Hofner or Danelectro?

[EdO.]

Oh yeah... another important thing - the neck on the Hofner is far more stable than the neck on the Danelectro. I had to adjust and readjust constantly with the Dano. The Hodad, strangely enough I set up once, when I got it at least a year and half ago. You need to remove the neck on some Danos too in order to adjust the truss rod. You may want to consider that. I don't know what its like on a Longhorn.

I've had my Longhorn for probably 4 - 5 years now, bought it used , a 98 Korean reissue. Once I got it setup to my preference I've never had to touch anything. No neck adjustments, nothing. Nice low action that is easy to play with a light touch. Gigged it for a set tonight (Friday), nice and punchy through the FOH.

 

[JimmyM]

I have a Longhorn and a couple violin basses, though not Hofners. If you want something you can sub in and out with a Fender and not have too much of a sonic fuss over it but it's still different enough to notice, I'd say get the Dano. They don't sound the same but Hofners are wildly different and require you to do a fair amount of tone tweaking to use them interchangeably. That said, it's a truly wonderful sound that people just don't realize how gnarly and aggressive it can be.

 

[Joe Nerve]

I have a Longhorn and a couple violin basses, though not Hofners. If you want something you can sub in and out with a Fender and not have too much of a sonic fuss over it but it's still different enough to notice, I'd say get the Dano. They don't sound the same but Hofners are wildly different and require you to do a fair amount of tone tweaking to use them interchangeably. That said, it's a truly wonderful sound that people just don't realize how gnarly and aggressive it can be.

Interesting that my experience is the exact opposite . Though we're talking about different basses. I have a Hofner Ignition Club and a Danelectro Hoday (I've owned 4 different Danos, but never a Long Horn).

In the Zep tribut I was doing a while back I brought both the Hodad and the Hofner to several rehearsals. My regular bass for that gig was a Jazz. The Hofner, all I had to do was crank the volume a bit, and it did the Zep stuff excellently. The Hodad, I couldn't get to work. Tweaked both the amp and the bass, and it was a no go.

Not writing this to argue, but because I think its really interesting, and just goes to show how we all differ....

I Know you love P basses and Ampegs, and I love MMs and modern sounding amps. Maybe that has everything to do with our mixed experience. The sound YOU typically look for is easily matched by a Danelectro, the sound I look for - the Hofner does the trick.

Talkbass is utterly useless .

 

[kjp360]

Given some of the recent and appreciated comments maybe I NEED both lol. What the heck they are cheap enough and I could always dump one if it doesn't work out.

 

[Saint]

I have both a Hofner Icon/Ignition Beatle bass and a Danelectro DC. At times, I have strung both with either rounds or flats. Agree that the Hofner is a bit more difficult to find strings for, but if you're using flats I don't think that's as big a deal since most folks don't change flats out very often, if ever.

They both have their endearing qualities. I like the thinner neck on the Hofner, but I think the Danelectro is a bit better for an all around bass, though it does have its own unique tone. One thing in the Hofner's favor is that the pickups tend to be much quieter than the pretty noisy lipstick pickups on the Dano (though I do really love the look and sound of the lipsticks).

 

[kjp360]

One thing in the Hofner's favor is that the pickups tend to be much quieter than the pretty noisy lipstick pickups on the Dano

I was under the impression that there are lots of options for swapping out lipsticks? Are the lipsticks in the basses different? I'm pretty sure the ones for guitar are just a flat bar so string spacing and number of poles shouldn't be an issue should they? I'm comfy swapping out pups and wiring if that is all that is holding an instrument back. I haven't done it for my Mustang yet but only because in the mix the pup is fine. Not as thick as my friend's original solo'd...

 

[JimmyM]

Interesting that my experience is the exact opposite . Though we're talking about different basses. I have a Hofner Ignition Club and a Danelectro Hoday (I've owned 4 different Danos, but never a Long Horn).

In the Zep tribut I was doing a while back I brought both the Hodad and the Hofner to several rehearsals. My regular bass for that gig was a Jazz. The Hofner, all I had to do was crank the volume a bit, and it did the Zep stuff excellently. The Hodad, I couldn't get to work. Tweaked both the amp and the bass, and it was a no go.

Not writing this to argue, but because I think its really interesting, and just goes to show how we all differ....

I Know you love P basses and Ampegs, and I love MMs and modern sounding amps. Maybe that has everything to do with our mixed experience. The sound YOU typically look for is easily matched by a Danelectro, the sound I look for - the Hofner does the trick.

Talkbass is utterly useless .

Hee hee! You're not entirely wrong by any means. But really, I can totally make a Hofner type of bass work too and I love them. But they do require different tone and volume settings for me while a Dano is more plug and play with my Fenders. Not entirely, of course, but definitely more so than a Hofner.

 

[mongo2]

Hee hee! You're not entirely wrong by any means. But really, I can totally make a Hofner type of bass work too and I love them. But they do require different tone and volume settings for me while a Dano is more plug and play with my Fenders. Not entirely, of course, but definitely more so than a Hofner.

Once I converted my Hofner Ignition Club controls to V/V/T it was definitely more "plug and play" like my Fenders and Danos.

 

[Fishyfishfish]

DUE TO THIS THREAD:

I actually happened on a Dano long short scale and it went home with me.

 

[GIBrat51]

DUE TO THIS THREAD:

I actually happened on a Dano long short scale and it went home with me.View attachment 3630980

And I'll happily take full responsibility. Join us in the Dano Owner's Club...

 

[kjp360]

DUE TO THIS THREAD:

I actually happened on a Dano long short scale and it went home with me.

Haha! Nice bass!
See, Talkbass isn't completely useless...it is a major contributor to bass GAS lol

 

[Fishyfishfish]

Haha! Nice bass!
See, Talkbass isn't completely useless...it is a major contributor to bass GAS lol

Ha! I went into the store for strings and the owner had a LH sitting in the corner covered in dust and made a good deal on it.

 

[dannylectro]

Okay... I own two Jerry Jones versions of the Dano Longhorn, a JJ Singlecut, and Hofner 500/2 reissue, bought from someone here on TB, modified with VBT controls.

I love the look and feel of the Hofner, but I’m having trouble keeping it intonated and in tune. I have not, as a result, taken it out yet, but it does have a beautiful, McCartney-esque quality that none of my other basses have.

I routinely take out my Longhorns as almost go-to sub basses, or even as my main instrument, and have for the past 20 years. They have great midrange character that cuts through the muddiest mixes.

I haven’t played a Dano reissue bass, but I do own two reissue guitars and they are superb considering that I paid less than $300 for each of them.

So my conclusion is you are *probably* better off getting a Dano reissue, but they don’t have quite the woody thump of Hofner.

 

[kjp360]

Okay... I own two Jerry Jones versions of the Dano Longhorn, a JJ Singlecut, and Hofner 500/2 reissue,

I have a friend who owns a JJ single cut guitar and it is a beautiful instrument. I have played a number of Dano reissues and, although they are great guitars for the money, they are not in the same league as the JJ. If I end up finding a Dano and liking it but feeling like it could be better I would be looking for a JJ.

 

[Glenn Johnson]

I find the Longhorn to be a much more usable and versatile instrument than Hofners.

Plus 10,000! The Longhorn can be made to sound very much like the Hofner, a Precision, a Jazz, a Rickenbacker AND it's own thing. The 2 concentric volume/tone controls are very effective and work like no other tone/volume controls that I know of.

 

[buldog5151bass]

The biggest issue with the Hofner is the narrow string spacing at the bridge. Play before you buy.

 

[Glenn Johnson]

hey I didn't mention the naugahyde and pho bakelite

It's Masonite ( fiber board ), not particle board. Cheers!

 

[Glenn Johnson]

This is something that I hadn't considered in my own comparisons. Does anyone else have an opinion on this?? I do love the LaBella DT Flats on my Mustang...the Washburn has some very old dead Chromes that I can deal with but definitely prefer the LaBella feel.

I can't imagine wanting to put rounds either a Hofner or Danelectro. If I wanted to do that I would probably grab an EB-0. One of my BL's has an old Kalamazoo branded short scale with a Mudbucker in it and it sounds great with slightly dead rounds on it. Easy to play with the slim neck. If an EB-0 was lighter I would already have one.

Longhorns come standard now with D'Addario nickel rounds and sound FANTASTIC with them.

 

[Glenn Johnson]

Disinformation can easily become a problem.

Particle board and masonite are definitely not the same. Check if you wish. Danelectros have always used masonite on their non solidbodies.

This. . .

 

[Glenn Johnson]

well you'll have to elaborate what you mean, because wood chips are disintegrated into particles in air that's blown into a form. Is there some technical definition for "particleboard" in the trade? an adhesive?

Particle board is always held together with a type of adhesive. Masonite never uses adhesive. A huge difference!