60s Danelectro Shorthorn

[Lo-E]

I’m a little late arriving this this thread. I have a ’69 Dan Armstrong/Danelectro singlecut and I use the LaBella strings designed for these basses. They’re expensive, yes, but I’ve never needed to replace them and they’re over 15 years old. Maybe closer to 20. I highly recommend them.

As far as the ball ends go, I’ll look and see what’s going on when I get home this evening. I’m pretty sure I didn’t need to modify anything. I’ll let you know what I find.

 

[BassCajon]

This one is Tone, then Volume. the swich is a 3 way les paul style that i havent quite figured out the functioning of yet aside from a series/parallel thing.

Edit: This is definitely wrong. You can't have series without 2 coils, and this has a single coil lipstick pickup. It switches between two capicitors. a .01uf and something else.

 

[BassCajon]

I’m a little late arriving this this thread. I have a ’69 Dan Armstrong/Danelectro singlecut and I use the LaBella strings designed for these basses. They’re expensive, yes, but I’ve never needed to replace them and they’re over 15 years old. Maybe closer to 20. I highly recommend them.

As far as the ball ends go, I’ll look and see what’s going on when I get home this evening. I’m pretty sure I didn’t need to modify anything. I’ll let you know what I find.

Hey thanks. Mine has the flat plate style bridge with a single mount and 2 screws that the bridge sits on for height.
I may have the same Labellas as yours. Model 760-FD. wondering if the best thing here is to raise the bridge and try to work with the ball ends.

 

[Lo-E]

Here’s a batch of crappy phone pics that might give you an idea about bridge position and the tenuous means by which the ball ends hang onto the beveled back edge of the bridge. Even though it looks really precarious, I’ve never had one come loose. These instruments don’t really lend themselves to super aggressive playing and I’m sure that helps.

Also worth noting is that the neck on mine is flat in the pocket. I don’t think the tilt adjustment is even there. I’ve never had a reason to pull the neck so I can’t tell you if it’s shimmed but it doesn’t look like it.

Please forgive the strip of foam photobombing the bridge. It’s an integral part of this bass for me.

 

[HaphAsSard]

I use the LaBella strings designed for these basses. They’re expensive, yes, but I’ve never needed to replace them and they’re over 15 years old. Maybe closer to 20.

I may have the same Labellas as yours. Model 760-FD.

...Almost.
The D, A and E strings in the old version of the La Bella 760-FD had even thinner gauges than the current one (.042"-.053"-.06"-.079" vs. .042"-.056"-.065"-.083").
As regards the size of the ball ends, I've no idea if there's been any change.

 

[BassCajon]

Here’s a batch of crappy phone pics that might give you an idea about bridge position and the tenuous means by which the ball ends hang onto the beveled back edge of the bridge. Even though it looks really precarious, I’ve never had one come loose. These instruments don’t really lend themselves to super aggressive playing and I’m sure that helps.

Also worth noting is that the neck on mine is flat in the pocket. I don’t think the tilt adjustment is even there. I’ve never had a reason to pull the neck so I can’t tell you if it’s shimmed but it doesn’t look like it.

Thanks for the pics.
My issue is the large ball ends and whether or not i can work with them by raising the bridge up for the clearance along with shimming the neck before i eventually fill the hole for the micro tilt. This might be the better option for now. And i wanna play this thing man.
I'll also see if i can get some smaller ball ends somewhere.

 

[BassCajon]

Update:

I picked up the LaBellas, wound up braking the D string trying to manipulate it, and quickly got a replacement string sent out. I also picked up one of those adjustable Danelectro bridges, although i didn't use it.

So yea I got it working and playing great with the micro tilt in use, although not set too extreme. With that, I was able to get a good angle from the bridge posts. The ball ends just need to be flush with the top, almost touching it.
Thanks for the help!