Danelectro Longhorn - that aluminum nut

[Winterwind]

Just be aware, there are great techs who don't know Danelectros, and might try to recommend doing something radical. I've never had a problem that couldn't be adjusted away, or fixed with very minor surgery. As discussed above, sometimes tuners fail, or bridge plate fails, and need to be replaced, but not much else. My Danos are dependable, sound nice, and play in tune, with proper maintenance

True. Different brands have different characteristics and quirks.

The setup was good out of the box and when I did my own tweaks I used the specs I found on danguitars.com.

I've made a few tweaks up and down with the pickup height one the low E side to try and fix the weird warble but it's eluding me so far.

Still, I'm sure it'll get sorted.

 

[Jim C]

Had a Fender that the nut was cut too big by me. I used some epoxy to fill, some minor filing, and it works fine.
This was in the 70's so the fix will hold up assuming you can get a good bond between aluminum and the epoxy.

 

[mcgreivey]

I guess I wouldn't think of using epoxy to fix a nut slot--especially an aluminum nut, but then again, I just repaired the pickup bracket on my DC bass with epoxy. The threads where the height adjustment screw threads into the bracket stripped out. I thought of epoxying a nut with the appropriate threads onto the bracket, but I didn't feel like looking for a nut, so I just put a gob of epoxy in and around the hole, waited for it to dry overnight, and drilled a hole into the epoxy and threaded the screw into the hope. Not sure if it will hold up, but it works for now. I suppose it will fail, and I will regret not spending a few minutes looking for a nut, but that will just give me another opportunity to mess with my bass instead of doing something boring.

The thing about fixing things yourself is that it's your own fault when it goes wrong. But that's OK. And you get to brag when you did it right. If you did it right

 

[Winterwind]

I've never done any work beyond basic setup work. Filing slots, fret work etc, I know the theory but no hand on experience. Fortunately I've got a guy I trust. Unfortunately it's 3-4 weeks to get your guitar back but it it what it is.

Now I did discover something interesting...

Some of the issues I was having with the E string were caused by my pedal.

I have a Keeley Bassist Compressor pedal. I turn on the amp, I turn on the pedal. It's just something automatic I do after having the pedal for a year or so.

Well, I forgot to turn on the pedal the other morning and the string sounded ok. The slot still needs work but for some reason, my Longhorn's E and that pedal do not like each other.

With the pedal on, E string warbles on every note, never sounds on pitch and the first three frets sound like opening up a piano and hitting the strings with a mallet. Turn it off, it's fine. It's still a little "off" but I attribute that to the nut needing work and me finally dialing in the pickup height after trying to make it work with the pedal on.

I don't know enough about electronics to figure out why the pedal messes up only that string and only with that bass. I just won't use them together.

 

[mcgreivey]

As much as people say that a compressor is supposed to make me sound better, the two I have (a BBE Opto Stomp, and the one built into my Tech 21 Bass Fly Rig) usually make me sound worse. My Danos sound better when I play well.