Opinion about the Danelectro DC59

Hi again,

I’m interested about the Danelectro DC59. It’s a guitar I would like to play / own one day in the near future. It can be a new or used one. My problem is about the age of the guitar. I’ve read somewhere that the 90s Danelectros (the cheapest ones) are in fact no real Danelectro made in Asia. I’ve also heard it was a joke guitar, made out of cardboard. Had anyone of you any experience with Danelectros? Is it worth it? And what model / serie is the ‘best’ one?

Thanks for helping

Greetings

Yann

There hasn't been a REAL danelectro since the 60s. The Korean ones from the 90s are quite good, the newer Chinese ones are not. The originals are very hit or miss -- some are pretty playable, most are not (without lots of work). None of the imported reissues sound like a real one. I have owned some silvertone branded ones here and there and in spite of their warped necks with no truss there was literally no comparison in sound, even when played acoustically. If you just want the guitar to look cool then buy a 90s model. They seem to run around 400USD. More than I would pay, but the market for them is steady, so if you are unsatisfied you can sell it with no loss. Whether they are vintage or not, the double cuts are always a little more money because of the Zep connection. The U2 is, in my opinion, a more stable guitar even though I usually prefer double cutaway designs.

Vintage danelectros were made partly from wood and partly from formica (a popular material for kitchen counters in the 50s and 60s). It was a joke at the time, but the weird body construction gave them a unique tone that's added to by the outstanding lipstick pickups with the wire wound directly on an Alnico 8 bar magnet and jammed in those surplus lipstick tubes with no wax potting. They are a really unique pickup design. the only thing remotely similar is the burns trisonic, but that coil is tape wound, uses a different wire gauge, and the magnet is a completely different alloy and isn't even magnetized the same (trisonics are awesome, vintage single coils though). There are lots of Dano features that add up to make them a really unique instrument that ahs found a place in modern music even though it was originally designed as a toy for kids who would quit after a handful of lessons.

Thanks for the reply. I've read somewhere the chinese one (2007 reissue) are better than the korean ones because a lot of things were updated (tuners; bridge; jack output etc). What about the new ones you can buy on danelectro.com ? Are these the same as the 2007 reissue ? How can I make the difference between a korean, chinese and/or newer one? Thanks a lot

Thanks for the reply. I've read somewhere the chinese one (2007 reissue) are better than the korean ones because a lot of things were updated (tuners; bridge; jack output etc). What about the new ones you can buy on danelectro.com ? Are these the same as the 2007 reissue ? How can I make the difference between a korean, chinese and/or newer one? Thanks a lot

a Korean one says "made in Korea" and the Chinese one says "Made (or Crafted) in China"

I generally stay away from Chinese products of any kind for political reasons and also because their version of steel is mostly carbon... their screws strip easily, their bridges bend.... you get the idea

the Korean Dano reissues I have played were solid little guitars for the money though they shared some of the faults of the vintage models and the pickups are junk

if you want a modern guitar with modern playability and durability but all the dano vibe, try a jerry jones..... JJ retired, but his dano inspired guitars live on in the used market. Though the buy-in reflects the wuality....

you may not care so much about what dano reissue from the east you get since you already play epi LP that doesn't appear to be Japanese and those Korean, Indonesian and Chinese guitars have been nothing to write home about since the early 90s either (I am being gentle)... if you can deal with that, any dano will feel okay to you and, just ike your epi, will get better and better with every electronics upgrade

Ok thanks I'll have a look at it. Is the real '59 DC a good guitar ?

is it made in China? if its the chinese shorthorn reissue I saw everywhere a few xmases ago for around the $300 mark then I have to say it looked chintzy compared to the older U2 reissues from Korea... reminded me of the Coral Hornet 'reissue' from about 2006(?) which was a total piece of crap so I didn't actually pick the shorthorn up... shoddy finish work always turns me off and the shorthorn dano reissues I saw looked like they were shot with black rustoleum spray paint by a blind Chinese convict with 1 arm

maybe they improved the finishes and maybe the guitars play fine.... the hardware looked nice compared to the Korean ones, but who knows how functional it was, the 90s dano reissues played well and looked really nice ike they were assembled and painted by slave laborers with a little attention to detail

have you checked out eastwood guitars? people really like those copies of 60s cheapy guitars over the dano reissues and they are very affordable

If you meant the vintage double cut "short horn" made in Neptune NJ in the 50s and early 60s branded as danelectro with the coke bottle headstock or silvertone with the weird 'dolphin' headstock?

No, they were not good guitars consistently. Even a lot of the better specimens have aged poorly because hey had no truss rod. The pickups sound awesome though. I have often considered getting a Silvertone U2 or Coral Hornet with a REALLY warped neck on the cheap and then replacing it with one of the allparts dano replacements that have truss rods. I just worry the new neck won't be a perfect fit for the vintage body even though they are bolt ons.....

The old bridges are really crappy as well.... and they're not intonatable. Just look this crap up. Its easy to learn about vintage and modern guitars these days. When I was a kid it involved hangig out at stored and guitar shows and playing everything and scrutinizing stuff.... memorizing details.... and generally pissing off your girlfriend!

Never tried one. Looked at one, thought it was the ugliest thing ever to be created.

Then again, I like .strandberg* guitars, so I guess that's hypocritical.

Looks quite nice. Definitelty not ugly, but I've heard the pickups are crappy, low output pieces of junk.

there's nothing wrong with low output, but the dano RI pickups are not built to old dano spec in construction or materials so they don't sound right

when I built my favorite tele I specifically had pickups made that were on the lowest side of recorded fender spec for early stagger pole tele pickups because the old 58 through 70 teles I've liked best were all very low output.... its a great sound, twangy, chimey and beautiful with the nicest inbetween tone of any tele pickups -- plus, lower output works better with fuzz than higher output to my ear... pickups are like icecream flavors, higher output humbuckers are chocolate, everyone likes it and its a no brainer to have chocolate on hand, but you also need vanilla (the kind shit of all flavors for adding toppings) as well as some cool classics like mint chocolate chip or strawberry...

to me it sounds like you are saying the new dano pickups are wound closer to the vintage DCR which was on the low side whereas the 90s Korean ones sounded too overwound to me compared to a vintage one which got all its oomph from the powerful alnico 8 bar magnet... they can drive an amp better than a stock strat but are very open and chimey in that strat way, hard to describe