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.

Recent model with two pickups, symmetrical body. Reviewing the other reviews, there seem to be some real differences in the exact same model. I don't know if it's series or parallel but the volume drops considerably in the "both" setting. And the tone controls aren't great but they don't have either the sudden taper noted in one review. Nor do they only cut in all the way down at the "1" setting, as noted in another review. I bought the tweed hard shell case, which is really very nice for the money (about half the price of a Fender tweed case.) The nut on mine was terrible - I had to fix it (see below.)

Since they all appear to have little differences, I'd recommend that you check out the very one you're going to buy and avoid the mail order houses on this one. Now don't be tempted just because they only have one red one left! If it's not OK, face it and go elsewhere!

Well, the solo bridge PU definitely gets the poor man's Rickenbacker sound I was looking for. You'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference without seeing the guitar. I don't find the "both" position very useful. The solo neck PU has a nice single coil jazzy sound which I like but which has limited application. Well, the whole guitar has a rather limited application. But it does give me the sound when I need it.

The aluminum nut was way too low. It's screwed into the end of the fingerboard with one screw. I had to drill another hole in the nut in order to put a shim under it and raise it to an acceptable height (I am NOT having a new nut cut for this guitar!) I can't find any truss rod adjustment on this guitar - I don't think it has (or needs) one. It came with a .008 string set, which contributed to the horrible buzzing and dead notes all over the fingerboard. With a .010 string set and the nut raised up, it sounds great and plays pretty good too. The intonation was set perfectly, though - I'll give 'em that.

Seems OK to me.

I have been playing 38 years. I've owned a number of guitars over the years. Right now I also have a Gibson ES335, PRS Custom 24, Fender Jimmy Vaughan Strat, Epiphone Sorrento, six- and twelve-string acoustic guitars, and fretted and fretless five-string Carvin basses. I play generally clean through a Mesa Boogie Mark III combo. This is a great guitar for the money. It really has a "close enough" vintage Rickenbacker sound. It does what I want it to for the few occasions I need that sound. Raising the nut was a pain. But they can't all be like this one or other reviewers would have mentioned it. (It was really bad.) If I had the money to spare, or I were using it on a lot more songs, I'd get a 360/12. But this does the job very nicely.

Features have been described in detail by others here. I won't go into detail. Other than the cheezoid strap buttons, all features are pretty cool for the price. At first the blue sparkle seemed velveeta-esque, but the more I see it, the more I like it. It is a Dano, after all.

I give an 8 because of the strap buttons.

Quite usable sounds. Many variations using the different pickups, tone controls. As mentioned, the treble control drops off suddenly, not a smooth tapering off. I don't find this to be a major problem. Work with the guitar and you'll find good, usable tones.
I am currently running it through a Behringer Blue Devil amp (an acquired tast, but baby, I've acquired it.) I have used it through a wide variety of all kinds of amps, tube and SS.
Someone here mentioned that this guitar didn't do "lead" work well. I must disagree. Some of my favorite moments have been doing "Mahavishnu-esque" fast leads with this axe. Add some distortion, and you can really rip - for a 12 string.

I have not adjusted the action. I was perfect as it was. I have raised the bridge pickup and lowered the neck PU, as someone else mentioned.
Everything works fine. No buzzy strings. I've had it for about two years, and everything still works.

I believe the guitar would make a good showing at gigs. I don't imagine anyone would play it 100% of the time, being a twelver. Strap buttons = cheeze, but haven't broken yet. As mentioned, it is tough to get some straps on the top button.
Never gig without a backup. If it tanked at a gig, I would work around it - just avoid the twelver songs, or use a sixer.

Never needed support.

I have been playing for over 30 years. I read the review in Guitar Player, went to check it out, and came home with it.
The price has dropped since I got mine. For goodness sake, go get one.

This IS a cheap guitar, but cheap guitars can be great fun.(I just bought an Epi Dot - again, cheap, good fun). I like that each individual string can be intonated, but then it won't STAY in tune. The G's on mine won't intonate well due to some fretting inaccuracy. The pickup selection is novel in that in the middle position, the pickups are connected in series instead of parallel, so you get a volume boost as well as the most articulate sound. But the tone pots are pure garbage - they do nothing till you get down to about '1', then the tone goes off with a 'click'. Since the pots are stacked, it's unlikely you can fix this without spending more for new stacked pots than the axe is worth. Someday I'm going to replace them with single master tone & volume pots, but the pickguard doesn't come off easily without distorting it somewhat. Duncan has lipstick pickups with supposedly a bit more beef, but I've learned with several electric 12's over the years that very few pickups work well with 12 strings. What's great for 6 may totally suck with 12 on a similar guitar.

This guitar's bright, shiny sound is certainly usable & useful for many things, but it doesn't compare at all to my '66 Rickenbacker 330. But then, no new Rick comes close either.
I got this guitar originally to keep onstage in open-G tuning for a couple songs I do, but it's turned out to be unsuitable for that. Besides the iffy intonation, the sound is too "clangy" without the necessary string-to-string articulation for fingerpicking or strumming chords with melodic runs on the top strings. I guess the word would be "clangorous".....hmmmmm....a better word would be "crude". The peaky resonance that makes the tone so cool for single-course melodies or shimmering backing textures is the very thing that causes all the sound to run together - masking the individual notes of a chord. On the other hand, my Rick can do all this & more beautifully.
Acoustically, this axe sounds pretty good, bringing up the possibility of adding a piezo or a small mic inside, brought out to a separate output.

The setup was decent right out of the store. I intonated the bridge which is a rather cumbersome operation, given all the strings and the design of the saddles (this bridge, or something similar, is sold by Stew-Mac, by the way). I wouldn't call the purple metalflake surface on the masonite body a "finish", but rather, an "application". It's very well done, as is the smooth, comfy neck. As others have mentioned, this is a very easy to play 12-string. Roomier than my skinny-neck 330-12.

It doesn't feel fragile but this isn't a good gigger anyway, so I'm not worried about it. The gig bag it came with is good enough.

no experience here

I've been playing about 40 years, off & on, and besides my Rick, I also have a 60's Vox 12-string which I joined to a similar 6-string years ago (with professional assistance). Compared to the Vox, and some others I've played (Ibanez, Fender) the Dano is a dream to play. The sounds are limited but then that's a 12-string. Both pickups are very usable & with just a little EQ & FX this axe can add a nice touch to a song. Considering the price I give it an 8 or 9. But I probably wouldn't replace it, though - I'd save my money & get a new Rick 360-12.

Read other reviews, basically everything you need

This is one cool sounding guitar. I have owned a Rick as well, and I have to say I enjoy playing this much more. The sound is not the same as a Rick, it is less complex and bright, but on the other hand I find it the effect is more rocking, and it is a very full sounding instrument. The bridge pickup alone is jangle central, very 60's Brit invasion, cheesy and fun. Both pickups sound best to me, easy to blend them with the volume controls. Don't use the neck alone.

Assembly is flawless, finish is way cool (white sparkle), intonation just needed slight adjustment. The neck is wider than my Rick and easier to play (I have big hands), better action.

Could be fragile. I would handle with care, but as long as it is not thrashed, I think it will last forever.

don't know

this guitar is a remarkable value, I can't beleive that such a great sounding and playing guitar is so inexpensive. I have 20 guitar, vintage and new and have played and owned everything. This guitar is one of my faves. RECOMENDED.

The best feature of this guitar is the fact that it cost less than $300.00. If you understand that going in, all the little shortcomings don't really matter. Danelectro is the manufacturer of quirky, funky, plastic covered pressboard guitars that just so happen to sound unbelievably good. They are as much fun to play as they are to look at. Good machine heads, good neck, good bridge, great buy!

The guitar is very bright as soon as you roll the tone knob from it's off position. The bridge pick up sounds just like the opening chords from Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here". You know the sound. Like a guitar being played through a transistor radio. Way cool! The neck pick up is fuller, warmer, but still crisp enough to convey that twelve string ring.

This is where you have to accept this guitar for what it is. Although the action was good right out of the box, every tuning head was moving back and forth on the headstock. A few turns of each retaining nut with a 10mm cresent wrench fixed that right up. There was some debris rattling around the interior. Pop off the "Seal" pick guard, shake thoroughly, problem solved. Jack loose, undo the two retaining screws, hold interior part in one hand, turn nut untill sufficiently tight.

I wouldn't play this guitar live without a backup.

Overall this guitar gets a big eight. It's a fun guitar. No more, no less. Don't try to justify it
being something better than it is. It's no Strat and it's no Les Paul. It's just a really cool Dano 12.

I believe this one was made in the year 2000, in Korea. It has 21 frets on a hard maple neck and rosewood fingerboard, the body is made of a plywood frame with masonite top and bottom and painted in a beautiful blue metal flake finish. There are two pick-ups called "Lipsticks", two stacked, cheap plastic pots (volume/tone for each Lipstick) and a 3-way selector switch. The tuners are from Gotoh and the nut is either steel or aluminum. The bridge is a string thru body with the octaves strung thru the bridge and the strap buttons are cheap plastic that seem to hold up so far.

INCREDIBLE SOUND! Especially using the neck pick-up. It gives off a rich, full, and bright sound on all of my amps. The bridge pick-up has no body whatsoever to the sound. The tone knobs don't have much variety, but I keep it just below max and it gives me what I need. I'm surprised with the sound it produces, even without effects, for the money. (However, I received mine with faulty electronics. To get both or just the bridge pickup to work, I had to fiddle with the pots) -1pt

The action is a perfect 10 as well as the intonation. All I had to do when I received it was tune it. I can stand with it all day because it's so damn light and somehow, with this guitar, while standing with it, I can get all the complicated chords easily. When I first got it it had a little scratch on the neck pick-up but the rest of the finish is flawless, that blue metal flake,....mmmmm!

Because the body is made of a plywood frame with masonite glued to the top and bottom, there is a vinyl tan strip glued along the side. Like I said before, the pots are blue-light special cheap plastic along with the strap buttons, which I'm kinda sketchy about. But other than that, it looks like it can hold up pretty well. I'd use it on a gig with the backup being the same guitar (different color).

Danelectro virgin. Will get it repaired someday but I only use the neck pick-up anyway.

I've been playing for over 10 yrs and have been collecting guitars and basses over that period of time, so I won't list them, but I'll say that I use a Crate G212XL and DXJ112 and a Peavey bass Combo 210TX and like I said, the guitar sounds great thru all of them without any effects. When I was in the market for an electric 12-string, I bought this guitar solely on looks alone. It just so happens that it sounds as good as it looks. If someone ever stole it from me, I'd first find the fucker and kill him till he dies from it. But most definitely, I would buy it again, and again, and again.

I just recently purchased a new 2000 Danelectro 12. Black w/ white guard. This is a nice unit. I was in the market for an electric 12.
I also ahev an acoustic 12 with a D'armond pickup hotwired permanently.
Mine is I guess the basic, w/2 lipsticks, excellent gearing, stacked volume/tone controls, which can be a little finicky but I'm managing to get by okay. Combination tailpiece: Bass strings thru body, octaves on front.
The neck is narrow and very fast. Byrds, Fleetwood Mac are a breeze.

Our band does a lot of Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Beatles. Pretty well a full coverage of 50's thru 70's, and top 40.
I'm running thru a Fender 112 Deluxe / 90w. The tone is a little bright, maybe too bright, but that's probably the nature of the Fender and not the doing of the guitar, as I've tried her thru a Carvin, and it's teriffic.
Basically, I have to keep the tone way down, but I'm able to sharpen it a bit with some mid-range.
I'm not overly fussy on the controls, they're a little K-Martish, and I agree with that other reviewer with regards to the strap buttons. They gotta go, as a matter of fact...they're gone.
She accepts a capo very well.

I had the guitar intonated when I bought it.
No flaws to speak of.

I've gigged a fair bit since buying it.
The gearing (tuners) are very good.
I might become concerned about the controls though.
When I forst saw it I was concerned about access to the truss rod.
I suppose you have to unbolt the neck to make any adjustments. I'm not too crazy about that aspect.
I use my acoustic at our gigs also, so a back-up is not a problem.

Danelectro Virgin.

I've been playing about 35 years.
I play keyboards, Tele, and 12 in addition to harmonica with our band, so I'm kept pretty busy.
I have a Korg T3 (great unit)
This is run thru a Rickenbacker TR35B (greater unit)
US Telecaster (blonde)
Mansfield 12 (acoustic) w/ D'armond
Danelectro 12
thru a Fender 112 Deluxe, in conjunction with Korg G3 pedal
Beta 57 and EV 457 mics.
I also have, but don't gig with, Epiphone Viola Bass, and an Ovation 6
(acoustic)

I started off as a bass player, and this has a nice wide neck that makes it very easy for me to play chords.

Very nice bright sounds, I like using it for Yardbirds stuff, but playing things like Pretty Vacant are also much more fun now

I have the Deep Purple Metalflake, I didn't like it at first, but now I think it's pretty cool. Like all Dano products I've bought, the craftsmanship is supurb.

Dano makes incredibly durable products.

Always friendly and helpful.

I have never had a problem with anything from Danelectro, and this is no exception. I only with they could make me a custom model with the guitar/mandolin, 12 string, and bari all in one.

The features for this guitar have been pretty well covered by previous comments...

This is my first electric 12-string in some 29 years of playing, so I don't have anything to compare it with, but I do think it sounds great. I also love the wide, flat neck/fingerboard - right up my alley since I started with Martin acoustics. I have played it through my '55 3x10 Bandmaster & '61 Tremolux, using reissue Fender Tube Reverb Units, both fingerpicking & with a pick. It would be fun to have a third pickup, but for the price I won't whine about it. You can also play it without plugging it in & hear it fine in a reasonably quiet room, which I like.

The "deep purple" metalflake finish is even more outrageous looking than in photos & seems to have a lot of depth - very nice. The guitar's finish & construction are flawless, I'm not kidding. One thing I did right off the bat & would recommend is changing the strings, since the factory ones aren't locked around the tuning peg shafts. This has helped it stay in tune better. The guitar played so well "out of the box" that it inspired me to lower the action on my "bowling ball" Strat.

Like others I don't like the cheese-o plastic strap buttons - maybe I'll change them.

Haven't had a reason to try to contact anyone.

I actually bought the guitar since I've always wanted an electric 12 string but didn't want to spend a fortune on one, since I won't be playing it all the time. I also really dislike little skinny (side to side)necks - you could set this one up as a 6 string electric with an acoustic guitar neck (1 3/4" at the nut). I've also always wanted a wacky metalflake finish on an electric, but didn't feel like paying $1500-$2000 or whatever for one. I would recommend this guitar to ANYONE who might be remotely interested in a 12 string electric.

2000 model,right out of the cardboard box.dark blue finish with a groovacious 3-D sparkle.the body is made from the highest quality masonite the koreans could muster.this is not a putdown however,because this thing rings like a bell.the neck is wide and thin with a rosewood board,gotoh tuners(yeah baby!),aluminum nut that has been cut and filed by someone who cares,and a loverly satin finish.no case,no gig bag,no tools,no kidding!nice bridge with intonation on all 12 strings adjustable.moderately quiet lipstick tube pups.a series/parallel switch would be nice,but i may do it myself someday.the 3 way pickup selector is nice and solid,and doesn't pop or buzz.

i play praise/worship music mostly which means i have to sound like everything from lawrence welk to matchbox 20.this guitar has a nice jangle up to moderate gain settings,but these pickups get trashy sounding if you push them too hard.the twin volume/tone controls provide lots of tonal options with both pickups on,and the treble doesn't roll off when you turn the volume down.however,as with most import guitars,the tone knob has a usable but abrupt taper.suprisingly though,the tone doesn't get muddy with the tone knob rolled down-very nice! my current setup is a little no name cheeseball practice amp with a danelectro daddy-o as a preamp.(keep the gain down and nobody gets hurt.)i plan on getting another crate vintage 30 ASAP!this guitar would sound magnificent through a good class a tube amp.be forewarned,if you sell your vintage 30, you'll be sorry.back to the guitar,the bridge pickup is bright with little mids or bass.if your p.a.and keyboad player turn your stage into a sonic black hole(church guitarists,you know what i mean!)this bridge pickup will pull you out of the mud.nice clear neck pickup sound,and nice round jangle in the middle position-but these pickups are wired in series,so you get an increase in output.a parallel option would be nice.no matter what you do to this guitar,however it will never be a chunker/shredder.by the way,this guitar is as loud unplugged as some low priced acoustic guitars i've played lately.

wouldabeenatenexceptforthose!@#%&%$##@$ STRAP BUTTONS! this thing stays in tune remarkably well,and the action is as low as it can go without buzz.i wish the neck were a little thicker,but i can adjust without much trauma.there were no visible flaws,no rattling truss rod,(my epi sheraton and jap strat both did this)and very consistent fretwork.

top quality hardware,rock solid neck,(no truss rod work necessary!) ill put it this way,if THE BOMB were to drop tonight,this guitar and cockroaches would survive.oh yeah,i almost forgot-I HATE THESE STEENKIN STRAP BUTTONS!mine havent come off,but i wouldn't miss them if they did.

i've been playing for around 8 years,and i have owned both u.s.and japanese fenders,peavey and epiphone guitars.this guitar is equal and in some cases better than previous guitars i have owned.the price/quality ratio on all danelectro gear is excellent.i would recommend this guitar to anyone looking for an all around good guitar at an unbelievable price.

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.