I've always believed you never get a second chance at a first impression, that is until I played some of the "new" Danelectro guitars. The Danos sport the same look as the old 1950s-60s originals but these guitars can play! Nate Daniels first made Danelectro amplifiers in 1947, after which he branched out into guitars. He also made all the Silvertone series guitars and amps for Sears & Roebuck. Five years ago Evets Corporation bought the name, and now the new line is made in Korea.
I asked my contact at Danelectro how they can get the quality out of the instruments that they do, plus sell it for such a reasonable price. The secret is that they regularly send QC people to the factory in Korea, plus each guitar is setup in the USA before it hits the stores. He also told me a great story about the origin of the lipstick pickup. It seems that Nate Daniels was always looking for construction materials that were economical and functional. The story goes that Nate was looking for a cover for his pickup and found some actual lipstick cases available in quantity from a cosmetics manufacturer. He tried them, liked how they looked and the rest is history.
The Baritone
Danelectro actually invented this guitar and it quickly caught on as a signature sound for Spaghetti Western soundtracks. The Baritone ($399) is tuned a fourth lower than a standard guitar so the open strings are B-E-A-D-F#-B. This guitar is addictive, the low notes resonate in your chest and you'll groove on playing open chords and single note lines near the metal nut. The look of the guitar is retro 50s-60s and comes in 6 colors; the color of my test model was Commie Red. The body is a plywood frame with a masonite top and back. The inside is hollow, giving it some tone even when it's not plugged into an amp. This model has two alnico lipstick pickups and a screwed on clear plastic pickguard. The concentric volume and tone knobs and the three-position toggle switch have a solid feel and work scratch-free.
The 24-fret rosewood fretboard is attached to a bolt-on maple neck, which is thin and plays very easily. Because of the lowered pitch of the instrument the scale of the neck is more reminiscent of a bass than a guitar, but you quickly adjust. The bridge is fixed, and can be adjusted for intonation although the individual strings cannot. Even so, the guitar was remarkably in tune up and down the neck. There is a truss rod but the neck must be removed to make any adjustments. My only gripe is that the tuners need to be upgraded to add some stability. Actually, Danelectro realizes that some players may want better components, so they offer professional versions of some guitars. The pro version of the Baritone is called the Hodad ($499) and comes with an intonatable bridge, Gotoh tuners and a third pickup.
When you plug this instrument into an amp you really see what a tone-chameleon it is. Just by altering the picking position you can get a wide variety of tone. You can go from clacky bass at the bridge or add some warmth by moving towards the front pickup. This is true with all guitars of course, but with the baritone it's even more pronounced. When you add in the pickup and tone control variations you really get a great tonal palette. The Baritone is fun to play and I highly recommend it.
The Convertible
The Convertible ($299) is a reissue of another Danelectro original. As is the case with their other guitars, the depth of the masonite over plywood body is the length of the first two joints of your pinkie finger. Unlike the other Danos that are sealed and have hollow tone chambers, the convertible is completely hollow with a soundhole with a single lipstick pickup suspended over it. The strings are attached to a harp that suspends the strings over a moveable bridge. The 21-fret neck is easy and fun to play (as are the other Danos I've tried). However, the single pickup doesn't give you the tone variation that the twin pickup versions do. I had the Blue Burst color option and the fit and finish was very nice.
I had two gripes with this model. The pickup is mounted from the inside of the soundhole and vibrates quite a bit when you play. It's very apparent when you play acoustically but doesn't come through the amp. The other gripe is with the bridge. It's floating on three adjustable pinpoint screws, which you can access from the top of the bridge for string height adjustment. The problem is that the bridge can be moved very easily in any direction. This would make for easy intonation but it also makes it too easy to lose that perfect angle once you get it. The convertible also comes in a Pro model, which ups the price to $349 and adds Gotoh tuners and additional color options.
By the way, the Danelectro website is quite excellent. It offers sound files of all the guitars, great pictures, and stats on all the products.
Danelectro Nifty Fifty Amplifier
What can you say about an amp that is slick looking, has a nice tonal variation, a headphone jack, overdrive and retails for $129? Buy TWO! The first thing that strikes you about this 15W solid-state amp is its retro look. The combination of the two-tone (creme color and brown) exterior and the plaid speaker grill is eye candy. There is a heavy-duty leather handle at the top but heavy-duty is overkill because this amp weighs in at a svelte 15lbs. The dimensions are approx. 12"x12" and 6" deep at the bottom.
The tone, volume and on/off controls are mounted at the back of the amp on a recessed panel facing upwards. The AC plug and headphone jack are around the back of the amp. When headphones are plugged into the ¹" jack, the single 8" speaker is defeated turning the Fifty into a practice amp. Various combinations of the master volume and overdrive control gives you a variety of tones from crystal clean to downright nasty. The overdrive isn't stellar and definitely has that solid-state sound but it's fun to be able to have this kind of flexibility in an amp at this price and size. There are bass, mid and treble tone controls that offer a good amount of tonal variety. There are 4 screw-on feet at the bottom giving it a solid base to stand on. Construction, execution and fit and finish are excellent. At this price and with these features it's hard to find an excuse not to own at least one of these amps.
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