NBD - ugly duck
 

I just picked this up used on a whim. Pulled it down from the hanger at GC just to see what one felt like and fell in love with the weight, balance and sound. The price was right so I bought it.
It's my first Danelectric Bass and I'll be the first to say you either love the look or hate it but once you get beyond that (if you need to) these little short scale things are pretty cool sounding. It has rounds right now, I'll probably replace those with flats. It's the first bass that I actually feel comfortable playing with a pic (I've always been a finger player) and it really gives off some cool retro surf vibes when picked. It's dead quiet when soloing eiter pickup (which I didn't expect) and has relatively good intonation for a goofy rosewood bridge. All around just a fun player and so increadibly light you'll forget you have it on.
If you haven't had a chance to try one of these give it a swing, for the price not a bad choice. I think this one is a Korean late 90's model but I'm not sure. If anyone has a clue on how to date or ID this bass speak up.
Enjoy the ugly duck pics (a face only a Mother could love)...

That's great! Hardly an "ugly duck", I'd say it's more like a two-headed dodo. :-) Seriously, I don't get what people don't like about these longhorns; to me they just look retro-cool.

I didn't realize they had 24-fret necks. How does the sound hold up when you get way up there---is there enough treble, or does it choke out a bit?

-NT

That looks terrible in my opinion, but it is really nice to see an interesting NBD (because I have never seen a Squier VM before :D)

I do love the color scheme though, not enough people offer a white with burst in any colour.

Actually the tone and punch holds up great from the 12th on up. Depending on which string I'm on the intonation can get a little off that far up the neck but I can compensate for that to a degree and I really don't play much beyond the 12th anyway, so not a real problem so far. I have to say the fret job and action isn't bad at all for a cheapo bass and the sound is just incredible.
The only weak links I've seen so far are the not very adjustible rosewood bridge and the light weight guitar tuners. I've heard the tuners aren't a problem if you use light gage or light tension short scale strings made specifically for this bass (La Bella flats I think). So I might try some of those or maybe some TI Jazz flats.

I can't argue the looks with you. The body and headstock shape and cream/baby blue burst (looks like it came out of a kids nursey, maybe I'll hang a powder blue pacificer from the headstock;)) looks butt ugly to me. Funny thing is, it's sooo different and sooo out there it kinda goes from dork to cool once you start playing it. The sound is just amazing.

That thing is disgustingly gross. I'd rock it. I've never played one, but heard a guy at a gig playing one and it was pretty raw and rude sounding.

I think since the OP refers to it as "ugly" the rest of us are absolved of all guilt breaking the TB ugly rule.

Yep,butt-ugly and Way-cool! :bassist:

A relatively accurate sound clip (not me playing) on what this butt ugly bass is capable of on the low end. I guess ugly doesn't go clear to the bone on this one, cause there's some real beautiful sounds that come out of it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKPUv...feature=fvwrel

I think this guy is channeling Hendrix...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Ye8xYKfvA

Darn...I got a video-game advert at the beginning, and I was hoping the "mild cartoon violence" warning applied to the bass video! :-)

I like that slightly farty attack he's getting; it's not a hi-fi bass sound, obviously, but it's one of those sounds where when you want it, you want it. I've been listening to David Thomas a lot lately and noticing that he makes a lot of use of similar bass sounds, though I'm not sure how many of them actually come from a bass guitar.

This thread is not doing anything to make my GAS for a Longhorn go away. Sigh...

-NT

I had that exact bass, grabbed it locally for $150 bucks. The color was pretty strange but the bass sounded great, really ric like in tone. It played awesome as well. I sold it for $300.

I used to have this exact same bass..... I had it in college -- maybe thats mine!? It def sounds cool and weighs nothing---- kind of plasticy feeling but who cares? One thing I wish it had was different knobs. Anyway, awesome!

sweet even if it is a little ugly.
on an interesting sidenote:john entwhistle played my generation on a dano.

That's correct. I think the classic driving bass line solo intro from the song "Radar Love" was also done on a Longhorn bass IIRC.

I don't think those are ugly at all, unique yes but very cool. Fun to play!

I did recall correct... Radar Love (with Longhorn bass)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQjqqy2hhDA

I Danos

While legend has it that the late great Ox played "My Generation" on a dano, he broke a string on a gig the night before the session. He couldn't find a replacement string in time, and the song was actually recorded with a Fender jazz bass. Strange but true.

I always feel like I am going to snap these things in half when I pick them up. Cool, very distinctive sound though....

Nice! I've always wanted one - Garry Tallent played one on a lot of the earlier Springsteen stuff. Bruce Thomas had one too, though I'm not sure what songs he used it on.

I've never played one of these but there must be something to them since so many professionals have played them over the years. They look really cheap to me. And ugly. Maybe one day I'll get a chance to play one. If I can get past the look of it. :cool: