Danelectro 12-String

The usual Dano stuff. Lipstick pickups. Stacked T & V controls. Toggle switch. This model features Gotoh tuners and a fully adjustable bridge. The main strings go through the body, and the secondary strings feed through the back of the bridge. Contrary to what others have stated in some reviews, these guitars do have an adjustable neck. You have to remove the neck, or at least take the screws most of the way out, to get at the adjustment screw. My Fender Strat is the same way. Pretty silly design.

Sounds wonderful. I have fiddled with the pickups a bit. Raised the bridge pickup and lowered the neck pickup. I get a bit more bite in the combined setting this way. You can also get some variations by adjusting the neck pickup volume in the combined setting. I play in the worship band at my church. We do a lot of guitar oriented, rock style music. This thing gives me a fat rythm sound with that nice top end jangle. Also sounds sweet on the mellow stuff. I play through a Real Tube pre amp a Digi Tech GSP-5. This is lined in to the PA, and I use a power amp and a floor monitor on stage. For other gigs I use the same except a 4-12 cabinet on stage. My other guitar is a modified Strat, with lace sensors and a mini JB humbucker at the bridge. The Dano matches the output of the Strat pretty well, which surprised me. The pickups do buzz a bit, being single coil. I'm wondering if one can be reverse wired for hum cancelling when both are combined?

I have to repeat what everyone else has said. These guitars are extremely well put together considering the price. The action was good from the factory. I did lower the strings a bit, and, with the exception of the low E, was able to get them down almost as far as they would go with no fret buzz. The finish seems well applied and durable.No flaws that I can see. Beautiful.(Mine's the pearl white color.)Even the cheesy tape binding is on there straight and true with nary a wrinkle or loose spot. The assembly is good. No loose screws or anything. Good quality hardware. The plastic strap buttons are suspect. Almost every review on here mentions this. The one by the neck is totally impossible to access unless you have a strap that is worn in pretty well. When I tried it in the store with a new strap, I couldn't even get it on this one. So far they have stayed put, but a little glue would probably help keep them in place.

The light weight of these guitars takes some getting used to. At first, it makes them seem kind of flimsy, but I believe they would hold up as well as anything with reasonable care. The finish in particular seems like it's on there pretty thick and would stand the test of time. The tape binding may wear off over the years, primarily where your right arm rests on the body. Only time will tell.

I did e-mail them with some questions prior to purchase and got a reply within a couple days.

I've been looking for an electric twelve string for a while. I considered one of the Dano double necks, but when I tried one standing with a strap on, it was much too neck heavy. So the 12 string won out. Besides, I couldn't resist the price. I've been playing for 35 years. I even made a living at it for several years. These days, being a "weekend warrior" player, with a family etc., I try to look for value in an instrument, as ones with four figure prices just arent in the budget. Danelectro gets high marks in that category. I would definetly buy another if anything happened to this one. I like the way this one plays so much, that I'm considering picking up a DC-3 in the near future. If anyone knows how to do the reverse wire/reverse phase trick, please tell me!

Two lipstick pick-ups, double cutaway, concentric vol & tone controls for each pick-up. Some kind of masonite/plastic body, with cheap "tape" binding. Maple neck, rosewood fingerboard. Very nice Gotoh tuners, and fully adjustable 12 string bridge, allowing for intonation adjustments. Neck is decently wide, wider then a Ric, making playing easier. Accessories? Not even a manual! But if you really need one, you know very little about electric guitars.

Good for chords, and some fingerpicking, not built for lead work( except, of course, for the begining of "Mr. Tamborine Man") Oddly,for a cheap guitar,it is rather quiet. The best ( to my mind) pick-up combo is both on, with the neck set for bass, and the bridge set to almost full treble. This gives a nice jangle to the sound, and yet gives a full bass sound while strumming. I am playing through a Danelectro " Honeytone" ( small mini amp), some small powered speakers as part of a recording set-up, and a '66 Fender Deluxe Reverb, whereby the treble can take the paint off the walls (don't set past 5). The sound of just the bridge pick up is very thin, and is not very useful. Also the tone controls go from bass/mid to treble very abruptly. The taper could be a lot better. The thing that really surprised me was how good it sounds unplugged. Very nice!

Very nice set up, although my music store told me they had to do a bit of work. Everything worked well. Just remenber this is a cheap guitar.

This is the big question. While it has a truss rod, it is non-adjustable. Will it hold up? Ask me in ten years ( if I hold up). Strap buttons are plastic, don't look that solid.

no opinion-brand new

I've been playing thirty years, I have a PRS maple top bolt on ( to die for!), a Gibson 125TC, and a Guild D-50. Yes , I would repurchase this baby in a minute..It is a fabulous guitar for the money. I wish it had a better sounding bridge pick up, and that tape binding is awful, but overall, its great.

Dano lipstick tube pickups, 3-way toggle switch, concentric volume and tone controls for the two pickups, high-quality tuning keys (Gorver? Gotoh?), maple neck with rosewood board, composite body, fully adjustable bridge.

I play rock and country music, and this guitar has the jangle. Middle and neck pickup settings sound great clean. Bridge pickup is razor sharp with a distortion pedal (best with Dano's Fab Tone - go figure!). The clean sounds are like a loud acoustic 12-string, and are great for Tom Petty, Byrds, Beatles.... Bridge pickup could be louder though, and I would like to see a third-party replacement pickup of a hotter output (a "hot-lips" so to speak!)

Factory setup was comfortable, but I had to intonate it at home. The bridge is great and easy to adjust. Once intonated, I could really hear the difference. Awesome sound, and in-tune all over the neck.

I replaced the strap buttons right away. The stock buttons are like acoustic guitar strap pins, and I didn't want to risk them falling out. Everything else is pretty reliable, I think. It won't be my main guitar, and may see play on 2-3 songs a night.

For a 12-string under $300, it's awesome. As 12s go, it's still a great guitar.

My guitar features 2 lipstick pickups 3-way toggle switch, and tone and volume controls for each of the pickups.
It has a masonite body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, and Gotoh tuners (same as on higher end Epiphones and Samicks). I suspect that these guitars are being made by Samick over in Korea based on the quality (which is a good thing, since Samick makes a lot of the Epiphone guitars as well).

This guitar is brilliant. It's the first 12-string guitar I have ever owned. I love the sound of the combined pickup combination.
Although I own many guitars and effects, I pretty much run this guitar directly to my Peavey Classic 50 212BT amplifier with no effects. The sound is excellent it really does not need any external effects such as delay, chorus or distortion. I do use a little reverb from my amp.
It has a nice full sound, great for classic rock and blues, which I lean towards over the last 20+ years of playing.

The action, fit & finish is excellent. I can't believe the quality of this guitar for the price.

Guitar appears very sturdy, not as sturdy as my G&L Legacy, but I believe that it is better built than last year's Danelectro U2 or DC. I also own a Danelectro U2 which I got last year.

Danelectro is just a shell company, which means they do not manufacture or even build any of there equipment. They are just the middleman for their product. Hopefully, the place of purchase is reliable.

Excellent value, tone, and quality. I highly recommend this guitar. I've been playing for 23 years. If it were stolen, I would hunt the bastard down, like the dog that they are, and kick the living shit out of them.

I bought this guitar right after it came out. Pretty good features. It is Korean made. It has 21 frets in the same spacing as a Strat. It is outfitted with two single coil pickups with a three way selector switch and there are tone and volume controls for each pickup. It has a string-thru body bridge. Twelve mini Gotoh tuners. It has an extra-wide neck. It has a steel nut for longer sustain.

Great sound style, period. It can be used for any music style. I originally got for playing the Beatles and other sixties rock, but I found that it can be used for anything. It even sounds kind of nifty through a distortion pedal. On the neck pickup it has a heavier sound, on both pickups it is full-sounding, on the bridge pickup it has the jangly sound that it marketed for. Plus, it sounds awesome for Middle Eastern riffs because of the dual strings. Kind of like a sitar or a saze

It was set-up perfectly when I got it. It's action is remarkably low along the entire fingerboard. The pickups were in exact postion I wanted. The entire thing is beautiful, all the components were installed with care and there wasn't a scratch on the whole thing.

A lot of people think that Danelectros can't stand up to other guitars because of the body material(masonite glued to plywood). They are wrong, it is as durable as hell. I wouldn't throw it around or kick it, but it would stand up just fine live. The finish it molded so you'd have to want to scratch it to make it look bad. The strap buttons are made of plastic but apparently they have a metal core. I would never play at a gig without a backup and this really isn't a guitar I would normally use for every song. It is a specialty piece. But I think you could use it for everything if it fits your style.

Never really dealt with 'em

I have not been playing for very long, but I own a large assortment of guitars because everybody in my family is a musician. Besides the 12-string, I have a Epiphone Special Model, A no-name classical guitar, a Martin acoustic, a 12-string acoustic, another no-name six-string acoustic, an old Mako(my first electric), oh yeah, and this weird hawaiian slide guitar made in the sixties by Airline. I am very happy with the 12-string, it is unbeatable in its price range and could easily be compared with the expensive Rickenbackers. I love my 12-string and it will never leave me until it falls apart.

I'm just going to second the emotions of the previous review. I bought mine last Saturday, and it's fantastic for the money, just like Guitar Player said. If you've EVER wanted an electric 12 string, buy one. No, it doesn't sound EXACTLY like a Rick (I have a Rick 340/12); the Rickenbacker is richer sounding, with with a deeper jangle and bottom. But for the bucks, come on. And the neck width is BETTER on the Dano; it's wider, and easier to finger the chords than on the Rick. The Dano's the one to start with; if you're serious about adding mid-60's Beatles and Byrds to your rep, then work up to a Rick on this (and keep it around for fun anyway). Now I almost wish I'd bought one of the double necks!!

Made in 1999, in Korea. Based on the other Danelectro bodies, read about them elsewhere. This is the DC model style, black. Has the two concentric volume/tone controls. Two lipstick pickups. Tuners are Gotoh, nicer than on my regular DC-59. Bridge is nice, not the rosewood block, but real bridge saddles.
Rating is for what I expected.

I love these Danelectros. I've now owned three of them. I traded one of my two DC-59 models for this one. The tone is just beautiful and unique. They don't sound like Strats or Les Pauls or Gretsch or anything but themselves. It's a very bright, bubbly, open sound with almost no sustain.
The 12-string just adds to this tone, ringing and chiming wonderfully. Using the pickup selector you can get a wide variety of sounds, from very thin (bridge) to typical neck pickup warmth to just a totally bright, loud tone (both pickups together). For the price, this is an amazing guitar.

Perfect, perfect, perfect. I have a very slight sitar-like buzz happening on my high E strings, which shouldn't be a problem to adjust out. The neck is beautiful, unpainted maple, very chunky feeling and comfortable. 12-strings are hard to get used to at the nut, have to play carefully, but this one is spaced fine.
Just bought it yesterday, played it last night and left it in a pretty cold room. Picked it up this morning and it's in perfect tune, still. Impressive. Not sure my Les Paul would do that.

These guitars aren't made like Strats or Pauls, they're cheaply made but I believe durable if you take proper care of them. The few I've owned have not been treated gingerly...I play out and bang them around a bit, and never had a worry.

I've e-mailed Dano and gotten good response to general product questions. Past that, don't know.

Guitar Player gave this guitar a glowing review, especially for the price. If you can't afford a $1000 to $1500 Rickenbacker 12-string, then this might be the ticket. It should be great for rhythm guitar work and creating some cool ambient tunes. Highly recommended.