Danelectro 12-String

Mine is one of the later models, so twin lipstick pickups, 3-way selector and single volume and a single tone control. The bridge provides string-through the body for 6 of the strings while it also acts as a stop tail-piece for the other 6. Other than that it is standard Dano build and so pergaps feels a little delicate for long term hard gigging, but then that is what you get.

Have run it through a Marshall stack and now a small valve amp. I find the neck pickup too bassy and the bridge pickup too thin and trebly. However, mixed together with the tone control rolled off a third I think it sounds really good. A rich bell like sound that has lots of depth and harmonics - what a 12-string is all about. Talking of which, it sounds muddy when overdriven, although less so on just the bridge pickup, but then why would you?

It's a dano... Actually it came setup fine and stays in-tune which is more than can be said for my Gibson. Other than that it is a Dano so do not expect top dollar price fit and finish.

I have just used this in the studio so far and so far no issues at all. However, as said previously I expect to start getting beat up quite quickly if gigged a lot since there is a lot of soft woods involved. Having said that for the price of a RB, you could buy 4 of these.

No reason to use them, so cannot comment

A really great sounding 12-string at a bargain price. Use it a lot for writing since the semi-hollow body means it sounds ok even when not plugged into an amp. Also tend to write for it since I love the full rich sound. I play it through a very simple valve amp, but with a MXR Carbon Copy and (occasional) Phase 90 in front. It does not do rock like my Gibson, but then that is not what it is about.

My Dano DC 12 Was made in 2000, Classic Dano Construction. 21 Frets (well dressed at the factory)
It has 2 Lipstick pickups and concentric vol and tone controls for each pickup and a 3 way toggle switch
Fantastic bridge for intonation on all 12 strings
Satin finished neck which has broken in quite nicely

This guitar sounds excellent, Not quite a Ric sound, but I would say it covers 90% of it.
My guitar is actually pretty quiet. I use a Lab Series L5 amp, A 1968 Fender Priceton Reverb, 1983 Fender Harvard Reverb II, and a Danelectro Dirty Thirty, sound great through any of my amps.
With the built in compressor on my Lab, I can nail the Byrds tone to a T.

Neck pickup is nice and full, Both pickups together are really well rounded, The bridge pickup really gets that twangy 1960s tone

I love everything about this guitar

I bought this guitar in Aug 2001, All I did was level 2 saddles and tweak the intonation on the "Octave" G string, This took about 2 minutes to fix and have been playing it ever since (7 years)
I take good care of my gear and it still looks new, I had to remove the neck to adjust the truss rod once in 2006.
This guitar will last a long time.
The cheesy strap buttons have never failed, if they do I will put Metal ones on (Like the Dano Hodad's Have)
Everything on this guitar works like it did the day I bought it

The Gotoh Tuners are Excellent

The neck is wide enough my hand doesn't cramp, cant say that about my buddies Ric 360-12

Being a 12 string, I don't use it on every song, but this guitar and I have been all over the Northwest, and it's treated me very well.
I have used it for 3 sets in a row and played all my 6 string songs on it, much to the surprise of the rest of the band.
After 7 years I have depended on this guitar a lot.
This guitar has the best bridge of any 12 string I have tried, excellent tuners.
The paint and binding still look new, after being in smoky clubs the white binding has a nice yellowed look now.

Being a semi hollow body, this thing will not last if you beat on it, but for guys who respect their gear it will last a lifetime

I have called Danelectro several time in the last 8 years and have been called back every time. For me they have been really helpful, especially when I was trying to find a dealer in Oregon that would have a 2007 Dano Pro in the Peach color.
Patrick from Danelectro has been very helpful, years ago Rock Clouser was just as helpful

I have been playing for almost 34 years. I went in to buy a Dano DC 3, It was sold out, I saw the DC 12 and played it and bought it on the spot, I have recorded with this Guitar and people think it's a Ric.
I love this guitar and would never sell it (got an offer last week)

I have 28 guitars and basses (11 are Danelectros...9 new...2 vintage) and lot's of Fenders, Epiphone, and Wilson Brother (The Ventures Model Guitars)

These guitars are getting hard to find and I could never replace it for what I paid for mine brand new

I think its a Hodad. Dark, subdued, purple glitter, but shines nicely in stage lights. It doesn't have a pickguard and has the stacked tone/volume.

I've had it for around five years and while I haven't played it much lately, I used it a lot early on doing solo gigs running it straight into a small PA with just reverb. It worked really well for that low-volume gig. I plugged it in a few months ago through my church rig--Fender Deluxe 1x12 and Line6 Floorpod Plus. It was really boomy and I couldn't (hurriedly) dial in the transparent tone I wanted out of it. (My PRS Custom 22 did however fill the request. I recently upgraded to the Line 6 X3 Live and look forward to taking the time to build a few patches just for the Dano. I know she'll shine and shimmer.

I've got a lot of really nice guitars (American Fenders, Taylor T5, Hamer Standard, Gibson LP, PRS and this little cheapo with the fatso jang. She's one of the few I bought new, but for the price, felt I couldn't go wrong--and didn't. I question how much abuse it could take, but I save the punishing body blows for the Les Paul and Hamer and the pretty stuff for her. The action and intonation are great, but it is very neck heavy. I put a thick leather strap on her and it holds it in place pretty well. A nylon strap has the headstock hitting my left knee.

It has withstood live playing and done very well. I feel like this particle board stuff could disintegrate in my hands, but you look at those old 50s, 60s guitars made like that and they're holding up so I'm sure she'll be fine. For the price, it's got good hardware. I always have backups and like to switch guitars often. It saves on frets and all of them do something another doesn't. My current band role has me playing mostly Christian rock rhythm stuff so the PRS and Tele are getting most of the work, but I know when I pull her out of the case, she will be reasonably close to in tune and will sound like a breath of fresh air blowing through oak leaves.

I don't think they ever got back to me on what the original strings were, and where I could get a hardshell case. Hey--friendly reader, you can let me know if you know.

I've been playing 30+ years and love to buy, sell, trade and collect guitars. I think this one will be worth something in 20 years although cheap when I bought it a few years ago. I'll probably get a Ric down the road but for now my limited longing for 12 string sounds are met with this plum. She is a great value and if I were you I'd get one if you can find it. They seem kind of rare already.

Others have given this information already

Bridge pickup a little too twangy, so I roll off some treble w/the tone knob. Middle position nice, never use the neck position, as it's too bassy.

Looks great, plays fine, no problems. It did need a professional setup badly after I bought it, and two more neck adjustment since then. Just normal maintenance.

I am confident it will play well for years and years. Dano guitars are basically bulletproof. This one doesn't hold a tuning quite as well as I would like, but that's the way it is. I like it just fine, otherwise.

No opinion.

I have recommended these to a few friends looking for a 12-string who don't want to spring for a Rickenbacker. The Dano 12 is my backup. I own a Rickenbacker 330-12 also that's my main. I bought the Dano beause it played well and looked very cool in purple sparkle finish.

Well, there aren't many features to speak of: pickguard, two lipstick pickups and concentric volume/tone controls. Mine has a black body and white pickguard. It looks sort of like a "study in miminalism". A friend of mine says it's the ugliest guitar he's ever seen. I wouldn't agree with that statement, but it is darn close. My wife, on the other hand, thinks it's beautiful. I have to add it's remarkably light: you could play this guitar standing up for hours and not need a back adjustment the next day. Most other reviews below cover the features quite well.

Here's where it shines: nice "chimey" sound. Does it sound exactly like a Ric? I think a Ric owner would say "no", but I think the rest of the human race would say it's darn close. If you did a blind taste test I doubt most people could really hear a difference. Sure, the Ric elitest would say they could, but, then again, they paid an additional $1,000 to say that. One note: most reviewers below tend to say that of the three pu positions only the bridge is useful. Personally, I disagree. While each position gets much brighter and thinner than the one preceeding, I find even the neck pu is fine for certain rythmn work. If you find you just really can't live without that Ric sound there is an effect called a "janglebox" (www.janglebox.com) that mimics the on-board compressor found on the Ric 360. The boxes are hand made (10 at a time) and sell for $210 (as of March 2006). They will go a long toward helping you nail that McGuinn sound. The website even has some very nice sound files for you to listen to and evaluate. I probably will get one in time: it's that good.

Mine was set up great, but I bought it used, so I don't know if that's how it came from the factory, or the previous owner did it himself. I find the neck width is perfect, the frets were well polished, and the tuners very smooth.

I can't say how long it will last. I've heard some of the binding is coming loose from older Dano's, but I don't know that for a fact. It seems like a guitar that will last a while, but not a life-time.

Again, I bought it used so I guess I'll have to give this category an N/A.

I've been playing nearly 40 years and have owned a slew of guitars in that period. I've ended up with a Martin d-41, a G&L Legacy, and this Dan-o. I'll probably grab a Epiphone Casino next. If it was good enough for John and Paul . . . . I guess what I love most about the guitar is the sound (well, that was obvious: isn't that why we buy them?) and overall I find a very playable instrument. If it were stolen I'd definitely get another one.

2003 - 2 lipsticks - nice light weight danelectro baody . Excellent tuners ( gotoh ) Original ownner wisely replaced the pickups with Seymour Duncan Lipsticks - also replace the nut with a wonderful teflon custom made nut from Sadowsky guitars - New York. The original bridge is great.

All I add is a little compression ( subtle amount ) into a bassman 4 ten ( already has the swirl even with 6 strings ) this combination gives me that full wall of sound tone or the jangle if I want it.

the up-graded nut makes this perfect. Everybody knows the stock danos have the cheap metal nut - poorly cut - buzzes - bad tuning stability. With this new nut it has perfect intonation and tuning stability. The orig. neck is fine - also the bridge.

no back-up

don't know

I have played 40 yrs - now in a poprock / cover band - use this 12 on 10-15 songs. In all fairness, this is not really a danelectro 12 string anymore - the changes made it a great 12. I would pay $1000 for this the way it is. A stock dano 12 is worth about $150. BUT then you can make these changes. I like this better than a Ric - don't need to baby it and the punch with the Seymour Duncans is great - still has the high end chime and jangle. As everybody knows the stock dano lipsticks are tinny.

This is one of the recent Danelectro DC reissues but I'm unsure of the year. This one has the blue sparkle finish. It wasn't my first choice but I like it. It's very light and comfortable. The laminate is starting to flake off the pickguard but I think that's why it went relatively inexpensively on Ebay. Not too much else to say that hasn't already been said.

Like many others, I was looking for a 12-string to get the jangle without paying the big Rickenbacker price. Well, this guitar has it. I just don't think you can beat it for the money. The volume and tone controls allow you to get a variety of sounds. You can even mess around without an amp and it still sounds great.

I bought this used. It was set-up very well. Very close action all the way up the neck with no buzzing. I already mentioned the pick guard laminate issue. If it bothers me too much, I'll take it off and spray paint it or buy another one. The blue sparkle finish is certainly distinctive.

The person I bought it from used it to play out. It held up to that without O.K. I'll play out with it about 3 hours/week and I expect it will hold up to that also. I'll be cautious with the strap buttons. They will probably pop out after awhile. I also have a DC bass and one of them came loose on that guitar. This is an inexpensive guitar so I won't beat on it too much.

I have no experience with this but since the Danelectro website doesn't mention guitars anymore, I think I'm on my own.

I've been playing for 30+ years. I started with a Silvertone acoustic and then a '71 Stratocaster. I still have them. I also have the Danelectro DC bass, a Rickenbacker 360, Martin D-35, and a Fender mandolin. I mostly use a Fender Princeton amp but I have a Marshall combo amp also and an old Vox Super Beatle. I did a lot of research before I bought this guitar. Although most information indicated that this was a great instrument for the price, it seemed too good to be true. It's not. If you're looking for a great sounding, easy to play 12 string, this is it.

I bought a used Korean made job with a free beat up hardshell case thrown in. Two "lipstick" pickups, cheapo plastic pots and strap knob in an impossibly bad location. If you get the strap on, just leave it on. This one is all white so you really can't see the sparkle finish unless you look up close. The cheezy brown vinyl along the side adds to the kitschy quirkiness of it. Nice width on the neck. Light as a feather. Nice Gotoh tuners.

You're not going to get a ton of sounds on this but it is a 12-string electric so I don't think most people need that on a 12. I am strictly going for the Beatles/Byrds/Tom Petty sound so once I found that I pretty much leave the settings there. I put it through a Danelectro Daddy-O for a little more gusto and that works very well. Sound quality is surprisingly good for the price. It really has that shimmering, sonic, jangly sound. Just messing around improvising with chords is fun and easy for the entire family!

For under $300. if you're looking for a electric 12, just buy it already! I tried out a high end Rickenbacker and thought I was nuts thinking this was easier to play then the Rick, but it's the width of the neck on the Danelectro that makes it feel less crowded. Action is smooth and easy. The vinly siding will probaly peel off in ten years but I will have gotten my money's worth.

It fell off the guitar stand the first day I had it to no ill effects so I guess it's pretty sturdy. You may want to consider relocting the strap button. It's in a really wierd place and makes the guitar seem imbalanced while standing up. You can knock all the cheap plastic hardware, but I think it adds to the charm of the whole plastic, shiny groove.

None yet.

I've played for 12 years strictly as a hobbyist/amature. Also have a Japanese Fender Strat, Fender Acoustic, Harmony Electric (Fake Strat) Yamaha Acoustic and a Fender Mandolin. I'm glad I didn't blow my paycheck on a Rickenbacker. This is one of the best bargains you could imagine. Easy to play. I play every jingle jangle mornin.' If it were lost or stolen I would search the world over and climb highest mountain to get another.

this is from the first year or 2 they made them-2 lipstick pickups,adjustable(yay!)bridge,nice tuners...glorious blue sparkle finish and a pretty nice gig bag.

for what it is,sounds rather nice and plays as well(even better in some cases)than more expensive 12's...records great and i doubt anyone could really tell it wasn't a godly Ric-of course,it's a different beast but very cool and useable.

plays great,but i have taken the neck off to adjust the truss rod more than once(don't like that so much)-maybe it will settle in some more over time...frets are nice,neck wood looks to be quartersawn. nut(aluminum)'pings' a little at times on one of the G strings,but it's the right height.

well...get new strap buttons,lose the plastic stacked pots and you have a much more robust instrument...will it last? if the really old Dano's that were reasonably cared for are still working,this probably will hold up as well.

for this price(250ish)it's great to have around-some others will no doubt find this a bit kitschy and prefer something else,but this is a cool one if you're into electric 12's.

The basic model without anything special. Nice combination of tone and volume pot to one tough.

The sound is the main reason I bought this. It's that deep 12-string sound, very bright which makes this instrument sound surprisingly much the same as my lute. The twangly sound provided is still quite exlusive altough it is not very versatile. I plug this guitar straight to a Fender Blues Deluxe since any effects would make it unclear. Just big reverb from the amp and there you have it.

Looks nice, plays nice, ok 12-string for the price.

The guitar is very light and feels a bit weak. I don't know if I'd ever need one live, there's really not that much you can do with it. Strap button is strangely situated just below the neck with 90 degrees angle to it and it makes it hard to find a decent strap that would fit. I've had this guitar for about 6 months now, but I haven't used it that much since there's not that many places where it would be suited. But works fine although it feels like you'd be playing with a feather.

Didn't need any.

I play Suede/Bowie/Cure-style poprock and mainly use Epiphone thinline archtops with some effects. The 12-string fits as a spice to somewhere but it's strictly limited to rhythm parts altough it's easy to play for a twelve string. I couldn't use this as my main guitar. If it was stolen and I had the money I would possibly look for Epiphone Riviera 12-string model. But the sound is unique and with it anything you'd ever record would sound wider.