Danelectro Dano '63 Short Scale Bass

The bass features a masonite body, 2 adjustable lipstick single coil pickups (passive), an adjustable truss rod (at the neck heel), 1 vol/1 tone control, 3-way pickup selector, sealed mini-tuners and an adjustable bridge.

In the store, I played the bass with its stock roundwound strings. The sound was as I imagined it would be - tinny and brittle. That said, I could still hear the warmth of the thing trying to come through, and really wanted to try it out at home, so I bought it. When I got home, I immediately changed the strings to a set of Rotosound Flats, which improved the sound tenfold. With the two pickups selected, you get a warm tone that's round without being boomy, with just enough high end for definition. With the neck pickup alone, you get a tone that's very much like a P-Bass, and the bridge pickup gives a nice trebley bite. I'd say this bass is more suited to rock or country, though I'm sure it could handle most styles. I'm sure it could be slapped & popped, but that's just not my thing.

Right from the rack, this bass only needed a little help to become playable (at least to me). Besides changing the strings, the only other thing I did was take some of the bow out of the neck and adjust the bridge slightly. Some of the binding tape was coming loose on the upper horn, so I simply blasted it with a hair dryer and molded it back on to the body.

Strapped on, the bass is perfectly balance, with no neck dive

I'm sure the bass would handle live gigging, but it does feel a little delicate. You would probably have to treat it like you would a hollowbody instrument.

No idea.

Been playing for over 30 years. I've owned and played hundreds of different guitars and basses during that time. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that a higher price tag does not necessarily mean higher quality. Anyone who goes by that standard alone is simply a sucker for marketing, or a victim of a bad instrument. I play bass in a lot of theatre shows that require a lot of physical movement on my part. For that reason, I gravitate toward small-bodied, short scale basses for mobility. The Danelectro fits that bill very nicely, particularly because of its well-balanced body. I don't have to worry about holding on to the neck to keep it from hitting the floor. If it were stolen or lost, I'd probably get another if I could find it. Danelectro's doing a good job of keeping production low on these instruments, which only helps to keep up its mystique and hype. I imagine they'll be discontinued soon, so get one if you're at all curious. The long scale versions are still easy to find on Ebay, but you'll likely have a heck of a time finding a short scale.