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Danelectro Owners Club

#4,022
#4,023
I more recently (Aug '24) acquired a '99 MII Longhorn which I love. I've taken it to my bands rehearsal once and we have a show tomorrow afternoon which I will debut it in. Taking a bass I've not used live to a gig is iffy, but last night (Friday) I took it to a late night jam-session of friends I've jammed with for many years. (decidedly NOT a blues jam - raw improvised expression) I went through my TC Electronics 250w/1x12 combo amp (which always sounds great!) and that Longhorn rocked! Any hesitancy to gig it live has been wiped away - it delivered in spades! I gotta say - I am lucky to love/favor a number of basses (P's, J's, T-birds, hollow-bodies, short, medium & long scale etc) but my Dano basses are some of my go to favorites. To begin with, it's the "Dano sound/tone" that is unmistakable in a mix. Nothing sounds like a Dano. And related specifically to the Longhorn, I challenge anyone skeptical about playing a short-scale bass to play a 24 fret Longhorn and tell me it's less of a bass for any reason. No other bass I own punches above its weight (literally) better than the Longhorn. At one point I dialed in some MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe and did it ever fit like a glove in the mix! (er...yes) I have it strung with my favorite round-wound string brand D'Addario EXLBT and it kicks butt left, right and center. I don't like dwelling on what greatness costs - but for what I paid for it, it's stupid good.

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#4,024
JIO said:
I more recently (Aug '24) acquired a '99 MII Longhorn which I love. I've taken it to my bands rehearsal once and we have a show tomorrow afternoon which I will debut it in. Taking a bass I've not used live to a gig is iffy, but last night (Friday) I took it to a late night jam-session of friends I've jammed with for many years. (decidedly NOT a blues jam - raw improvised expression) I went through my TC Electronics 250w/1x12 combo amp (which always sounds great!) and that Longhorn rocked! Any hesitancy to gig it live has been wiped away - it delivered in spades! I gotta say - I am lucky to love/favor a number of basses (P's, J's, T-birds, hollow-bodies, short, medium & long scale etc) but my Dano basses are some of my go to favorites. To begin with, it's the "Dano sound/tone" that is unmistakable in a mix. Nothing sounds like a Dano. And related specifically to the Longhorn, I challenge anyone skeptical about playing a short-scale bass to play a 24 fret Longhorn and tell me it's less of a bass for any reason. No other bass I own punches above its weight (literally) better than the Longhorn. At one point I dialed in some MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe and did it ever fit like a glove in the mix! (er...yes) I have it strung with my favorite round-wound string brand D'Addario EXLBT and it kicks butt left, right and center. I don't like dwelling on what greatness costs - but for what I paid for it, it's stupid good.

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TSC, sorry I can’t make it to Winter’s tomorrow.
 
#4,026
#4,027
#4,028
JIO said:
I more recently (Aug '24) acquired a '99 MII Longhorn which I love. I've taken it to my bands rehearsal once and we have a show tomorrow afternoon which I will debut it in. Taking a bass I've not used live to a gig is iffy, but last night (Friday) I took it to a late night jam-session of friends I've jammed with for many years. (decidedly NOT a blues jam - raw improvised expression) I went through my TC Electronics 250w/1x12 combo amp (which always sounds great!) and that Longhorn rocked! Any hesitancy to gig it live has been wiped away - it delivered in spades! I gotta say - I am lucky to love/favor a number of basses (P's, J's, T-birds, hollow-bodies, short, medium & long scale etc) but my Dano basses are some of my go to favorites. To begin with, it's the "Dano sound/tone" that is unmistakable in a mix. Nothing sounds like a Dano. And related specifically to the Longhorn, I challenge anyone skeptical about playing a short-scale bass to play a 24 fret Longhorn and tell me it's less of a bass for any reason. No other bass I own punches above its weight (literally) better than the Longhorn. At one point I dialed in some MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe and did it ever fit like a glove in the mix! (er...yes) I have it strung with my favorite round-wound string brand D'Addario EXLBT and it kicks butt left, right and center. I don't like dwelling on what greatness costs - but for what I paid for it, it's stupid good.

View attachment 7194967
Click to expand...
Update on using my Longhorn at our TSC show this afternoon (which went well!) - aside from it being so easy to play (light weight, and short in length*) and sounding good - I did notice a couple things. One.., similar to a concern Ric players express - the elbow bout not being contoured was an ergonomic issue. Not terrible, but definitely noticeable. The other thing I noticed was that it was prone to feed-back. After all, it is at least a semi-hollowbody. At volume, it reacts to low vibrations like a hollow-body. It's probably why I liked the way it sounded in my Fri night jam-session with fuzz. Fuzz & feedback are very compatible. I might use it again live for an intimate gig, but I can get the "Dano Sound" with my solid-body 34" scale Dano made Coral Deluxe Bass which I've used a bunch with our band. And... it's supremely countered for a very ergonomic physical interface.

* the stage where we played has a support pole that is exactly where my 34" scale hs normally is when we play here. So it's always a matter of being aware of that and avoiding hitting it. With a 30" scale bass like the Longhorn - no worries.

JIO playing his CDB and doing his best to avoid hitting that damn post!
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#4,029
JIO said:
Update on using my Longhorn at our TSC show this afternoon (which went well!) - aside from it being so easy to play (light weight, and short in length*) and sounding good - I did notice a couple things. One.., similar to a concern Ric players express - the elbow bout not being contoured was an ergonomic issue. Not terrible, but definitely noticeable. The other thing I noticed was that it was prone to feed-back. After all, it is at least a semi-hollowbody. At volume, it reacts to low vibrations like a hollow-body. It's probably why I liked the way it sounded in my Fri night jam-session with fuzz. Fuzz & feedback are very compatible. I might use it again live for an intimate gig, but I can get the "Dano Sound" with my solid-body 34" scale Dano made Coral Deluxe Bass which I've used a bunch with our band. And... it's supremely countered for a very ergonomic physical interface.

* the stage where we played has a support pole that is exactly where my 34" scale hs normally is when we play here. So it's always a matter of being aware of that and avoiding hitting it. With a 30" scale bass like the Longhorn - no worries.

JIO playing his CDB and doing his best to avoid hitting that damn post!
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Nice! What’s that Jazz Bass hanging on the wall behind you? Looks like another resto project :) !
 
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#4,030
TomB said:
Nice! What's that Jazz Bass hanging on the wall behind you? Looks like another resto project :) !
Click to expand...
Hah! :D List under "Tavern paraphernalia" Tom! I helped add to such there replicating Mike Watts' "Baby Bass" which was stollen during an Iggy Pop tour years ago. Watt played at Winters' Tavern for a Steve Mackay tribute (sax-man who played on Iggy's "Fun House" LP and used to live in Pacifica) in 2016 and I mocked-up a EB bass like his stollen bass to commemorate the event. It's been part of the interior decor since.

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I had him sign it when he was there - he's such a bass-nerd he was pointing out how it wasn't exactly like his stollen bass!* :laugh: ...er, Mike.., it's a symbolic reference... :cautious: *as in - his stollen bass had a Schaller 3D bridge - I found a cheap one that looked like a Schaller. And it was a (cheap used) Epiphone EB bass... not a vintage Gibson...

FTR, Jello Biafra cornered him that night/morning in the green room there (where I patiently awaited having him sign the damn thing till 3:30 am!) and fly-on-the-wall witnessed these two mega-ego's battling it out - it was pretty amusing.

Watt is a guy who talks abut himself in third person., "Watt knows better etc"... during the conversation a funny story emerged as told by Watt - Watt was awakened at 3 in the morning by a call from Iggy; "Hey man - I'm told you are the guy I need for my upcoming tour." Watt; groggy... "ok, yah - sounds good." Iggy; "...but one thing - you gotta lose the flannel shirt" Watt; "white T-shirt ok?" - Iggy; "yah - that's cool" ...

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I was fortunate enough to play with Steve twice in Pacifica -
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#4,034
New 1444 day!

It could use a little love and a good cleaning. But damn if this one doesn't have a near perfect neck. When I bought it, I got some money off because I thought the tuners were left handed replacements. But as I'm looking at listings and information now, these appear to be the original tuners and the backwards rotation is by design. Which is super weird. Makes me wonder if these are the original strings too. I haven't looked at the pots yet, but the 3 in-line bolts might make it a 64 or earlier.

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#4,036
HelpImaRock said:
New 1444 day!

It could use a little love and a good cleaning. But damn if this one doesn't have a near perfect neck. When I bought it, I got some money off because I thought the tuners were left handed replacements. But as I'm looking at listings and information now, these appear to be the original tuners and the backwards rotation is by design. Which is super weird. Makes me wonder if these are the original strings too. I haven't looked at the pots yet, but the 3 in-line bolts might make it a 64 or earlier.

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Very cool - OHSC is bonus :thumbsup:
 
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#4,037
HelpImaRock said:
New 1444 day!

It could use a little love and a good cleaning. But damn if this one doesn't have a near perfect neck. When I bought it, I got some money off because I thought the tuners were left handed replacements. But as I'm looking at listings and information now, these appear to be the original tuners and the backwards rotation is by design. Which is super weird. Makes me wonder if these are the original strings too. I haven't looked at the pots yet, but the 3 in-line bolts might make it a 64 or earlier.

View attachment 7222993View attachment 7222994View attachment 7222995
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Lovely!
 
#4,039
HelpImaRock said:
New 1444 day!

It could use a little love and a good cleaning. But damn if this one doesn't have a near perfect neck. When I bought it, I got some money off because I thought the tuners were left handed replacements. But as I'm looking at listings and information now, these appear to be the original tuners and the backwards rotation is by design. Which is super weird. Makes me wonder if these are the original strings too. I haven't looked at the pots yet, but the 3 in-line bolts might make it a 64 or earlier.

View attachment 7222993View attachment 7222994View attachment 7222995
Click to expand...

Very nice. Should sound great.

Those are replacement tuning machines. They always came with strip machines. If you look closely around the bottom of the bottom machine in your picture you'll see marks in the paint where the original strip was and it looks like a painted over screw hole.
 
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#4,040
Verne Andru said:
Very nice. Should sound great.

Those are replacement tuning machines. They always came with strip machines. If you look closely around the bottom of the bottom machine in your picture you'll see marks in the paint where the original strip was and it looks like a painted over screw hole.
Click to expand...

So that's what I thought. But looking through pics of early 60s Silvertones, it appears the strip tuners came later. I haven't opened the electronics cavity, but this is a '64 or earlier because the 3 neck bolts are in a straight line. It also has a textured control cavity, which I also thought was a replacement, but I've seen in other examples as well.
 
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