The set that came on my double are very good quality and may even be OEM Gotoh. The Ds are pure junk.
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Danelectro Owners Club
- Thread starter portaflexer
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Arrived today! Might be the most effortless playing bass I've ever owned. Such a cool instrument, and sounds amazing. Lots of tones available from those two lipstick tubes.
How best to move the strap button to the horn? I've seen photos of this.
Hey all you Danelectro-Lovers,
Here is my all new red Longhorn Bass. Just recieved it here in Germany, allthough I ordered it back in January.
It has a very nice neck. The output of the pickups is like my mid-2000s Longhorn Bass / ok but not to hot. The finish and the f-hole loook nice. Love the neck
...but: They could have gone for another bridge and some other tuners then those fizzy-liitle-guitar-like-poopy-tuners...
Cheers from Germany
KARLi
Here is my all new red Longhorn Bass. Just recieved it here in Germany, allthough I ordered it back in January.
It has a very nice neck. The output of the pickups is like my mid-2000s Longhorn Bass / ok but not to hot. The finish and the f-hole loook nice. Love the neck
...but: They could have gone for another bridge and some other tuners then those fizzy-liitle-guitar-like-poopy-tuners...Cheers from Germany
KARLi
So true. They seem huge, heavy, not as loose/low tension. Even my Bass VI is seemingly huge in comparison.
It's been a while since I did a membership list update. Sorry about that. Here's the latest I have, PM me if I missed anyone.
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The D tuners *do* come apart, and quite easily. If your tech told you they don't, well... I won't cast aspersions... OK, I will cast aspersions. He doesn't know, or he didn't try.
The D cover comes right off, and you can take them apart and clean them and lube them, and the go right back together easily, as well. They're actually well made.
They aren't the best, functionally, it's true: they're not ultra-smooth-turning, and they're not high-ratio (they're maybe 13 or 14:1?), but they stay in tune, and they look cool. I've seen no reason to replace them.
I bought another set of D tuners for a Dano I was building, but I ended up using better high-ratio tuners that I got a good price on. But the D's would have been fine.
Haven’t posted a photo mine in a while so …
- Jun 30, 2010
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Hey all you Danelectro-Lovers,
Here is my all new red Longhorn Bass. Just recieved it here in Germany, allthough I ordered it back in January.
It has a very nice neck. The output of the pickups is like my mid-2000s Longhorn Bass / ok but not to hot. The finish and the f-hole loook nice. Love the neck
Cheers from Germany
KARLi
View attachment 5445845
View attachment 5445844
Cool Dano - the bridge is minimal, but can be intoned within reason. I modified one for my Dano-made '68 Coral Deluxe Bass using the spare brass saddle inserts that come with a Hipshot KA bridge.
Otherwise, the '90s version is more sophisticated but they are hard to find these days.
I like the set up of my Jazz bass (V/V/T).
Yes, I would need to drill another hole in the top of my newer Longhorn bass (as can be seen on some Jerry Jones models).
Has anyone done this? Would the wiring have to be different from a regular Jazz bass?
Thank you all.
Yes, I would need to drill another hole in the top of my newer Longhorn bass (as can be seen on some Jerry Jones models).
Has anyone done this? Would the wiring have to be different from a regular Jazz bass?
Thank you all.
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yeah - the closed tuners were EXCELLENT tuners and the Ds are cheapo crap - that's what I said.
But the Ds are sUPER cool and more than functional on the bass - I've never had any issues (or with my Bass VI which I played pretty hard).
You could get a concentric pot for the volumes and then use a standard pot for the tone.
Or if you couldn't find a stacked pot that has the same resistance of both pots, you could do V1 & T on the stacked pot, and V2 on the other.
I suppose many things are possible.
Just as an friendly warning, wiring up a standard J Bass style VVT can negate two of the unique (and crucial, IMO) settings of the Danelectro: pickups in series and independent tone controls. It's your bass and preference, but I would implore you to experiment a little more with the unique Dano VTVT before making the switch to VVT.
The Lipsticks are low wind, low output and bright. They really lean on series mode to get the volume, low mid push and high end roll off/thickness out of them. If you did a VVT with series option (via a mini switch or push/pull pot), then all is well in this regard.
Though I overlooked this until stumbling across it when messing with the controls, the independent tone controls are really cool. This is not normally found in other basses with VTVT. When using both pickups on most any other instrument, turning one tone control down will have a master effect on the other pickup, too.
What I have found to be the unique way of running a Dano is to have both pickups turned up full volume (for series) and use the tone controls to 'simulate' rolling one pickup out. Neck pickup with a full up tone control and the bridge pickup with the tone control set between 0 and 1 gets what I feel is probably the coolest tone out of these basses. It's loud, clear, yet fat and less phasey/scoopy than when both tones are all the way up. You can make small adjustments to the volume controls to sort of sculpt the lows and mids without fully losing the series push.
Not much you can do with those if they'e seized - but you can try something like 3-in-1 - it's for unseizing metal.
As the discussion has been - they're the most basic cheapies - they are not "lubricated" tuners - yes there would be SOMETHING between the gear and the base - but it's just a basic lube.
I don't think I joined. I only have long scale ones, would like to get a Longhorn someday.
I dunno. They would have to be rusted out or broken to be beyond service. The cover comes off, exposing the gears and post. A cleaning of the dried out lube, then a shot of TriFlow, light oil, lithium grease, something... would have them at least functional again. Perhaps the brass gear might show wear.
However, I'm of the ilk that you might as well install something better. Those tuners were chosen for kitsch and economics. It's almost expected that they are replaced at some point.
My equally poor quality, '98 era MIC 'pre D' tuners look to have the same hole pattern as the 'D' tuners. I didn't try to find direct drop in tuners, as most anything that would line up with the mounting screws and use the same push-in bushing would still be pretty poor quality. I find that Kluson style tuners work great. The locking Hipshots now on my '98 1959 U2 have mounting plates that are shaped like a Kluson. The stock tuners on my '18 Dead On Longhorn are Kluson copies and are working great.
I agree that a nice way of upgrading is to go with a Kluson style tuner - they will generally not require drilling out the post holes - or only minor filing - and they have a nice vintage look and feel to them - and are accurate to the era of those basses - not that the 50s Danos ever had anything as posh as a Kluson (if anyone remembers REAL Klusons - they'll recognize that as a joke0.
Also, companies like Wilkinson are doing nice open tuners that would like VERY like the right era that are pretty good tuners and will actually REDUCE the weight even from the cheezy D tuners to help with balance (on a light bass like these - an ounce can be a LOT) and should generally be drop-in.
NOTE: when I say drop-in - I doubt any of these will line up with the screw holes - but it's the post holes you don't want to have to mess with if you can avoid it - you really CAN'T go back if you mess those up. (yes, I know you CAN - but realistically, no one wants to have to close them up and redrill from scratch (and repaint to cover the mess...
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