magazive many years ago, the broad bowl of a spoon doesn't leave any marks on the guitar or knob but you could always use a credit card under each spoon bowl to protect if you want.. I've used this technique on my most precious guitars in the past, never any damage.
Nice. Thanks! Spoons are cool.
Or just get a knob puller.
Knob puller😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Never gets old.
Been using the spoons trick to remove stubborn guitar knobs for decades. As long as you can get the spoon's tips under the rim of the knob on each side, works perfectly every time!
ABSOLUTLY....fascinating... !!!
I ... almost... bought a Danelectro 6 years ago, just like the one you disassembled. Loved the sound, tone and ,"voice" of it ... and the price ... It was $299.00 plus tax (and plus a case...and any other "add-ons" I might want to include...)... at a well-known music chain. I'm pro multi-instrument musician (with guitar as primary), and songwriter/composer...former Live/touring, etc
Your vid just REALLY opened my eyes --- to a LOT of things in this area of musical knowledge, etc.
Thanks Douglas! Danos are some of my favorite guitars. Very versatile. $300 for one is a steal these days.
The metal casing for the pickups is not surplus lipstick tubes, but the were made by the company that made the Max Factor lipstick tubes. Probably a little larger in diameter also.
It’s probably worth pointing out that Nat Daniel isn’t the only guitar maker out there who didn’t come from a background in luthiery. Leo Fender was another example.
The design reminds me of the French Deux Chevaux by Citroën. They had the exact same approach, find the cheapest way to assemble a car, make it work and do the maintenance. It's all very clever engineering, almost soviet like when there's shortage on everything and every penny (or Ruble) counts! Thanks for this video, it's very interesting and you also have a clever approach.
That’s a really good comparison.
This was such a cool video - I truly loved it! I have one of the newer masonite Danelectro’s with a metal Wilkinson tremolo bridge. But it still has the double lipstick humbucker pickup in the bridge and still has the Danelectro chime and I love it. It was so cool for me to see how these guitars are constructed because I’ve always wondered what was inside of my guitar as I knew they were hollow but that was about it.
I waited a couple years for a late 90s U1 to pop up in used listings, and finally got one just like yours a few years ago and love it. Really nice rosewood fretboard on it! I don't see me ever trying to "upgrade" the bridge like some do. I love the bridge with rosewood saddle. Even the "Made in Korea" sticker on the back of headstock is in great shape! I like the Plum U1 so much, I'm watching this vid going; that's beautiful, I must have one........and I have one.
Very cool. Didn’t know what I didn’t know about these guitars. Looking forward to seeing you build your own.
Great video, full of information, definitely learned something new today! Love the channel!
Really informative video on Dano's and the construction methods used. As for building your own, go for it!
I built a DC 59' copy with a single pickup like the U1, although with a slight slant. Made the neck from readily available woods at the hardware store and the fret board used to be the gate post from my neighbors garden. The only purchased items were the tuners, frets, electronics, strap buttons and the pickup.
I love playing it and it sounds great, also the range of tones available with a single pickup and a 3-way switch are pretty amazing.
What puzzles me is, if they are made of such cheap materials, why are they so expensive? One of the mysteries of life.
LABOR ! It's the biggest cost factor in anything we buy , be it a product or a service !!!
@@MitchellMaichak-ze7mr I get that, but they are built cheaply, not like Gibbons or fenders. They aren't made in USA either!
@@TheTwangKings
Yes. And this would probably warp and explode in a damp country like Ireland! 😂
@@GG-jw8pt ...and in Quebec too! Damp AND bloody cold 🥶 🤧 😫
Exclusively brand image. You can easily make one yourself.
Actually started in Red Bank NJ before Neptune
Yes.. was going to point that out also.. ironically.. I live about 10 min away from red bank. The building in red bank for many years was a stair mfg company and my interior stairs in my house were built and designed there.. and I recently found out it was the original Danelectro building.
Great video, man! Thanks for the history lesson. Always interesting to hear more about guitar stuff.
I bought my Tan Dan at Mars Music in Nashville in the late 90's for about 120.00.
It's been tuned to DADGAD most of the time and sounds wonderfully skronky .
Thanx for this video..it was illuminating!
This is a superbly informative AND FUN Dano video! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and insights with us!
Thank you for this unique, indispensable and fun as he'll video. Keep making great stuff please.
Wow thanks Joe!
Great video. I agree with you. Too many people worry about wood and this or that.
Awesome video man I bought one of the 7 strings in the 90s wrote alot of unique songs with it. Thanks for the history lesson
This video popped up in my feed today. Great video, Keith. Thanks.
A few years ago, I was gifted a first reissue 56 U2 (single cutaway) by a good friend. It looks like the same color as the DC you took apart. I researched it when I got it and found a catalog in an online Danelectro fan site. It said that color was called "Commie Red"!
Yup. Commie Red. I had a U2 in that color as well. Awesome guitar. Thanks for the kind words.
I just got a 63 Dano from the local Advertisements for $150. I really really like it. I’m playing it more than my $2000 guitars.
Forgot about Rick Miller of southern culture on the skids he may not be mainstream but he is a legend
Yeah… there a bunch. I showed the folks I could find pictures of holding and/playing in a way that it is easy to see it was a Dano… that’s harder then you might think.
Danos aren't really "cheap" anymore. But, still worth it! =)
In the big scheme of things they are still pretty inexpensive as guitars go.
My first guitar in 1963 was a 1 pickup black & white Dano…I guess I shoulda kept it
You and Millions of others 😬
Neptune, New Jersey...that was where they used to manufacture Kramer shred guitars back in the big hair metal days of the '80's as well.
When you apply an equivalent dollar calculation to the 1954 prices, they were still pretty expensiev guitars. The $189.95 model is $2168 in 2023 dollars, the $38.95 model, $445.
LOVE my '59-12! Got it because I couldn't afford a Rickenbacker 12 string, glad I got it.
The Dano 12 strings are amazing. Been wanting one for a while.
I've owned several Dano 12s over the years; I really like the one with the F-hole. There are some great hacks you can do with the bridges to get both perfect intonation and also level the string height!@@TheTapeFarm
Never understood why danelectro wasn’t as popular a beginner guitar as epiphone or squire. Instead of “trading up” you can keep it for life
Very great informative Vid. I especially like the Intro, where you`re asking about what a guitar may cost and that it`s a tool to bring a smile on peoples faces...very true! But then, I was kinda shellshocked...I cannot believe that the scratch Plate was/is glued to the Top!!!!??? What the hell....?
It was double sided tape.. but yeah… kinda silly.
Great video! I've always been curious about these guitars. Thanks for sharing!
Always thought these guitars were interesting ! Thanks for the video !
I wire my (bass) guitars in series. It provides a deeper tone. I really want a Danelectro bass, and I'm glad to learn they are wired in series. If they were wired in parallel, I suspect it would have a horribly thin sound. There is math to go with this, concerning how pickups as inductors create low pass or high pass circuits, depending on how the pickups are wired.
Ay, that adhesive... I watched this and was feeling it lol. Most people destroy that pickguard trying to get it off 😂
I came close…
Check the famous dubbleneck danelectro-bass of Rinus Gerritsen from the Golden Earring.
Awsome! a friend of mine gave me a green Dano Pro and its a really original guitar
I love my Dano 59OS. I won't change it for anything in the world
Nice video, I had a LP Custom in the 70's cream /w gold hardware paid less then 1k new - now they cost 3 times as much, sure wish I had of kept it. 👍✌
Very informational, I love it. Its very interesting.🤘🤘
Parallel vs series: parallel - signal from each pickup goes directly to the output. series - output from one pickup goes directly to the OTHER pickup, thus providing it with a boosted signal, making the series output significantly greater when both pickups are selected… ‘Simples’! (UK-ism)
Enjoyed it greatly. Thank you.
Those earlier weird ones are cool looking. Really garage band specials.
Truly, ingenious design/ideal. Price? Really matters.
Google? Really handy! ;)
I just read an article just last night about how Jimmy Page guitar tech made a more modern bridge for his black Dano. Page played it and told him to put the rosewood bridge back on. It sounded better to him and I think you’re right it’s part of the Dano, mystique and part of that wonderful sound. they say you can’t policy turd, but clearly they did here. I have a danelectro Korean made 12 string that is really the best 12 string I’ve ever played in fact, modern guitar had an article of 2022’s 10 best 12 string guitars. Of course, there was Taylor, Martin, and some other wonderful acoustics, but there was one Electric and it was the Danelectro 12 String. I also on a 1999 Dano, longhorn bass that is phenomenal.
A machine that is truly greater than the sum of it’s parts.
Thanks! I appreciate the teardown and the schematic.
Such an odd wiring scheme… but it’s what helps make the magic.
@6.50--Get one of those plastic bags you find in the vegetable section of the market, then wind a section of it under the entire knob. Work it up little-by-little and the knob will be pulled free with no damage to anything except perhaps the plastic bag. (Don't leave the bag lying around if their are infants or toddlers around.). Try it. Works well with any instrument with push-on knobs.
Great tip! Thanks.
Nice video! Wonder if replacing some components like the wooden screws, soft rubber mat for the pickups, etc. would improve the tone of the guitar. Sometimes simple little things makes a big difference. 🎸🎸
I love the way these things sound as is… and for me, that’s saying something. But yeah… little changes can make a huge difference,
thanks great video and to see what they are made of....
Very cool to see the photograph of Richard Thompson with a Danelectro, I hadn't seen that before even though I've been a fan of his for decades. David Lindley should have been pictured as well since he played a 2 pickup Danelectro (the amp & case guitar, minus the amp case) on big stages around the world with his 1980s mutant reggae jam-band ElRayo-X; check out the three German concerts ---- Rockpalast, Loreley and Metropol Berlin ---- featuring ElRayo-X on TH-cam, as well as the Reggae on the River performance of "Quarter of a Man" to see and hear the Danelectro in action. Lindley also played the Dano 6-string bass (it's actually a baritone guitar) on records, such as "Your Old Lady" from the first ElRayo-X record. The opening chords of "The Boulevard" by Jackson Browne is quite obviously Lindley on a Danelectro, though I can't tell if it's a regular or baritone guitar.
As for the Who, John Entwistle played a Danelectro bass for the original recording of My Generation and was playing one on stage around that time, but he kept breaking strings, and the short scale round wound strings weren't available separately in England at the time; so when he broke a string he went out and bought a whole new Danelectrol bass. He ended up with 3 of them!
That also explains why lipstick pickups are three-wire. If they wanted to go really cheap, they could have settled with two wire (Hot and ground), but then series wiring would not be possible.
Great video. It was nice to see the innards of your Dano. I have a Vintage 12 string with 56' vintage pickups, in the Dark Aqua color and I wanted to see inside, but I really didn't want to take it apart. It is new enough that it doesn't have the white tape trim. I heard someone playing it in the guitar store. They were playing a Byrds song, and I thought it was a Rickenbacker. It has a really similar jangly sound. It's close enough for me that I'm not really interested in spending spending 3 1/2 times more money get get a Rickenbacker.
Agreed. The 12 string Dano sounds so much like a Rick it’s uncanny. Been looking for one myself. Great guitars.
Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd also used one
Very informative, thanks.
God bless you for a great vidw/o gift. Excellent you taught me so much in a short amount of time.Merry
Christ mas ...
... and Link Wray!
Is that a purple Peavey Patriot hanging up by itself on the right behind you? I had a black one and those are sweet guitars with awesome maple necks!! Whatever it is I love me a purple guitar 💜
It’s actually a Kramer Baretta Special. I did a review on it you can check out if you’d like. Since the review I’ve upgraded the pickup and trem system. Super fun guitar to play. And like the Peavey, the neck is great.
@@TheTapeFarm Nice!
The aluminum nut on your reissue Dano looks to have been properly cut and filed the same way you would see a bone or plastic nut cut and filed on a Fender or Gibson, to pinch or choke off the string vibration at that point, but on the original early Dano's the nut has big rectangular notches with a fair bit of slop and play, and therefore having the potential for some string buzzing at that point. If you watch closeups of David Lindley playing his Danelectro on stage, he has a capo directly over the nut, and probably something filling in those notches so that the capo puts downward pressure on the strings and pinches them off where they enter the big notches in the nut.
Be careful with those Magic Sponges, they're made of melamine laminate which has been foamed up with air, very useful, but they have an abrasive sandpaper effect, especially when dry. Always test on an inconspicuous area first to make sure it won't damage the finish.
They're great. My wish list: Sitar guitar and DC59. And maybe a 12 string. And maybe a double 6/12. And maybe....😂
You’re speaking my love language.
I have recently purchased a 90’s Danelectro Hodad which had been comprehensively rebuilt by a very clever luthier. It is no longer a Danelectro, and I am not sure what it is, other than it is now my favourite instrument.
Sorry if this video bursts the bubble of some guitar snobs. Tonewood is bs. Some guitars were made of plexiglass, others of plastic. Why not Masonite and plywood?
Plus they are just fun guitars to play. Thanks for watching!
Tone is in the popsicle stick.
Danelectro amplifiers incorporated tremolo circuits a decade or so before Fender did! I read somewhere that they were the 1st amplifier manufacturer to do so. (Sidebar: I never refer to a tremolo circuit as "vibrato" ---- that honorific belongs to Magnatone amplifiers).
Like the video but you tore down a reissue Dano. While some of the building techniques are similar to the original designs, there were many different built techniques used previously. Cool video nonetheless 👍🏼
Danos are cool! They shouldn’t sound good given the almost Rube Goldberg design, but they do! My cousin and I started playing acoustic in 1962, two years later we got electrics. I got a St George-branded Teisco with a little Melody amp, and he got a Danelectro-built Silvertone with the amp built into the case. I used to wonder why his single-pickup Silvertone sounded better through my little amp than my two-pickup St George did! (Nothing sounded good through the amp-in-case.). Fast-forward forty years, and I got a new Danelectro DC-12 in Purple Sparkle. First 12-string I’d had since 1966, when I got a Vox Phantom XII. My Dano 12, of course, is way better than the Vox was, but almost anything is better than the Vox was. The Dano plays better than a Rickenbacker-I have a tough time with the narrow necks on most Rick 12s. I seem to be acquiring 12-strings-in 2019 I got a Fender Electric XII reissue-I’d only been waiting 50 years for Fender to bring those back, as I couldn’t afford one when I was a teenager in the ‘60s. Still got the Danelectro, though! And I’d love to find one of the 6/12-string doublenecks that Dano made in the early 2000s! They haven’t brought those back either-come on, Dano-get on it!
I noticed that the compartment that holds the wiring is not lined with copper sheet
My danelectro is an old original model
Bought it for 25 dollars back in the seventies
Awesome video! I wish you had gone into the tuners. I've got a 2010's DC '59 and would really love to replace the stock 3 on a plate tuners. I tried a couple of different makes, 3 on a plate but nothing was an easy swap so it's clear that individual 3 left, 3 right would be the way to go..... or is it??? OR is leaving it stock a better idea? It doesn't look like your model has the 3 on a plate tuners. One other thing - the pickguard seems to be plastered to the guitar body. Is there a good reason for that? Did you reapply some kind of adhesive when reattaching?
Tuners came and went if I remember. Different types depending on the year and model. That said pretty much any 3+3 tuner set should work. There were some that also had 6 in line tuners so it’s really going to depend on the guitar. The only ones I would leave as stock as possible are the one s where the tuners are working (ain’t broke, don’t fix it), and original Danos/Silvertones. Other that use use what works. I dig Hipshot tuners. They work great and usually don’t break the bank.
Great, fun vid! These guitars rock! Just ask Page!!!!
I love that you’re paying tribute to Danelectro guitars. I love them and they deserve much more credit for their input. But, how come your video intro didn’t include Duane Eddy. If HE hadn’t used a Danelectro 6-string bass on his early work, I doubt whether many of the other artists in your intro would have ever picked one up. 😎
A simple oversight. I thought of a bunch of other people after finalized that part of the video.
@@TheTapeFarm I hope you didn't mind me mentioning it. Duane always used his Gretsch or his Guild guitars for album cover pics, probably because they were considered prettier than the Dano, which he played on most of the tracks for his third album, "The Twang's The Thang" in 1959.
Pete Townshend as your opening guitarist with a dano?! Subscribed!
Pete is one of my all time heroes and influences. True genius.
Not hard to understand the mojo in a Danelectro.. I kind of view them as the Caddilac of cigar box guitars, fully optioned up.. which in no way reduces their status as a great instrument. No other six string in my collection gives me the gorgeous resonant tones I get out of my U2, I love that guitar.
Great video , ...is the Plum one from the 50's .??...I've got a reissue from 98 I guess....
It’s a 90’s reissue as well.
Keep up the good work Keith.. so informative....
Very close on the history. Been a fan of Danelectro from early on. Have an original '59 dc-2 that's been re-wrapped, re-guarded, re-knobbed, and re-tunered, and she plays like new. If you saw the neck-wear you'd know why!
In the post-apocalypse of MCA there were some leftover guitar parts. Dan Armstrong got some. Got some of those in my Dan Armstrong Modified Danelectro. ;D Dan went on to a 'clearer' future with Ampeg.
Not entirely sure, but it seems like Reverend stole the recipe for secret sauce? Just kidding. ;P It really doesn't take endangered exotic tone-woods to make a resonant guitar. If Nate could do it with Masonite I might have to try some Formica?! ;O
Great info, thanks. I forgot about the Dan Armstrong branch of the family tree.
Such amazing guitars. Thanks for adding to the story!
@@TheTapeFarm The budget doesn't allow for one of the Ampeg Lucites, but I was lucky enough to get the Modified and keep up with the mortgage. Still got a piece of history that sounds incredible and was made by a true master. Just knowing that he had his hands on this one makes it mean that much more to me. ;D
@@TheTapeFarm It was kind of a post mortem to the original brand, but the spirit and the tones live on! ;D
I have a 64 gold flake (reissue). Amazing guitar
Very informative. Cheers
19:28 I don’t even have that chrome thing. Lol
I really enjoyed the episode, I own two Danos myself Which I will never part with. Plus I agree with you about the the bridge, I does mellow out the sound of the guitar, simple tech that really works. I must say if you ever want to sell your U1 I'm interested. PS i love the Chickens, very cute.
Artec makes good lipstick pickups that don't break the bank.
I thought that it is semi hallow guitar, might make the difference. I'm guessing
Absolutely makes some difference in tone. But as others have explained far better than me here in TH-cam with electric guitars pickups, hardware and electronics make up the majority of an electric guitar’s tone. Construction plays some part, but very little.
The next best thing to an original REAL Danelectro were the Jerry Jones series. In fact they were better in many ways. Especially in their resale value. The sweat shop derived 90’s and after “Danelectros” are ok at best in comparison.
I like it
Hey Keith I need you to build me a 12 string by next Friday. This is important!
Great video!!!!
Done.... cash up front :^)
yes that other stuff matters... it makes it sound and play different, which is implied in the title of your video; otherwsie, there'd be no danelectro 'mojo' for you to look into 😊
It just doesn’t matter to the point some people, mainly marketing companies, would have you believe. There are many things that make an electric guitar sound the it does, but the 2 most important are the pickups and the speaker. Everything else with the amp being number 3 fall into place well behind those 2 things. There are many videos on TH-cam that prove that point so I won’t belabor it here.
I enjoyed your history of Dano... but a couple things. Looks like you disproved your own statement that it doesn't matter what the guitar is made of. Let's see... the mojo comes from things like aluminum nut, rosewood saddle on metal plate etc. .... that's ok. If it was me, I'd have installed a Switchcraft jack in that guitar. Plus you're wrong about the binding tape coming off being "no big deal" .. I think it is. But that's just me. Maybe you meant that reattaching the tape is no big deal. If so... you should have shown how you did it. If you didn't reattach it, you should.
Hard to be “wrong” about an opinion. No big deal to me, big deal to you.. ok. Didn’t fix it because… it’s no big deal. It’s just cosmetic. It is easy to fix… usually just using a blow dryer to heat up the tape and mold it back into place. If that doesn’t work the tape would need to be replaced.
My statement wasn’t that it doesn’t matter what materials are used, it was obsessing over the materials is pointless. Naturally if you make a guitar out of paper-mâché it probably won’t work out. So the materials have to be capable of performing. But the obsession some folks have with the types of wood being used, and the building techniques being employed are largely pointless when it come to electric guitars. That was my point.
@@TheTapeFarm Thanx for explaining that.
woooooooooooooooooooooooow cool this is yery great cool you are awesome when you do giveaway?
But this one does have a truss rod (and all modern Danelectros do).
Do the recent 59 NOS+ guitars have the rosewood bridge?
No. Adjustable wraparound.
Any idea what a dano 63 in imaculate condition metal bridge worth in pound sterling.
Yeap...i really regret too when i sold my greenlime u1 .
How can you adjust intonation with this tyope of bridge?
By tilting the rosewood block. Much like a floating bridge on an archtop.
I think they're AlNiCo 6 magnets
Yes they are.
Just got my first Dabrlectro guitar. M nos I don’t like the neck. 🤷♂️
That’s actually one of things I love about Danos.. But totally get that.
Man, I want a Dano but I'm broke
So basically these toys will rot in a damp climate (Ireland)?
Do clipboards last in Ireland? If so then you’re probably good.
@@TheTapeFarm
When’s the last time you tried to tune up a clipboard? 🤣👍
@@GG-jw8pt well played sir, well played.
Of course it matters what it's made of.
And, unkess youre Elon Musk, it matters how much it costs, too.
The point is, though...that while mahogany single cut body with maple carved cap and another mahogany set neck + rosewood finger board guitars that are priced well within the several thousand dollar range, are fantastic,! We have unanimously agreed, as the guitar community, that these guitars...be they Gibson, Gretsvh, Epiphone etc,... that construction recipe creates a certain sound .most of us really like.
Dano's have their own construction recipe. And even though their mandate was to make a Fender type of guitar but for much less - it isn't the low price that gets people liking these - its the unique tone these strange guitars put out.
It didnt sound , or even look, like a Fender, only cheaper
...it looked totally original...and sounded totally original.
Now, this is where the price matters...
Danos were kind of like the chilli flakes in your spice rack, while Fender & Gibson were like the salt & pepper.
If Danos were expensive...not many people would get them, seeings it was never to be their primary - or even secondary one.
Since it was such a niche sound, its'cheap price helped facilitate its' wide spread picking up as a 3rd, 4th....17tg guitar!
You forgot to mention Jerry Joneso Nashvilsle who was making the best replicas of the original Danos. And was making them four yrs before Ridinger, also firgor about Dan Armstrong’s associstion with Danelectro. There is still a dispute about osnership , Dan bought all of the inventory of the original Dano factory. Steve R claimed it belonged to him a# did Dan , Again nearly all the t8necin the US justice syst3m. He who has thec money always wins.. However Steve R lost his suit againts Jerry Jones, Steve R dies o2bs tg3 Name, but the body ab$ peghead shape (trade dress) he lost on prior art. There were Dano copies made by msny ithe4 c9mpsnies before Steve R, one from Itaky, three compsnies in japan,, So Korea, the UK, germsny, Canada three in the USA. I was the main witness for Jerry and broughtvall my cakagoues, photo, notes to the desposition in Nashville. btw. St3v3cwas sued by VOX for selling Vox30 ammplifiers be called them FOXX amps
Yup good info. Thanks! I knew some of that mostly the Dan Armstrong stuff, but I did cut out it because it is a bit convoluted and a inside baseball kind of thing. A really fascinating story of something that is truly greater than the sum of it’s parts.
when guitarist all over the world cheat on fender, they all had affair with danelectro.
So true
You have more guitars than Guitar Center.
Currently… perhaps…
But not traditionally. 😬
What I find the most amusing is the guitar company’s these days try to convince you that buying a guitar made out of an exotic wood is going to improve the way your playing sounds. “Tonewood”, a scientifically debunked theory, It’s all the rage with the ignorant and uneducated, But it works for guitar companies they are selling record amounts of “tonewood” guitars.
j j cale
The neck, he showed said, made in USA. But the new ones are made in Korea and China. I know the new Harmony's are made in the USA.
I just got a Vintage 1960 Harmony Stratotone. Man, you really FU that guitar,
I showed a picture of a neck that showed the “Steel Reinforced” label that was made in the US. The guitars I have were both made in Korea. Not sure what I “FUd”. The guitar plays and sounds awesome.
I have a FAB distortion.....junk. Worst OD/distortion ever.
Never had one of those. That Daddy-O OD is something special. Everyone of my buddies who've used mine have gone out and bought one for themselves.
Most of the FAB pedals suck in my opinion, but the og pedals are amazing, the Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus has been my favourite chorus for a long time