This one is mine, a raukus sounding little guitar from Danelectro that when plugged in can howl and squeal with the best of them but also has a really nice shimmery tone when played acousticly. Like all Danelectro’s, it has unique aspects to its construction that give it a remarkable tone, most notably on this model- a wooden saddle upon which the strings sit at the bridge combined with a metal nut at the headstock. |
| Unusual Wooden Saddles on Bridge |
It has no neckplate, instead the neck is held in place by 5 large cross-head or posidrive screws that bore straight into the solid centre section of the body and as can be seen in the (photograph) it has a neck cutaway to allow access to the higher register.
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| Odd neck cutaway and screws instead of neckplate |
The body of the guitar is not entirley solid, it has “Tone Pockets” that give the guitar a resonance and sound quality when amplified not unlike an acoustic guitar.
Played plugged into an amplifier its overall resonance combinied with 2 “Lipstick" style single-coil pickups, one in the bridge and one at the neck and a three way selector switch, delivers a tone that can be adapted to many different playing styles. It also comes equipped with a standard quarter inch jack socket.
The playability of this guitar is sometimes a little awkward as there is no truss rod on this model and with the bridge and body not being of the sturdiest design this reissue does occaisionally suffer from questionable intonation and will need regular adjustment using the three screws that are the action adjusters for the bridge.
The neck has a Rosewood fretboard with 21 frets and pearloid fret markers at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 17th and 19th frets with corresponding fret markers on the top of the neck that can be easily seen. The feel of the neck is smooth and regular and surprisingly solid for such a lightweight guitar. Ideal for smaller guitarists or larger guitarists with smaller fingers. I think overall this guitar has quite a petit yet not too light a feel.
Apart from its unique construction, this guitar looks really cool, in fact, I think that most Danelectro guitars do, including the strangely attractive “Longhorn” bass guitar. Their designs are just a little outside the box and I can’t help but be fascinated by their retro charm. Mine has a paintjob that Danelectro describe as “Aqua” but when I bought it I thought it was more like “sky-Blue”.
Either way it is a nice paintjob and has a tasteful cream colored tape trim with matching machine head keys that add contrast to the browns and blue.
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| Headstock Rear View Showing Machine-Head Detail. |
The scratchplate is clear and also bears the Danelectro “D” logo (and is a little yellowed with age on my guitar).
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| Clear Plastic Scratchplate with Danelectro"D" Logo |
The headstock has the classic vertical Danelectro logo in cream with the original classic Danelectro headstock shape.
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| Headstock Front View Showing Horizontal Danelctro Logo |
I paid £122.00 brand new for mine at a music store closing down sale back in 2000 and I have to say that it was a bargain for the pure joy this humble little guitar has given me every time I have played it.
Other Danelectro players- Gomez, me... Who else? Jeff Beck, Peter Buck, Billy Brag, Eric Clapton, Ry Cooder, John Fogherty, Elvis Costello.
