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Danelectro Owners Club
- Thread starter portaflexer
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So, do I understand that the Pro was only a 6 string guitar and any bass version is "simply" a 6 string with a neck swap?
Yeah, I don't remember them doing a bass with that body. The guitar version had serious neck-dive so I can only imagine how bad that one would be.
If you were serious about looking at it, take a tape measure along. The distance between the nut and the 12th fret should be the same (roughly) as the distance from the 12th fret to the bridge. It will never intonate otherwise. My eye tells me there's way too much distance between the 12th/bridge and it should be verified in person.
Unless you're using "Pro" as a model name? I have to disagree; I own 2 of them. 1st generation (late 1990's), left handed DC59 Pro models. Aside from coming stock with the adjustable bridge, they also came with regular, Gotoh - style bass tuners. Other than that? Just 34" scale, silver metalflake Masonite/plywood Danos...
Unless you're using "Pro" as a model name? I have to disagree; I own 2 of them. 1st generation (late 1990's), left handed DC59 Pro models. Aside from coming stock with the adjustable bridge, they also came with regular, Gotoh - style bass tuners. Other than that? Just 34" scale, silver metalflake Masonite/plywood Danos...
Pro is a specific Danelectro model name. IIRC the originals were short-scale "student models."
Yours is a DC, which is a different model.
I have found images of what they are calling a Pro-1. Same body but different pickup configuration and where the switch is located.
^^I've never ever seen a Danelectro-made Dano Pro bass, so I suspect that this ^^ is also a custom job. It has a 24-fret (longhorn) neck, and the neck pocket has been lengthened (notice how the neck heel is cut into the pick guard), as I had to do when I built one with a longhorn neck.
"Pro" was trim level on some '90s DC guitars. It's something different.
"Dano Pro" or "Pro-1" was a guitar model name in the sixties, with a short scale neck, and this Jetsons-ish body shape. In the Chinese symmetrical black headstock era, there was a new version of the Dano Pro, with a normal-scale guitar neck. I think these have the same neck as the Danelectro 63 guitar, which used the same body as the Danelectro 63 basses, so the bass necks should be interchangeable, also.
Looking at the picture of the Santa Rosa one again, I see that it's a 24-fret neck, probably also from a longhorn. I didn't look carefully the first time, and I incorrectly assumed it must be a 63 bass neck, but it's not that. 63 basses had 21 or 22 frets. I don't remember exactly, but fewer than 24. And I didn't think there were ever any 24-fret long-scale Danelectro necks. I don't have my long-scale DC bass handy, but I think it's 21 or 22 frets.
Since the neck pocket wasn't lengthened like the one Stealth57 posted a picture of, the Santa Rosa one isn't going to intonate right.
*BUT* $325 *IS* actually a great price these days for a complete Dano Pro body and a longhorn neck, even if they won't work together as-is.
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I just did a neck nose count. The long-scale DC is 22 frets. The long-scale 63 is 24 frets, which is why I have mine dropped down to D tuning. The others are 20 frets.
I stand corrected...
Left handed Danos are... pretty limited.
I had a long scale 63 for a bit , but it was very neck heavy and didn’t last.
I really wish they’d do a bass version with the Pro body.
I really wish they’d do a bass version with the Pro body.
I agree it's a parts-build - I've never seen a factory Pro with lipstick humbuckers or that switching. Evets has kept things pretty simple on their re-issues. Those tuning machines are definitely not originals.
I don't think that will intonate properly either. A quick measure on that photo shows the distance between the 12th and bridge is much bigger than between the nut and 12th.
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The neck dive on the two Dano Pro basses I built isn't horrible. Nothing that suede-back leather strap won't compensate for. The same is true for my long-scale DC and my 56 single-cut bass.
A factory-made Dano Pro bass would sell, but it's probably not as easy to do as it would have been when they were making the short-scale 63 with its 22-fret neck.
With the 24-fret longhorn neck (the only current Danelectro short-scale neck, as far as I know), know), they'd have to either modified the neck pocket, or move the bridge toward the neck.
Or they'd have to start making a 22-fret neck again, but they didn't do that for the short short-scale DC bass (which has 24 frets), so they probably wouldn't do that for a Dano Pro bass.
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I live right down the road from Santa Rosa. If somebody really wanted this instrument, I’d be happy to go check it out and get it for them and ship it. No guarantees I wouldn’t keep it though. Once I go check it out. Drop me a PM if you’d like me to go on your behalf,
Thanks. I’m currently trying to reduce inventory. Sold an Ampeg B-100r and have someone coming this week to pickup an Epi Thunderbird Pro IV. That still leaves a Music Man Sixty-five with matching 115RH cab and a Trace Elliot 2103H cab. I need to all of those out before I look at adding.
Correct - that is a neck swap - one I've always wanted to do - but, by the looks of it - that one isn't done right - the neck they're using isn't the right length to match where the bridge is on those for correct scale length - and it doesn't look like the bridge has been moved. By eye, I can't be sure, but that's my guess.
