Making Dano Controls Actually WORK

[SGD Lutherie]

Either way, they are cheap. You get what you pay for, so just as with instruments costing more, just spend a few more bucks and change the wiring.

This is what I did to a Dano back in the 80's. The neck is from a 1950's convertible.

 

[Bongolation]

Wrong compared to what?

Oh, something that works, perhaps?

There must have been a reason for it originally. To use such high value pots with lower impedance pickups, they must have wanted a bright tone. Or they got them cheap, like with the lipstick tubes.

Bingo.

What truss rods? The Dano I have doesn't have truss rods. It needs truss rods though.

Sure. That's my point.

It also needs controls that work, so why screw it up for "authenticity," when they've already changed the pickups to hotter output, put in a trussrod, totally changed the body build and materials, etc., etc. It's not like anyone's going to know what value pots they used, especially when they're not even marked.

That's just stupid.

Evets is doing reissues.

Not really. See above.

But Danos were ultra cheap guitars that happened to have gotten popular for their quirkiness.

By younger people who never had any authentic experience with them. Fake nostalgia.

The originals were rightfully reviled, though stuff like the baritones were picked up for use in the studio for part of the tick-tack bass sound and occasionally for novelty bass.

Then it wont be a reissue. Why stick to that wooden bridge and all? Why make them with poplar necks, and pine and masonite? Becaus that's how they were made.

That's not how they're made now. They're made with plywood and a different kind of composite from Masonite, and maple necks with trussrods and big, shiny "TOTALLY SHIELDED" trussrod covers. The only things original are superficial.

Totally different.

How are the wires crossed?

I don't know they were. My point was that I could understand a production screwup by a tired worker. That happens a lot (and did -- stuff came factory-broken on the first one).

I can't understand an intentional and pointless screwup in the factory spec.

If they were doing something that was actually a museum-grade purist reproduction I could understand it, but they aren't. That's the whole point. Virtually everything is different, from the body and neck build to the pickups.

Fender continues to do dumb wiring and electronics, but people complain when they change stuff. We are in the midsts of a "vintage" fad. I'll be happy when it's over!

I'm astounded by the wrongheadedness of a lot of Fender production choices in the past two years, and I know that the guys in FMIC design are furious and depressed, as Fender is making things that are just WRONG part of the production routine just because a bunch of morons at a focus group thought it would be "awesome." They are doing some incredibly stupid things.

However, I can't believe that any gristlehead in any focus group in the world asked Evets for tone controls that didn't work.

 

[newbold]

I have coaxed some of the most satisfying, beautiful sounds out of Danelectro basses and guitars.

Anyone that writes them all off is fooling themselves into thinking their opinion is important.

 

[SGD Lutherie]

My 4 original Danos have a steel bar as neck reinforcement. They've never needed adjustment in about 50 years, not even the one that had it's frets yanked by a previous owner with no filler for the fret slots.

Yeah, my Dano neck is nice and straight. But you can't adjust it. I also have a "Destiny" which seems to be made from Coral parts.. one of those wooden long horns.

I refretted mine (see above) with larger fret wire after it fell off a stand and got two frets nicked. The original wire is pretty soft. That also gave me a chance to sand the fingerboard smooth, since it had tooling marks in it (planer or jointer from the looks of it). It's a nice piece of Brazilian rosewood.

The cool part about the poplar neck is I can strum a chord and then bend it down a step by pushing on the neck!

Unlike some people, I like Danos. The original ones anyway.

 

[Bongolation]

Either way, they are cheap. You get what you pay for

That's just it: They're not and you don't.

$350 -- the tightly controlled street price for this thing -- is enough to get almost three SXs or a Squier CV with some extras. Danelectros are hugely overpriced for what they are -- and they aren't much, let's face it.

That bugs me and really makes me wonder about the apologists for these things.

 

[BassLife77]

If the neck and body aren't total POS I would gut the electronics, shield the cavity and install a preamp with new pots

 

[mongo2]

That also gave me a chance to sand the fingerboard smooth, since it had tooling marks in it (planer or jointer from the looks of it). It's a nice piece of Brazilian rosewood.

True on both counts. I actually like the machining marks on the fingerboard, it adds to their proletariat mojo.

RE: shielding, I had one original Dano that had paperbacked foil wrapped around the controls and held together with masking tape.

 

[SGD Lutherie]

It also needs controls that work, so why screw it up for "authenticity," when they've already changed the pickups to hotter output, put in a trussrod, totally changed the body build and materials, etc., etc. It's not like anyone's going to know what value pots they used, especially when they're not even marked.

Well that IS stupid! To be honest, I haven't played any of the new ones at all. It's not hard to find replacement stacked pots with "normal" resistances.

I figured they were true to the original just because I see the pots they sell and they are the same values.

They are supposed to be 1meg/100K.

Invalid Link Removed

By younger people who never had any authentic experience with them. Fake nostalgia.

Exactly. I'm 52, so you don't have to tell me.

The originals were rightfully reviled, though stuff like the baritones were picked up for use in the studio for part of the tick-tack bass sound and occasionally for novelty bass.

Yep.

That's not how they're made now. They're made with plywood and a different kind of composite from Masonite, and maple necks with trussrods and big, shiny "TOTALLY SHIELDED" trussrod covers. The only things original are superficial.

Oh, so they are like Fender reissues... i.e., Jazzmaster with pickups that are made more like Strats, or vintage style P basses with plastic bobbin pickups and skinny Jazz bass necks.

I'm astounded by the wrongheadedness of a lot of Fender production choices in the past two years, and I know that the guys in FMIC design are furious and depressed, as Fender is making things that are just WRONG part of the production routine just because a bunch of morons at a focus group thought it would be "awesome." They are doing some incredibly stupid things.

They want to sell a lot of guitars and make a lot of money.
They are more concerned with having a fake Strat as part of Guitar Hero.

However, I can't believe that any gristlehead in any focus group in the world asked Evets for tone controls that didn't work.

With all the stuff they changed, it really makes no sense.

 

[SGD Lutherie]

That's just it: They're not and you don't.

$350 -- the tightly controlled street price for this thing -- is enough to get almost three SXs or a Squier CV with some extras. Danelectros are hugely overpriced for what they are -- and they aren't much, let's face it.

That bugs me and really makes me wonder about the apologists for these things.

Those are all very cheap instruments. Did you ever look at the hardware on an SX? The wooden parts are OK though. I had an SX Tele brought to me to spruce up. We changed the pickups and electronics and the tuners. I left the steel bridge. It's a nice guitar now. The pickups actually didn't sound too bad, but they were very crudely made. How much do you think the Danos cost to make? Maybe $20?

Still $350 is not a lot of money for a bass.. not today anyway. I think I paid that much for my first Rick 4001 in 1974.

 

[Bassamatic]

I suspect that the problem may be the same thing I faced with my Ibanez AGB-140 Hollowbody. The tone control did nothing!! After checking every bit of wiring, I measured the DC resistance of the pup and it was only around 1400 Ohms instead of 10-15K Ohms as are most pickups.

With this low impedance, the 500K pot and .o5 cap would have no effect. I changed the Volume and Tone pots to 50K and the cap to .2 and now the bass sounds great and the tone control works! See the thread -
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=661517

I hope that this works for you.

 

[thobbinghotrod]

My local shop had a few of these in long and short scale a couple of years back. The tone and volume knobs had no stops, they just turned around endlessly not doing anything. The finish was an antique yellow with a rusty red fogged over it on all of the models they had. Everything seemed very cheap.

But the sound was great and very distinctive. I almost bought one but didn't have the money at the time. I think for recording it would be a great addition to anybodies studio.

 

[jumbodbassman]

the korean made reiisues from the 90's have none of the above problems. The china made ones were supposed to be better but the 63 has had huge issues. I love my danos. a little bright at times but they were made for flats anyway.. drag about yours. Allparts sells replacement pots - if i remember they are 1k/100m but not sure.

 

[Pilgrim]

Let's not paint all Danos with the same brush. I just got a surf green '63 Reissue, and it has none of the problems Bongo mentions. Clean sound, straight neck, all the controls work, and no RF problems. But - no stacked controls either.

 

[sedan_dad]

O.K. I'll give you $150 for it.

 

[Bongolation]

Let's not paint all Danos with the same brush. I just got a surf green '63 Reissue, and it has none of the problems Bongo mentions.

Yes, some of the earlier ones actually did work and were made with a modicum of common sense...and they remedied some of the original problems -- no guitar machines, real controls, better finish, more easily-adjustable saddles (though the wood one will get better intonation than the rest of the instrument will support, but with more work), etc.

I nearly bought one of these longscale '63s used for $200 w/case after getting this DOA, but people who had them griped too much about the neck dive, which does seem like it'd be pretty epic with a body that light and a neck sticking out that far because of bridge position.

The "new" one they have now seems like it should be fairly foolproof (let's hope!). But it's still overpriced and underbuilt, so you have to do some cherrypicking to avoid the QC problems that are pretty prevalent, notably the nut.

It looks to me like Evets has a run of a model made, sells it out and then makes a run of a different model. They don't seem to keep much in the catalog over the long haul, at least not basses.

 

[mcgreivey]

Man. I've never come across this Dano hate-thread before.

Well, play what you like, and leave the Danos for those of us who like them.

 

[zombywoof5050]

One thing to remain aware of about the Danos is the toggle switch and the way it is wired up....They use an 'On-Off-On' switch. If you ever have to replace the switch, you need to use the same type switch, and I believe Dano is the only company that makes the correct replacement. You can find other makes of on-off-on switches, but they will either be small mini switches or big overbuilt/stiff industrial types. I recently was looking for a replacement switch for my vintage Duo Sonic (which incidentally uses the exact same type 'on-off-on' switch), and the Dano switch was the only replacement switch I could find, unless I wanted to use a small mini switch.
DanGuitars
It says it's sold out right now, but I just bought two of them a few weeks ago. AllParts also sells them.