Danelectro 1956 U1 Reissue

I have a Korean made brand new (1997) 56-U1. One lipstick pickup, simple bridge, and steel nut. The nut has U shaped slots. The neck is plain wood (maple, I think) with a very light satin varnish and a rosewood fingerboard. The neck is two-piece laminated. Stacked Volume and tone knobs, plastic. The body is standard Danelectro plastic shell with masonite top and back, covered in a blue-ish purple laquer. The tuners are sealed amd seem sturdy enough. The strap buttons are plastic, and snap-fitted to the body. The guitar is very lightweight (4 3/4 lbs). The best feature the guitar has is simplicity.

The guitar is great for playing blues, jazz, and anything else that is suited by a hollowbody single coil pickup type sound. This is NOT the guitar to do mondo sustained metal/grunge/punk or whatnot. Intonation is perfect, and the resonance and overall sound reminds me of a mid- sixties Gibson 330 (P-90 pickups). There is plenty of tone control from the knob, and the sounds range from chunky blues to to nice, bright highs. The guitar sounds best played through tubes- great blues sound when slightly overdriven, and warm jazzy sounds clean.
I wouldn't mind a little more punch from the pickup, but it's lack of punch certainly doesn't hurt it.

The guitar was very well set up at the factory- good strings, perfect actions. There are no flaws I can find with the body, the fretboard is a perfect lamination, the frets are smooth and comfortable, and the tuning machines are perfectly aligned. The neck is a work of art- the wood is nice looking and not over-varnished and gives a warm, natural feel, with not lumps or flat spots.

The guitar seems to be sturdy enough, if a bit light. the hardware is good, solid, simple stuff, and the finish seems durable. My only real worry is the strap butons but I've not had any problems yet. It's certainly dependable, and has become my primary gig guitar- the sound is right and it's lightweight is perfect for gigging. I have no qualms about bringing only this guitar to a gig.

This is definitely the poor man's hollowbody. No question it's a cheap guitar, but it's a good cheap guitar. It plays wonderfully and sounds great. It was perfectly suited to my playing style- while i had been toying with the idea of picking up a 56-U2 or 59-DC, when i saw the single pickup U-1 on the rack I just had to get it. I played it at the shop, fell in love with the neck and the sound, and that was that. I would certainly buy another one. Probably will, in fact.