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Danelectro Owners Club

#4,081
msb said:
I’ve removed the neck to adjust the trussrod on my Dolphin nose and Longhorn. I thought a quarter turn might do the trick each time , and that did it. I’ve only adjusted the Dolphin once , and in the 25 years I’ve had the Longhorn I’ve only had to adjust it twice. The necks on both are incredibly stable , unlike some others …
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Good to know :thumbsup: - living in the Bay Area, I never need to touch the tr on my basses. Only time is if buying a rescue bass which I've done quite a bit of - learned how to remove the fb & replace the tr in the process.
 
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#4,082
Verne Andru said:
FWIK Nat considered adjustable truss-rods unreliable so he went with the solid metal beams. Fast forward to the reissues and they changed to truss-rods but without the ability to access them for adjustment - that's been fixed on the latest models that have truss-rod access at the tuning machines. The very first thing I get done to my Danos is have an access cavity routed so I can access the neck heel.
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Exactly - I'd do the same but like I said, no need to adjust just yet. My Coral Deluxe Bass and two Silvertone Hornets (all from '68) have the twin metal beams. The CDB was perfect when I got it but I had to do work on the Hornets to get proper action. The necks like the bodies are made of relatively soft poplar and over 50yrs can affect them regardless of the beams.

Family photo op -
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#4,083
JIO said:
Exactly - I'd do the same but like I said, no need to adjust just yet. My Coral Deluxe Bass and two Silvertone Hornets (all from '68) have the twin metal beams. The CDB was perfect when I got it but I had to do work on the Hornets to get proper action. The necks like the bodies are made of relatively soft poplar and over 50yrs can affect them regardless of the beams.

Family photo op -
View attachment 7229316
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Love those. Color me envious!

I don't have a problem routing out the reissues but wouldn't do it to something vintage.
 
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#4,084
JIO said:
Exactly - I'd do the same but like I said, no need to adjust just yet. My Coral Deluxe Bass and two Silvertone Hornets (all from '68) have the twin metal beams. The CDB was perfect when I got it but I had to do work on the Hornets to get proper action. The necks like the bodies are made of relatively soft poplar and over 50yrs can affect them regardless of the beams.

Family photo op -
View attachment 7229316
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My first case of GAS was caused by the 1964 Sears xmas catalog with the Silvertone amp-in-case model. I was 8 or 9 and totally blown away by what I considered the ingenuity of the design. I eagerly anticipated the 1965 catalog and was sorely disappointed seeing Silvertone had moved to this solid-body design. That caused me to shun these until later in life when I realized how stupid I was. We didn't have Danelectro in Canada so I didn't know what I was missing. Good on you for snagging some while they were around.
 
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#4,085
Verne Andru said:
My first case of GAS was caused by the 1964 Sears xmas catalog with the Silvertone amp-in-case model. I was 8 or 9 and totally blown away by what I considered the ingenuity of the design. I eagerly anticipated the 1965 catalog and was sorely disappointed seeing Silvertone had moved to this solid-body design. That caused me to shun these until later in life when I realized how stupid I was. We didn't have Danelectro in Canada so I didn't know what I was missing. Good on you for snagging some while they were around.
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I also remember seeing the Silvertone guitar & amp-case at Sears Dept Store as a kid. The dawn of R&R!

The late '60s Coral Deluxe Bass is somewhat rare but the same era Silvertone Hornets come up for sale more regularly on Reverb & sometimes eBay. The CDB was essentially a RI of the earlier Dano Dane "E" Series bass from the early '60s. Only difference was the hs style; the Dane had a straight Fender-style hs w/string tree and the CDB had a grafted on solid rosewood set-back hs, which was a Coral thing used on the guitars also. Otherwise they all had the same tuners, neck, aluminum nut & side dots, and lipstick pu's positioned the same but with different electronics. The Hornets had 4 knobs (V-T-V-T) plus pu selector switch and the Dane & CDB had traditional stacked knobs like most Dano's had in the '60s.

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#4,087
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#4,088
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#4,097
dlmarquez said:
is anyone building sort of Boutique versions of the Longhorn? I’d really like to have one, but built to my specs.
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Has been built... '60s Italian Meazzi Dynelectron Longhorn Fretless... got to give them credit for a cool riff-erential name! Dynelectron/ Danelectro? ;)

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guitarz.blogspot.com

Vintage 1960s MEAZZI Dynelectron Longhorn Fretless Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com : Back in the late 70s, when I first left home, I lived near a street that was famous for being chocablock with seco...
guitarz.blogspot.com guitarz.blogspot.com
 
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#4,098
mcgreivey said:
What specs?
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Short scale (29.5’/750mm), neck thru construction, body wings of real wood, dual lipsticks with VVT, a bridge similar to the Coral in the photo but longer overhang behind the bridge saddles. Since its a fretless I won’t need a complicated bridge, something like an archtop Jazz guitar uses. Small tuners (similar to the high end Hofners), and a fretless unlined fingerboard. It would look very similar to the Coral semi-acoustic Dano but neckthru construction with hollow wings.
I am very partial to Walnut and Maple, so maybe a roasted Maple neck with walnut wings. not sure about a good fingerboard. I saw a Pistachio wood fingerboard on this board that was pretty cool, and I love the fingerboard on the Fender Tony Franklin. Maybe a synthetic FB like rocklite.
Keep the headstock as compact as possible but keep the classic dano shape.
Two goals: keep the overall weight under 5.5 lbs, and the overall length less than 38.5”

That would be the wishlist for my perfect Dano clone. I am actually surprised that nobody makes something close to this!
 

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#4,099
dlmarquez said:
Short scale (29.5’/750mm), neck thru construction, body wings of real wood, dual lipsticks with VVT, a bridge similar to the Coral in the photo but longer overhang behind the bridge saddles. Since its a fretless I won’t need a complicated bridge, something like an archtop Jazz guitar uses. Small tuners (similar to the high end Hofners), and a fretless unlined fingerboard. It would look very similar to the Coral semi-acoustic Dano but neckthru construction with hollow wings.
I am very partial to Walnut and Maple, so maybe a roasted Maple neck with walnut wings. not sure about a good fingerboard. I saw a Pistachio wood fingerboard on this board that was pretty cool, and I love the fingerboard on the Fender Tony Franklin. Maybe a synthetic FB like rocklite.
Keep the headstock as compact as possible but keep the classic dano shape.
Two goals: keep the overall weight under 5.5 lbs, and the overall length less than 38.5”

That would be the wishlist for my perfect Dano clone. I am actually surprised that nobody makes something close to this!
Click to expand...
There were a bunch of those hollow body longhorns available cheap when eBay first got going. That's how I got 2. If you dig you might find one to use as your build platform.
 
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#4,100
I guess I am too picky! I want what I want, pretty much exactly what I want. I have 2 basses currently, a fretless 4003 Rickenbacker which I am modifying in small ways to suit me. The other is a Green line Hofner violin bass which I haven’t yet actually taken possession of yet (long story).
From day 1 back in the late 60’s till now, there have always been 3 “shapes” that have sort of hypnotized me. the Ric cresting wave, the classic Hofner/EB1 violin shape, and the Dano longhorn. when I bought my first good bass, 1974, Wausau Wisconsin, there was a Dano Longhorn in pieces lying on the shop workbench. I wanted to buy that bass, but it was not playable so I settled for a Fender Jazz bass. I wish I had gotten that Dano.
I have 2 of my 3 white whales, so all that’s left to lust after is the Dano replica!
nowadays I am pretty much committed to shorter scale length, unlined fretless fingerboards, minimal electronics, and I prefer Neckthru construction! I don’t need a 3d bass, but if I could get the Dano replica I want I would be very tempted to raid my retirement fund!
 

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