Danelectro 1956 U2 Reissue

When Nat Daniel made the first Danelectro back in the mid Fifties, could he have had any clue that his guitar would sound so great and play so majestically? Known for its amazing tone and "signature sound", the U2 guitar was a instant hit when it first appeared in 1956. Thousands of recordings from the 50's and 60's feature its signature sound.

Forty-something years later, this U2's sonic magic is superbly replicated in its new reissue incarnation, the 56-U2. Impressively, it's a near-perfect recreation of the original with "Coke bottle" headstock and a "cool copper" colour and exact replicas of the original's "D" style tuners only used on the early reissues, probably this guitar is from 1998, these made in Korea reissues were produced from 1998 until 2001 - 2003.

Just about everything here is identical to the original. This includes those beloved "lipstick tube" (so-named because the originals actually used surplus lipstick tubes), single-coil pickups; the stacked, concentric knobs (combining volume and tone onto one pot); the heavy-duty, industrial-strength toggle switch; and an alloy bridge with a rosewood saddle.

The 56-U2's hollowness provides a buxom acoustic voice; amplified, it's a bright, trebly guitar with ample harmonic overtones that cut through a mix. It's simply a great-sounding guitar that delivers jangle (using both pickups) and fatness (the typical front-pickup tone). The pickups kick out a Strat-like output, but with more midrange. The 56-U2 offers great playability and cool vintage looks.

Specifications Average weight = 6.0 lbs.
Body Hardboard top and bottom with plywood frame.
Neck Hard maple with rosewood fingerboard.
Scale 25???
Frets 21
Body Width 42mm
Headstock Width 15.5mm
Nut Width 40mm
Action 1.6mm high 'E'
18mm low 'E'
Pickups Original style brass tube w/chrome plating
Magnet ??? Original formula 50???s style Alnico magnet.

Controls: Large knobs control volume.
Small knobs control tone.
Knobs closest to the neck control neck pickup.
Knobs closest to bridge control bridge pickup.

Toggle switch :
Up = neck pickup on.
Middle = neck & bridge pickups on wired in series in phase.
Down = bridge pickup on.

Unbelievable, if your looking for crisp & cristal clear sounds with lots of treble this is it, don't look any further anymore. I use this guitar mainly with a 1979 Fender Silverface Princeton Reverb.
I own a variety of single coil guitars : Fender Strats & Tele's, Epiphone Zephyr Blues Deluxe and an old 1960 Gibson ES-330-TD (the same guitar Grant Green used on his early Blue Note recordings), I'm a real Fender fanatic when it comes to guitars and amps, but this Dano has become my all time favourite guitar instantly. I'm suffering from "Dano fever" ever since and the next Dano I'm gonna buy is the rare & more versatile 56-U3 in a cool sparkling turquoise colour, I can't wait until I put my hands on that guitar!!!

I bought this guitar second hand and cannot say anything about the factory setup, when I got it I've tweaked around with the action until it suited my style, as a blues guitarist I prefer a little bit higher action then normal for better tone and easier string bends and I use heavier 011-049 D'addario EXL115 strings instead of the more common 010-046 strings also to achieve a better tone.
But the pickups on this guitar were not balanced well, the rhythm pu was loud compared to the weaker lead pu, even raising the lead pu height didn't improve this problem. After checking the DC resistance it turned out that the rhythm pu (LP1) with grey cable measured 3,8 kOhm and the lead pu (LP2) with white cable measured 3,77 kOhm, almost identical readings, so the unbalance in output was probably caused by a difference in magnetic strength between the rhythm pu and the lead pu???
I decided to desolder both pu leads from the pots and swapped the pickups in position, afterwards I've soldered the pu leads back to the correspondive pots and the unbalance in output was gone, the problem was solved, I assume that the original neck pickup LP1 with grey cable has stronger magnets then the lead pickup LP2 with white cable. I don't know if this was only the case with this particular guitar, normally the hotter pickup should always be mounted in the bridge position instaed of the neck position.

Here's the standard switching on a Danelectro 56-U2 :
Toggle switch :
Up = neck pickup on.
Middle = neck & bridge pickups on wired in series in phase.
Down = bridge pickup on.

As a blues guitarist I like the nasal out of phase sounds that can be achieved on a 2 or 3 pickup guitar like T-Bone Walker, Jimmy Nolan, Johnny Guitar Watson etc... I liked the standard middle position on this Dano with neck & bridge pickup wired in series in phase for a hotter output, but when I decided to change the little red & white wires of the now grey bridge pickup cable to place it out of phase with the neck pu it was pure blues heaven. I can now really achieve that cool nasal out of phase blues tone used a lot by contemporary blues cats like Rick Holmstron, Junior Watson, Teddy Morgan etc...

Here's the customised switching on my Danelectro 56-U2 :
Toggle switch:
Up = neck pickup on.
Middle = neck & bridge pickups on wired in series out of phase.
Down = bridge pickup on.

Like most other Danos equipped with a rosewood saddle mounted on an alloy bridge, the metal baseplate has warped over time under the string pressure, but the guitar still plays like a dream, no string buzzing over the entire neck because of this poor bridge design.

This guitar will withstand live playing in my hands, I'm very careful with my gear and I always take good care of it.
Recently I've played live with this Dano at a blues caf?? and got many positive reactions afterwards about the unique tones this guitar produces, I was also surprised how easily it cut through the mix.
The only thing that could break on this guitar are probably the small white plastic strap buttons, they could drop out unexpectedly, maybe I've to remove them, use very strong super glue and fix them back into place.
The vintage Danelectro & Silvertone guitars also used this simple design and are still around up to today, so I'm not afraid about the build quality, you can depend on it.

I've never contacted Danelectro.
I repair all of my gear myself, and in this case you can buy all the original Dano parts on www.danguitars.com!!!

I play for more then 22 years now, mostly blues, I wish I would have bought me a Dano right from the start.
Danelectro guitars are really fantastic, a lot of bang for the buck!!!

Danelectro 56-U2 Reissue from 1998-2001, made in Korea.
Color : Cool Copper
Specifications Average weight = 6.0 lbs.
Body Hardboard top and bottom with plywood frame.
Neck Hard maple with rosewood fingerboard.
Scale 25???
Frets 21
Body Width 42mm
Headstock Width 15.5mm
Nut Width 40mm
Action 1.6mm high 'E'
18mm low 'E'
Pickups Original style brass tube w/chrome plating
Magnet ??? Original formula 50???s style Alnico magnet.

Controls: Large knobs control volume. Small knobs control tone. Knobs closest to the neck control neck pickup. Knobs closest to bridge control bridge pickup. Toggle switch: Up position = neck pickup on. Middle = both pickups in series & in phase. Down = bridge pickup on.

This guitar is the best kept secret for blues lovers.
It has a real crisp & clean sound, retro looks & sounds, if you like Tele's for blues, this guitar will even do better.
I use the Dano with a 1979 Fender Princeton Reverb.
The guitar is a little bit noisy, but I don't care for that, you wouldn't even notice this at a life performance.
The lipstick pickups produce very clear & bright sounds, awesome.

This guitar has 3 basic sounds, toggle switch up = neck pickup, toggle switch middle = both pickups in series & in phase , toggle switch down = bridge pickup

The guitar was properly setup when I bought it second hand, nice action, not too high without fret buzzing, straight neck, this guitars plays like dream, even unplugged it produces a reasonable volume which is always a good indication.

The bridge baseplate with rosewood saddle has warped a little bit bend under the pressure of the strings, this is a common problem but didn't have any negativ impact on the sound or playability of this guitar, it is possible to upgrade the bridge to a newer model with six individual saddles for perfect height adjustment & intonation of each string, furthermore these newer bridges can be mounted down to the body to improve overall sustain, these bridges and a lot of other Danelectro parts can be bought at www.danguitars.com

I noticed a big volume difference between neck & bridge pickup, neck pickup was giving good output, bridge pickup was weak sounding, I changed the height of both pickups but didn't get the bridge in balance with the neck pickup.
I decided to desolder the pickups & placed the neck pickup in the bridge position & bridge pickup in the neck position and soldered them back to the appropriate pots -> this was a huge improvement in output balance of the 2 pickups.
After that I even changed the wiring a little bit more, I've changed the 2 leads (white & red) of the bridge pickup soldered to the volume pot to make it out of phase with the neck pickup when the toggle switch is in the middle position.
This gives you both pickups in series & out of phase for that trademark sound a la Rick Holmstron / Junior Watson / Teddy Morgan.
To my personal taste it's way better now then the normal wiring.
This mod is very simple if you can handle a soldering iron and easy to reverse.

This guitar seems strong enough to me for live performances.
Maybe the warped bridge baseplate with rosewood saddle needs to be upgraded to the newer model with 6 individual saddles
The plastic strap buttons look tricky, they can also be upgraded easily to metal ones.

I have no experience with the customer support of the Danelectro company.
I don't care too much, you can buy a lot of original Danelectro parts at www.danguitars.com, everything can be easily replaced on these guitars, they are very easy to service.

I've been playing blues guitar for more then 22 years now and I own several vintage Fender & Gibson guitars and amps.
This cheap Danelectro 56-U2 Reissue was a big surprise to me, great playability and incredible sounds at bargain prices.

I wish the Danelectro 56-U2 was also equipped with a 6-way rotary Select-O-Matic switch instead of the 3-way toggle switch.
This would give the following switching possibilities :

Pos 1 = Neck pickup
Pos 2 = Neck & Bridge pickup in parallel & in phase
Pos 3 = Neck & Bridge pickip in series & in phase
Pos 4 = Bridge & Neck pickup in series & out of phase
Pos 5 = Bridge & Neck pickup in parallel & out of phase
Pos 6 = Bridge pickup

I want to buy the Danelectro 6-way Select-O-Matic rotary switch and upgrade my Danelectro 56-U2 with it to get all the possible 6 sounds by a flick of the switch for greater versatility.

If it were stolen I would definately buy it again or maybe look for the more collectable Danelectro 56-U3 or DC-3 Reissue with 3 lipstick pickups.

1998 made in Korea lefty '56 U2 Reissue. 21 fret, 3 way pickup selector, 2 volume controls (stacked), 2 tone controls, 2 single coil Alnico "lipstick tube" pickups. Single cutaway (Les Paul style) semi-hollow body, masonite top and bottom, bolt-on painted maple neck, adjustable truss rod, 21-fret rosewood fingerboard with white dot inlays, aluminum nut, rosewood/metal stop tailpiece, "Coke bottle" headstock with screened logo, 3-per-side sealed tuners, chrome hardware with off white plastic machine heads, 2 off white plastic strap buttons. 2 tone "Aqua-burst" painted gloss finish on guitar body, back of neck and headstock. Clear, stylized plastic pickguard with "D" logo, 2 screw mount. This is a small, semi-hollow guitar, so it is quite light.
Tuners, strap buttons and the metal/rosewood bridge are the weak features of this guitar.

I really like the sound from this little guitar. I like blues and rock styles primarily and this guitar has no problem creating nice tone. I'm a hobby player and just play through a couple of practice amps, a '98 Fender Frontman Reverb and an Orange Crush 30r. I have a few other lefty guitars, a Tele, Strat and an Ibanez RG550L and the '56 U2 RI has a distinct sound from those guitars. You can get a fairly nice creamy tone on clean settings and you can also get a full, well rounded growl when you push the overdrive and crank the gain. Pickups are well behaved on all settings. Being a semi-hollowbody it is also quite resonant. I find it great for noodling on unplugged when I'm watching a game on TV or just relaxing.

I've had this guitar about 6 months and the action is a little high. I don't believe the previous owner had it set-up, so this is probably the original set up. Very playable, but it is a little high.
Fit and finish is very nice. Over ten years old, well cared for, it looks mint. Neck and frets dressed nicely, body finish (paint) is A1. Plastic strap buttons look cheap, but are serviceable, their still tight, but I haven't used a strap with it. The rosewood fretboard is not the tightest grain I've seen and is of a lighter variety in color. This type of metal/rosewood bridge have been know to warp due to string tension, however a full metal intonating replacement bridge is available for around $50 on the net.
I think my biggest complaint is the machine heads/tuners are not the best quality. They are quite stiff to use, although the guitar appears to hold tune very well.

I believe this guitar could be gigged with, although upgrades to the bridge, tuners and strap buttons may be advisable.

Have not dealt with the company. These '56 U2 Reissues were only made from 1998 to 2003. The company still has a website, however there is no information on previous models, only the current year models. It would be nice if they could incorporate more of their model history on their website.

I've been playing on and off since the early '80s, played mostly acoustic early on and in recent years more electric. I have other lefties including a '69 Fender Tele partscaster, '89 MIJ Fender Stratocaster '67 RI and a 1990 Ibanez RG550L.
I like the different tones this guitar produces compared to my other guitars. I like the size and weight, great for just picking up and creating masterpieces on the couch, lol. Love the color and retro looks. I'm always on the look out for cheap lefties, especially an LP style. This came along and it is a nice contrast to my other guitars.
If stolen or lost, I would love to find a replacement, however they are no longer made and had a limited run. My guitar retailed for $500 new here in Canada, used examples are cheaper, but appear to be rising in value.

STANDARD FEATURES, BUT A WAY COOL ANTIGUA FINISH

INCREDIBLE! JUST PLAYED IT THROUGH A PEAVY 5150. VERY IMPRESSIVE.

AS GOOD AS ANY GUITAR 4 TIMES THE COST.

SEEMS SOLID

NEVER NEEDED

EXCELLENT! EXCELLENT!

Purchased on e-bay. 2 lipstick p/u, short scale (25") lp body style. Very basic instrument, but thats the idea.

Then there's the dano sound. The only reason forgetting this guitar was the sound from the lipstick p/u's. The retro bridge p/u sound, and the phased middle position are worth every cent.

Unfortunately, it is true to the '56 version, which means a rosewood bridge. Relpaced with an intonating bridge, this guitar holds pitch WAY better. Action a little high, but for what I need (slide), no problem. No sustain whatsoever, but that should be expected given th construction.

Don't know....seems solid, but time will tell.

Never contacted

Been playing too long (35+years). I got this for the specific sound (In My Time of Dying) and covering '50's and '60's stuff. Put this in the "Have to Have" category since it is so unique. I play an Austin Tour Pro (modded with duncans) and an '84 Tele. This does things that the other just can't. "Twangier" than a Tele, major retro sound. A must have to fill out a sound library.

Not terrible, but not amazing, either. I just bought this and will probably replace rosewood bridge with the adjustable intonating chrome bridge (available at danguitars.com). A worthwile $49.00 investment in my mind. The aluminum nut is great...sure as heck beats the plastic ones found on some higher priced guitars. The guitar stays in tune just fine, but I could see myself eventually upgrading the tuning machines, as well. The strap pegs also need to go...the plastic feels like they're going to come loose (or worse...snap off). But overall the guitar seems like it was built with care.

I'm not an old blues guy, and I'm not in a dad band and I don't like heavy metal. I play powerpop (The Posies, Big Star, etc) and this guitar is great for it. I use a Marshall Valvestate Combo Amp and get a great clean tone that sounds like a Tele when I switch to the bridge pickup.

The setup out of the box was pretty darn good. Not in love with the rosewood bridge which could really throw the intonation off after a time, but it works for now. My primary stage guitar is an Ibanez Artcore AS93 (a semi-hollow double cutaway like the Gibson ES that weighs about 95lbs). Compared to that, this guitar is VERY fast. I'm no shredder, but I found myself able to do some pretty clean licks on this that were a bit tougher on the 'Nez.

The guitar looks awesome. I've got a white one that fades into this orange creamsicle color...cool as hell! I knew the second I discovered that Danos existed, I would own one someday.

I just came off a 50-date tour and now I'm taking a four month rest before I head back out. I acquired the Dano after said tour was over, but it'll be around for the next one. After playing it around the apartment and among friends, I think as long as it's taken care of, it can withstand some hefty gigging. I'm going to get a hard case for it...for now it sits in a guitar hook on my wall (talk about hanging a piece of fine art). Tunings pegs and strap pins feel a bit flimsy (I'm likely going to upgrade both eventually). Since I do like to live dangerously, I would play a show with no backup. I think the Dano would come through.

N/A

I've been playing guitar for only four years and have quickly become an enthusiast. I have an Ibanez Artcore AS93, a Fender American Strat, and a Guild acoustic. The Dano is the perfect addition to my guitar collection. I can't wait to play it live and show off to all those old dads playing their dusty barroom covers. If this guitar were stolen, I'd look to replace it immediately.

Malt-shop cream '56 U2 reissue purchased in summer 2000. The lipstick pick-ups look great and produce a great viontage tone. 22 frets, limiting for lead guitar in higher keys but never really been a problem. stacked volume/tone knobs with three way pick up select. The metal nut is a nice touch, shame about the cheap-looking plastic pegs for securing the strap in place, unfortunately they have a tendancy to come loose. The action is nice and low which allows for fast playing and easy chord playing higher up the fret board. The guitar is hollow and feels as though it could be easily damaged yet i've never had any problems so it must be tougher than it looks.

Works well for almost all styles. I play a lot of blues, funk and hard rock and the guitar is well suited to all of these.
In a clean setting the guitar shines through with a distinctive tone ideal for jangley settings, especially in conjunction with a chorus pedal. The guitar excells with a rich, full bluesey bite in an O/D 1 setting with a fantastic full crunch. Turn the amp up to the 11 and the U2 will sustain notes with brilliant clarity as long as you want it to whilst offering nice fat power chords. Knock the pick up select into the bridge position and the guitar produces a tone reminiscent of a telecaster. None of the pick up positions are noisy and the stacked volume/tone knobs allow for lots of tweaking in creating whatever sound you want. On sound alone this guitar is great, the fact that it looks amazing too is a bonus.

Nice low action straight from the box, i've never had any complaints and as such i've never bothered having it adjusted. One screw on the higher pick up has a tendancy to come loose from time to time causing the pick up to mute the top string, although easily fixed with a screwdriver this is rather irritating when it happens. The guitar has a fantastic retro look. Aside from the cheap, loose strap pegs and the equally cheap looking tuning pegs I wouldn't have this guitar any different.

I use this guitar for gigging and teaching and 7 years on it is still my favourite. The hardwear has held it's own as has the finish. A few knocks on the headstock have seen the paint wear off ever so slightly but you'd only notice if you were really looking for it. Sound wise this guitar always performs and as such is reliable. Part of me wants to replace the tuning pegs and strap buttons but at the same I like the colour scheme of the instrument and am reluctant to actually act on doing this for fear of butchering an old friend in the process. I always gig with several guitars for fear of snapping a string as well as for a variety of different sounds. I also have a Fender Strat and a PRS and tend to vary between these instruments.

For what I paid this guitar is fantastic value. If it were lost/stolen I would seek out another one as soon as. I like Danelectros for their distinctive tone and retro look. They look very different to most other guitars which also sets them apart. Apart from some of the cheap hardwear already mentioned there is little fault I could pick about the U2. If you ever get chance to buy one do so, you won't be disappointed.

Imagine the beauty of any noise after 10 years of silence. This guitar aims to please and pleases to aim. Might look like it was made in a Korean sweatshop (possibly was) but don't judge a book by it's cover. It's always darkest before dawn... play a simple open chord and realize your own musical expression.

Unfortunately, cream and pink don't always impress the ladies. I'm secure with my manhood though so whats good for the goose is good for the gander. I'd give it an 3 but the sound makes the inadequate paint an 8.

I've been playing guitar for a solid 1 1/2 months, I've been playing this guitar for 1 month, and have had only slight problems with some cracking from the input. But then again, does as bear shit in the woods?

Like a fart in the wind.... does this company even exist anymore?

fantastic value... I suggest you find yours at yardsale as well... suckers.

this is actually just an edit to my review my dano is actually a56 reissue pro,it has an ajustable bridge(not a wooden one),the tuners are solid and closed ,the strap buttons are chrome plated metal and screwed in.there is an ajustable truss rod but the neck must be removed to make a change.and i justed wanted to add that pickup selector switch is actually very quite.not a pop or click or anything.it seems the quality of these guitars really varys and should be throughly checked out before buying.

i cant lie it feels cheap, it looks plain,and it does'nt have any features to speak of .It's almost impossible to set the action. yup its pretty much a piece of ikea furniture with strings.but its a dream to play and sounds wonderfull.

with different amps and effects there has'nt been anything that this guitar has lacked in

the factory setup was poor,well bad actually.horibble string buzz the frets were all over the place and the action was too high.but it went to the guitar tech and 50 bucks later and it feels and plays as nice as my prs cu 22.i shoud've bought the dano first and saved about 3500 bucks

treat it gently you could play it for ever.but it is light and feels delicate.its not punk rock lifestyle friendly.

hasn't been an issue

i ve played guitar long enough to know it plays and sounds as good as my prs and blows my les paul away in every way.a high end guitar may look better but this one is alot of fun to play and would need to be replaced first if i lost all my guitars.

I found my aqua Danelectro in a local secondhand shop for $300. It was in perfect condition. I didn't know about the sound or quality of these guitars, but as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it. Read other reviews fer stats, I'm not the best of guitarists, I just dug the damn thing. Mine had a golden "Made in Korea" sticker on the back.

I'm in a noisey sludge/punk band and I love the sound this thing makes when it's running through a high gain pedal. (I know, waste of guitar, don't care.) It sounds like a chainsaw on heat. I used to play a '94 (?)Fender Japanese Jag with JB Jr's, but this damn aqua monstrosity feels a shit-ton nicer to play. The damn thing weighs piss-all, Saves the old shoulders, lemme tell you. The only problem I have is the feedback. I play a lot of feedback, and low gain pickups don't like feedback. At least that's what I think I've discovered...

I bought the thing (No scratches, flaws, I think it may have been a forgotton gift...), jammed, then played a gig and it was perfect. The bastard's one of the best guitars I've ever played.

I've dropped it once or twice and it still works. That's enough fer me. Oh, the input jack thingy tends to get loose now and then. That's the only problem I've come across so far.

Never had to deal with them.

If I lost this thing, I'd track down another A.S.A.P, it's a great guitar.

this is a 90's u2 reissue with 2 kickass lipstick pickups, a neat U shaped neck, 21 frets. It's a hollow, kind of les paulish body, well finished, in a creme color. made of plywood and masonite. dont laugh so soon.

This guitar is the best sounding single coil guitar i own, including a 50's classic stratocaster, and an american Telecaster. When describing the tone, the word "jangly" comes to mind. Because of the 25" scale length, (as opposed to the 25 1/2" fender scale), this guitar has a looser, less tensed up sound than a fender, which i like alot. Also, the bad-ass lipstick pickups are much quieter than strat pickups, due to the metal "lipstick" pickup housing, which acts like a shield from RF noise and such.the bridge pickup is bright but not shrill, pleasing. I run this through an Orange crush 30R, a danelectro compressor, and a proco RAT2 (buy one of those). the neck pickup is smooth, round and full, but with good definition. Both pickups on produce a full, slightly funky sounding tone, which is also very, very cool. When i kick on the RAT, the guitar overdrives smoothly, the bridge sound great for an early black sabbath type sound, i turn up and play along with that first album all the time. keeps me in practice. the middle pickup sounds powerful and a little smoother. The neck, (still my favorite) offers a warm, very smooth, obviously bassier sound. Has serious amounts of vibe, very fun to play. Resistant to microphonics, the biggest annoyance of guitar to me. i hate squeals. But who doesn't? Also: series wiring means that when both pickups are on it boosts the output. cool.

I bought this guitar used from sam ash for 90 dollars. It wasnt at its finest moment. The previous owner hacked it up. He just put a million holes in it, trying to screw with the bridge, and installing this little trapeze tailpiece thing. Frets were rough from a level gone horribly wrong. tuners i believe were stock. Completely terrible. I couldnt bend the G without going out of tune. But still, as soon as i picked it up, i knew i was going to buy it. the neck profile is this perfect U shape. very comfortable. I really value a guitar with a special neck. finish was in great shape. I got it home, leveled the frets, installed a tune-o-matic bridge instead of that crappy rosewood bridge, which cannot be adjusted for intonation without sliding it around. it actually wasnt so bad at all, but the wood would wear out eventually, i just went ahead and replaced it. Then, i set it up to play really low, put on some new strings, and some tuners i had lying around. the results were inspiring. seriously, this is one great playing guitar now. My friend is this gibson whore, and he picked it up and immediately stated "I like the way this plays" Also, do yourself a favor. replace the plastic strap pegs.

This guitar has taken alot of crap since ive had it, and it's held up admirably. However, it is hollow, and more care should be taken when handling it than a solidbody. If you take care of it, it'll last you a long time. I've always thought danelectros, though made from cheap materials, were not necessarily cheaply made. You see some pretty old ones around. but nobody wants to sell them.

dont know about this one. never had to call the company, probably never will. its used anyway...no warranty im sure. I've heard alot of things about dano support, everyone either says they were great or they were terrible.

I have played guitar everyday for the past two years. this is not a long time, but sometimes i'll just stay up all night, playing away, so i've got alot of actual hours of practice in. if you cut me open, i swear to god i wouldnt be surprised if sound came out. ha. What i love equally is working on guitars. actually, im a better repairman than a player. I really like to experiment and get cool tones out of my guitars. those would include the aforementioned fenders, another excellent 90 dollar guitar, a strat copy from the 60's that is also better than my strat, an agile les paul copy with alnico humbuckers that rules ass (pick one of those up too.), an ibanez jet king, a classical guitar that was my dads way back in the day, and a shitty fender acoustic guitar.

2 lipstick tube pickups; two stacked volume/tone pots; malt-shop creme colour; retro vibe!

The sound of this guitar is very unique. I personally find that there is a lot of treble in all of the sounds, both neck and bridge pickups. However, this doesn't mean I don't like it and the fact that the pickups are wired in series is very useful for me, and it also makes logical sense, in that turning both on at the same time makes it louder! Genius!

There appears to be no way to fault the fit an finish of this guitar. It's second hand and approaching 10 years old now but there are no problems and it seems to have stood up to the test of time, though i don't think it's been gigged much as there are two screws where I can only assume some (idiot!!) has attached a Roland MIDI abomination to it and used it at home. Colour is perfectly applied and while light, the whole thing feels solid with a particularly nice neck.

I would not hesitate to gig this guitar. I have so far had no problems with the strap buttons and it looks the bomb so I'd have to cool factor too! I also don't mind the tuners too much. Ok, they do take a bit of work to actually tune up but once they're there they stay there. Only wish mine had the "D" covers! The only issue I have is the tape, though I think it's more my scaredness - it's still absolutely pristine on mine.

I just love the look of Danos and also have a Convertible on the way, as well as a Nifty Fifty amp to play them all through. However, the U2 is completely different to any guitar I own, except the neck which can be compared to my Epiphone Les Paul Junior in size and feel, though is far superior in quality. I have Rickenbackers, Gibsons, Fenders and while this is my most newly acquired and the new one is always the favourite, I can see this staying top of the heap. I wouldn't swap this for anything and in fact am hoping to get more Danos as soon as I can! Shame about the new re-issues though....

Not sure of the year. I think I bought it in late '97 or early '98.
Plywood frame body, masonite top. Bolt-on neck. Two lipstick pickups, each with its own concentric volume/tone knob, and a 3-way p/u selector (neck, both, bridge). Pretty basic setup, but you have everything you need.

Keep in mind, as you read this review, we're talking about a cheap guitar. The construction, sound, style, etc were all modelled after the vintage cheap guitars that people have come to love. These things were cheap in 1956, and they're cheap now. So, I'm treating this as a "what would you expect from a $200 guitar" sort of review...

These things have a sound all their own, between the pickups and the hollow masonite/ply body. There's a plywood block under the bridge to help stabilize it, but it's also pretty effective in reducing feedback. Also, because of the hollow body, it's fairly loud unplugged, though not as loud as a true hollow body (ie, with f holes, deeper body, thinner sides/top, etc).

Basically, if you're looking for a vintage-sounding guitar, or a great lo-fi/rockabilly/blues/slide sound, this is a great place to start. I don't see it being much of a shredder/metal guitar, but the style would probably keep people from thinking of using it for that as well. This guitar definitely sounds like it looks, and that's not a bad thing.

Okay, you can't intonate the bridge very easily. That's been established through countless reviews. But that's part of the charm, and the rosewood bridge/metal nut combo contribute to its unique sound. But, I have never had a noticeable problem with the intonation either. There might be a little inaccuracy high up the neck, but down low, everything is fine. Since this guitar sounds best below the 12th fret (it makes a great rhythm guitar), I haven't run into it being a problem.

Action was wonderful, no buzzing at all, but low and comfortable.

Finish was good (I got "Beatnick Burgundy") and looks great for a guitar in this price range. There is tape around the body edges, and it started to lift on the upper waist curve, but other than that, I've had no problems.

The body tape on the upper part of the waist has lifted a little, about the size of a dime. Not a big deal, but I will probably replace the tape someday.

The two biggest reliability complaints I've seen about these guitars involve the tuners and the strap pegs. I have never had a problem with this guitar going out of tune, and I play this guitar a lot around the house. If anything, they're a little stiff to move. And the tuning pegs... The first time they came out, I put a little super glue on them and stuck them back in, and they haven't moved in 7 years... Don't expect straplocks on a cheap guitar, folks. By all means, if you want straplocks, go put some on, but this is an easy solution to an easy problem.

Never had to use 'em, but their website is pretty bad if you need to find any info out...

For the money, I don't think you can get a better guitar. Yeah, it's got quirks, but that's part of the fun. I got a good deal on this because a music store had bought a whole bunch, and then was trying to clear room for the next line of Dano's that were coming out. I bought this, and the next week, my roommate went back to that store and bought a barritone U2. A few months later, our other roommate bought a DC3. All three of us have loved our Dano's. Yeah, this thing's not a boutique guitar by any means, but it sure is fun, and sounds pretty cool. I want another one so that I can leave it open for slide, but since they stopped making them, the prices have actually gone up a little...

One note about these: They're a little bigger than Strat/Tele/Les Paul type guitars, but nowhere near the size of a true hollowbody, so finding a hardshell case can be a bit tricky. Make sure you measure or try fitting it. I was lucky and bought a "Strat/Tele" case that was actually a little too big for my Strat, but fit this perfectly...

It's a few years old. Made in Korea I think. 25 inch scale. Two pickups with concentric tone/volume controls and three way switch. Rosewood bridge sitting on two philips screws. Maple neck with five screws holding it on(you have to take the neck off to to adjust the truss rod), masonite/wood body. Single cutaway, cheap plastic tape, strap pegs and cheap 3rd rate tuners.

Super sound. Nice clean jazz tones, blues tones, complex and deep like a hollowbody. Tele sound whatever. I have a Marshall amp with effects and also a Roland with modeling and effects, it's amazing. The thing is it's not hard to get really good sound out of this guitar.

The setup wasn't bad. I put heavier flatwound strings on it and adjusted the neck and bridge. The intonation was good and pickups. The neck is now really nice and low no buzz. I had to file the edges of the frets a bit which is ok for an older guitar.

It's really solid. The tuners and strap buttons should be replaced.

For the price it's a super guitar. With new tuners you'd have a nice instrument. It's a really good invention and has been around for fifty years. I have an old Hofner archtop and it's the same sort of thing fantastic sounds a real pleasure to play.

This was from one of the first batch of the re-issues. Agua colored mosonite over plywood frame. Almost a clone of the originals. metal lipstick tube pickups and concentric pots for both volume and tone for each pickup. three position switch with the middle for both on.

bright,loud and twangy. kind of Fenderish but slightly different. Sounds good with a Fender Deluxe reverb or a Hughes & Kettner combo.

I bought this guitar used in a music store. It was slightly through the mill by the previous owner. I think he/she may have been in a punk band due the Van's sticker that was on it when I bought it. It came with junk tuners and a bowed bridge with wood saddle. Almost impossible to intonate. Let me make a suggestion to those who may have the same model. Immediately remove the junk tuners and intall the gotoh vintage oval tuners and install the newer U-3 bridge upgrade. "Mama mia" what a difference that made this guitar now. It stays in tune and you can adjust the saddles. I was just about ready to donate it to the Salvation Army. Not now, I'm having fun with it now. sounds and plays great for a small additionalinvestment.

With the improvements, it can stand up to my strats and teles. It has it's own sound so it is a definite addition to my other guitar. I call it a great cheap guitar. I will probably install new stap buttons because they don't cost much and that should do it for a while.

Never dealt with them. I think Danelectro is some kind of Ghost Company with no real address. Nobody to really talk to.

I have been playing for over thirty years. I had an original Danelectro and athough it sounded good, I sold it for a lot of money and bought a much better guitar with the funds. When the re-issues came out, I was going to buy a new one. They disappeared before I got a chance to buy one so I was able to pick one up used and hot rod it a bit. I suggest if you shop for one, save about an additional 100 bucks and upgrade the hardware. You will have a great guitar.

90's Dano 56 U2. Same good ol masonite/plywood body same wooden bridge that can't get that perfect innotation, same D tuners, same clear pickguard. Much more like the original than the "pro" series.

has stacked pots, which is a nifty litle feature so i know whats for what pickup and what isn't. Each individual pickup is quiet, both on is about normal. its easier to leave both on and use the volume knobs for both to adjust your amount of twang and treble. I leave the tone knobs cranked most of the time and when its in an open tuning (usually A on this guitar) both pickups are on. \

its a prety simple setup, but im a pretty simple man, so i dont need hundreds of features.

THIS GUITAR CAN'T FEDBACK NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRY!

I use a Big Muff as my distortion pedal, and even with the sustain cranked it wont squeal. I like that! If you want a "clean" distortion, this guitar is perfect. It suits my "style" i usually am playing uber heavy blues rock (think soledad brothers) but i dont limit myself by "genre" and do whatever the heck i want. I use the bridge pickup for funky chords in open tunings. both pickups on is very good for slide guitar in my opinoin. nothing sounds like these things, thats good, but, its a very quiet guitar so dont be suprised if your turning it up loud.


Important: Distortion on this guitar DOUBLES the volume of the guitar. very loud! roll off the volume on that distortion. Hey, at least it doesnt feed back right?

The guitar was perfectly set up when i got it. i like the metal nut! it makes it hard for the guitar to come out of tune it seems, that and the WICKED tuners. "D" i like that. my name starts with D to. innotation was as good as it was gonna get on a wooden bridged guitar. there was a small scratch on the neck that turned out to be an area where they forgot to paint. but, it hasnt affected the sound, so im not concerned. its light as love. which is a nice turn of events for me. (tele, i love you, but your so darn heavy)
I have 2 new guitars, this and a mexican tele (my love) and 1 old guitar, a Kay hollowbody version of the gibson es 125DP. This guitar, is probaly been the one that was easiest to deal with right when i got it. It took me monthes to get my tele just perfect, that thing was a ginny pig for a year, then i wised up, got it set up right. this baby was in tune when i got it (danelectro packs well man)

be wary of the strap locks, they WILL fall out.

well, me and my mom both are very clumsy, and i have dropped it a couple times because of those strap locks that pop out everynow and then. Im thinking of gluing them in there, but i also am not...


its perfect for a gig, lightweight, sleek, sexy, everything a showman would want. lots of dolts out there think its a custom made les paul i got with the letter of my first name on the tuners and pickguard. (idiots, so square, all they see is les pauls, strats, and stacks)

havent had ANY problems with the electronics, its been in my possesion for about a month.

I always have a backup, but those 2 backups are in different tunings. if i were less complex, i could use this by itself easily. this thing will be pristine 70 years from now when im dead.

i would give it a 20 if i could.

I dealt with a little company out in louisiana, not danelectro, but they sent it NOS from the 90's in the original box, never left it. the company was very nice, and i had it in about a week (im in Atlanta Georgia)

Its considered "vintage" i guess, because they discontinued the model what? 7 years ago? the dark ages of the Danos. so no warranty for me, but i got hookups, so when it does give out (70 years from now) i shouldnt have a problem getting the DECEPTIVLY SIMPLE guitar, back running.

No complaints, its perfect in my eyes, so versitle, i can do WHATEVER I WANT, and i like that. its cool, sturdy, unique sounding, NOS, and NOS...

i love the idea of New old stock ANYTHING

i give it a 10

I have no idea were it was made, I just know my dad bought one off of Ebay about two years ago. It is a 22 fret (I think, dont feel like counting) guitar. I really like the frets on it, easy playing. Its body has a very unique sound, and I prefer the lipsticks over other single coils any day. the switch on my particular dano is a little messed up, but we re- soldiered everything and it works fine now. This guitar is like a tough old lady, its light, strong, bitches when you want it too, and if your sensitive with it it likes you back. I love particularly the dual knob funtion on dano's. The bridge isnt the best, but looks good on this guitar. its body style is nice and thin, not fat as hell (oh gosh I can't play the fucker its soo fat) fat. The seafaom green is awesome looking and brings back a little taste of the 50's retro styling. the tape on the sides puts it all together, holding and hiding the bindings of the body.

I play though Vox amps, sounds awesome, I love the bridge pickup, and the neck pickup sounds ever- so- sweet with tremolo.

action needed some adjusting, but now its fine, barley any buzzing (none if you have stong fingers)I set mine very low, and it plays pretty fast.

The jack on it can be a bitch, you might have to re- soldier the connections inside the guitar. It can short out, but this is only if you put pressure on the cord end.

????

Kickass rig, love it, would never sell it. if you wanted better pickups buy some good lipsticks from seymore duncan, they fit great, makes a fender look shitty.

I got this 56 U2 reissue second hand a while back. It has 2 lovely lipstick pick ups that give it that unique Danelectro sound. Two concentric tone & volume controls and a 3 way selector. It is of lightweight construction and a joy for live playing (especial for long gigs). The tuners look a bit cheap, but work just fine. They have the 'D' stamped on for Danelectro. The neck is straight, the action is fantastic and the finish is beautiful. Kind of a Les Paul shape, without the weight.

I have lots of guitars, including USA Telecaster, Gretsch and Ibanez. I use all of them live through a Line 6 Duoverb 2x12. I use a line 6 short board controller with the amp, this seems to cover pretty much all of the music styles we play. Mainly rock with a touch of stomp and country. The U2 sits in just fine and I use it live for certain songs, because it has a unique sound. It can produce a deep warm tone and a full on sustained scream when needed. My favourite sounds with the U2 is a clean sound, middle switch setting with any modualtion effect (chorus, flange, trem or phase).

As I said, I got this second hand and the set up is perfect for me. I haven't found any flaws yet. The only thing I wouldn't want to do is drop it, it is so light weight that it might just crumble to dust. I haven't dropped it yet so I don't really know.

The guitar does stand live playing. It stays in perfect tune all of the time (something most of my other guitars don't do). The hardware looks a bit cheap, but I have no complaints so far. The one thing on this guitar that I don't like is the strap studs. They are just pushed in and I always think that one will just pop out at any time. It never has, but I do fear it. I always have a backup live, whatever guitar I'm using.

I have had no cause to deal with them. I don't know much about Danelectro, but they are still around.

I have been playing for around 20 years and have owned many guitars. The U2 is up there with all of them, a great low cost guitar that plays and sounds like an expensive one. If it got stolen I would try to get another. I don't think they make this version now, but I would get another used one. If you are thinking of getting one of these, I'd say snap it up now, you won't be disappointed.

I?ve had an old ?57 Silvertone labeled U-1 for many years, so when I saw these U-2 repros at the music store, I had to pick one up. I was sold right away. Didn?t even moan over the price. This axe is just as much fun to play as my old Danno. There are some differences, small things that don?t bother me. The headstock has more rake back than the 57. The position markers are bigger. The 57 has a reinforced neck, but the R.I. has an adjustable truss. The 57 has 3 neck bolts, the RI has 5. The RI has this thin, shiny vinyl trim around the sides. The 57 has a much better looking vinyl trim with a more deeply embossed texture. This same material is used under the clear pickguard on the 57.
The frets, neck shape and fingerboard are dead ringers for the original. The body frame of the RI is made from laminated ply boards, the original has solid poplar. I?ve looked closely at the back board of the RI through the control access hole in the back. It is definitely not any kind of laminate. It looks to be a very similar material as the original Masonite. The only difference being that the Masonite on the 57 has a textured secondary surface, tiny small squares, while the material on the RI is smooth on both sides. The cover for the control access is white plastic on the RI, the 57?s is Masonite, painted the body color. The overall balance and feel of the RI is very much like the 57.

I?ve been playing for almost 30 years, 20 professionally. My main amps are a Princeton Reverb and a Champ. Personally, I love the sound of this guit. Others may disagree, but I think the RI nails the Danno tone solid. They did a good job with the lipstick pickups.
As far as the tone and feel, all I can say is that I can?t see a Danelectro sitting there without wanting to pick it up and play it.

The fit and finish are actually quiet good. I doubt that my old copper Danno ever gleamed like the RI does. The frets needed no attention at all, the action is good, no fretouts or excessive buzzing. A couple strings of my .011 set were pinching in the aluminum nut.
It was harder to fix than a plastic nut would have been. I ended up using a brass shim and aluminum polish to lap the grooves open. Took a while, but I got it.

I really like the old Dannos and am not at all disappointed with this reissue. What a fun guitar.

Well this has about the same amount of features as a standard Les Paul two volumes two tones, 3 way selector. There are a few shortcomings but nothing too terrible, a metal looks like alluminum nut, which might cause string binding problems. The tuners are a little cheesy but they have performed fine. The one real shortcoming is the strap posts, which are just pushed in and bound to come out eventually. The rosewood bridge might also become a problem with the tiny wear notches the strings make. Overall though, not bad for $200 and some coolness as well.

Well, I played quite a few of these in the store, and I thought they were cool enough and cheap enough to add to the arsenal. When I told the salesman who was a friend of mine I wanted one he said wait Kurt I've got one for you. He disaapears into the back and comes out with a black one that looks normal enough. I only noticed one thing and that was that the fretboard was like a 1/4" think looked like a huge chocolate bar. I plugged it in and was like wow listen to this. The cleans were beautiful really sparkly and really twangy, overall very nice and a sound I didn't have with my other 12 guitars. It's a touch noisey when you have anything more than lower gain settings, but it sounds so good at the lower levels that you'd never want any high gain on it. The ideal combination for this is a nice thick clean with some chorus and delay and on the other end of the spectrum think Matchless type drive with big cabinets, great full sound. Not too many guitars in this price range or double can get as much tone, but I suspect it comes from the fact that it has sound chambers. These chambers are probably how it gets around being made of inferior materials, it's made with a masonite top and back and plywood internals. Plywood is stable, but not exactly a tonewood and who knows what masonite really does. No matter how you break it down though the sound that comes out is what's most important.

It came with slightly high action for me, lowered it a little at the bridge and it felt good, I like the radius and size of the board, another fret would have been nice. THe pickup selector is a little cheap and it can become a little noisy. The fretwork was great right out of the box. I also bought the matching hardshell case and that was decent too. In this category it was as good as most decent instruments.

Well I'd just say be careful with it, I haven't really had any problems so far, but haven't used it much in a live environment, however, being it's semi-hollow it won't sustain a fall like some solids might. I can see potential problems though, especially for those not particularly careful with their equipment.

I have no idea what so ever.

I have been playing for quite a while, and am the owner of KWCABS the custom guitar speaker cabinet company. I own a dozen guitars ranging from many thousands to guitars like this and only use great gear, and one thing I have learned is that if you are discriminating, big price doesn't always equal great quality and vice versa. This particular U2 that I have is great, and I would hate to lose it, it would be hard to find a replacement. I might not use it all the time, but it has some sounds that it's ideal for. All in all a steal for the price, and it's something a little different.

I'll give it a ten for features because this guitar has everything I expect from a guitar: two pickups with a switch and individual volume/tones, six strings, etc. I think that asking anything more of a guitar that's so cheap is ridiculous.

However, I did put some money into upgrading it. First, new strap buttons, because my strap was falling off all the time (even now it still does though, so I guess I'll get those things that clip onto your strap). Then, a Bigsby vibrato bar, with a new bridge (Schaller I think, I forget) to make life easier. WOW! What a difference this made! Now it's a much more versitile guitar, and in fact it has become my main guitar (replacing a Jazzmaster which I think I'm going to sell to buy a second Dano). Next, I'm going to replace the tuners, pickup selector switch, and output jack, because those all seem a bit squirrely.

Imagine my surprise that a $125 could sound as good or better than a Telecaster? That's the closest comparison I would make, and it does the sound very well. Again, I give it a for-the-value rating. There's nothing you can get for this cheap that sounds as good as this.

At first I thought the sound was good but a bit weak, so I raised the pickups a little and that helped. The problem is that you can't raise them very high without them wobbling around. A friend with an original Dano told me the solution is to raise them to the proper place and then put copious amounts of tape on the screws to keep them there. Worked like a charm.

Then, when it came back from the shop, the new bridge had raised the strings a bit higher and the sound was weak again. When I mentioned it to the guy at the shop, he gave me some strips of weather-insulating foam to put under the pickups to raise them up a bit. Brilliant. I did that in conjunction with the tape on the screws and now they sound perfect.

Since I didn't get it straight from the factory, I can't tell about the setup for sure. But I love the setup right now. I have .011 gauge strings on there, and they sound and play really well. No fret problems, but see above for the pickup adjustment problems I had.

I'm docking a few points for the hardware though. The bridge, tuners, pickup selector, strap buttons, and output jack are all shamefully bad. I have replaced or will replace all of them. I mean, I know it's cheap, but it couldn't have saved them more than a couple of dollars to make these so terrible.

I would give it a 7 in its stock state, but with upgraded hardware (say, about $70-$100 worth of upgrades, which still makes the guitar an incredible value for the money) it would be a ten. Still, some people are unwilling to put any money into making a good guitar into an awesome one, so 7 it is.

The company doesn't make the guitars anymore, so I'll leave this blank.

This is an excellent guitar and beats many that cost much more. It's a shame that Danelectros aren't taken very seriously.

I play this guitar through a Zoom Ultra Fuzz, Ibanez DE-7, sometimes a Boss DD-20. Sounds excellent with fuzz and delay, particularly with some short slapback. Amp-wise, I use a Fender Ultimate Stereo Chorus when I want ultra-clean sounds and a 9-watt Gibson Discoverer when I want dirty rock-n-roll. I particularly love cranking the Gibson and playing some Big Star. Normally I'm not a big fan of bridge pickups, but the one on the Dano is great.

I've owned a bunch of Dano stuff: the Vibe (eh. like a phaser with a really fast rate), the EQ (excellent), Slapback Echo (good, though a one-trick pony), Fabtone (excellent), and Cool Cat (excellent, second in its price range only to the EH Small Clone). If you've got about $300 and want a good backup or slide guitar or different sound, then I would suggest getting a Dano of any kind and upgrading the hardware. If you hunt patiently, you can even score deals as good as mine.

well its made of hardboard but dont let that put u off.Cool lipstick pickups.Tuners look great and do a reasonable job(same applies to the bridge)

This is where this guitar really scores!!!
Pure white stripes tone with both pickups on,gretchy at the bridge,whispery at the neck.
Got mine 5 years ago as a spare guitar in case i broke a string live.Ended up using it as my main guitar!!!!!!!!!!+it only cost 100gbp in a sale.
Just has a sound all its own and a great one at that.

Quite a high action but good 4 slide.
Finish is ok.
good fretwork
Adequate tuning stability(have fitted mine with a set of grovers.)

Never let me down yet.Guess it feels flimsy on account of its lack of weight(this aint no les paul!!!)

Great value and more importantly great tone.Get one now if u can find one!!

well reviewed by the 100+ people who submitted reviews. i read the reviews before i picked up this guitar.

2 lipstick sc's
made of masonite?
3 way selector
rosewood bridge
feels like a short scale neck. neck is average, in my opinion similar to some fenders i've had before.

features are for what you really need in a basic guitar.

mine is the "coral" type color.

i was really shocked here. the pickups are actually good! chords , which i thought would sound like mush, sound great! single notes are clear as well. has the real vintage vibe to it.
can get a variety of sounds with it- anything from 60's rock to your jimmy page , old school blues, get the jack white sound with ease if you so desire. sounds great! i thought ahead of time that the pickups would be junk and that they would need to be replaced( duncan makes aftermarket pickups for this, cost around $62 each... but i think i will leave them as is.
another surprise, as mentioned by another reviewer, is that you do get a boost in volume with pickups combined.

action is a tad hi... this is a second hand guitar. can deal with it as is; i might just reserve it for playing slide stuff on, but can work with it. as this is used, but not heavily used, it had a cheapo am. paint design painted on it by a previous owner, but that will easily come off.

i'm not sure about this bridge. i have heard of someone who had one of these who replaced the bridge , etc.. with individual saddles on it.. is it worth doing all that? that's up to you. strap buttons are solid. the tuners are absolute crap..
input jack and selector switch are 'scratchy' .. need to be replaced.
if you were gigging / practicing with this, you'd absolutely have to frequently tune up.

could be gig worthy for a few songs; keep in mind this would not be someone's main axe, but it has a nice sound to it.

my latest trip to the dano website.... not much. you can only access info on their new series of pedals on there. cust. support seems non existant. it's an inexpensive guitar-- you're on your own.

overall , it's a fun guitar. best way to put it. it honestly has a great sound. i'm playing it through a vox ad120 vt. haven't tried this guitar with anything hi gain, but i will to see how it sounds.

i felt like i got my money's worth with this one...
keep in mind this isnt a custom shop guitar-- so don't expect it be that. also, i can't stress the importance of having a decent amp. soooo many people bash guitars, etc... , then they list there gear, which usually consists of a $100 cheap practice amp, a $39 zoom multi effects pedal, and all i can say is, what do you expect?

it's got a nice sound, it's debateable if its really 'gig worthy' ...
i agree with other reviews on the signature sound.
if you can get one for cheap, go for it.
for some reason, some of these recent year dano guitars are going for 250- $300... i dont know if i would pay that.

a few minor upgrades( new selector switch, input jack, ) and this guitar is good to go.

LEFTY Black Dano U2! Bought it for $175.00CDN! This is a guitar that i have set up for slide playing, and it gives me a nice gritty sound! It is super light, being made of masonite!! 2 lipstick pups, 3 way switch, volume and tone contols. These guitars have super necks! Great shape and feel, great finish.Great fretboard and frets. Bridge is a crappy little rosewood thing, gotta change that. Tuners are poopoo too! but they look cool...came with 0 accessories.

It suits my style for slide, and i find myself sitting around playing it for general purposes too. It is a little on the brittle tinny side, but that is sometimes the sound i am looking for. I push this thing thru a Vibro King or a little Blues Junior. If you tinker with the tone contols, and you should, you can get some legit tones out of it. I dislike the bridge, tuners thats about it.

Great neck and fretboard, frets. Finish is kinda cheesy on the bod etc. but that is part of its charm, i guess, who cares what a 175$$ guitar looks like! It has vibe.

Sure, it will withstand pretty well anything, except for those tuners and bridge...you can depend on this guitar to sound the way it sounds! i would never use this on a gig without a back up, seeing that i only use it for slide live.

never use em.

been playing along time own lots o stuff. i saw this thing, in all its lefty splendor, hanging on the wall and i went to it and asked it if it wanted to come home with me and it said yes. if it were lost or stolen, i would find the person who did it and call them an idiot for stealing it and not my $2000.00+ guitars next to it!! I never compared this guitar to anything else. i wanted a guitar i could set up for slide and thus sacrifice it in a way, since i would not enjoy playing it for anything else because the action is too high. Wish i had a long horn bass, lefty.

Re-issue, Korean made Danelectro 2 single-coil, single cutaway pickup guitar.

3-way pickup selecter, stacked tone/volume knobs for each pickup. Unusually, pickups are wired in series, meaning you get a big output boost when you select both pickups at once.

Semi-hollow masonite construction. Very attractive blue-burst finish, if you're into the 50's kitsch asthetic.

Single adjustable truss rod, where the originals had two non-adjustable pickups. A nice addition, although you have to take the neck off to get at it. Makes set-up a pain. Remove strings, adjust truss, replace strings, let guitar sit overnight, check neck, repeat.

Strange, primitive bridge. Not much more then a sliver of wood. You not ever going to be able to get your intonation dead on, but come on guys, this is Rock and Roll, the the LSO I don't mind the bridge, you might hate it.

Aluminium nut. Unusual but it works.

This is the king hit. This is the #1 reason why you would want this guitar.

Normally on Harmony Central I expect the ratings to be scaled to the price of the guitar. So a '10' in sound for a $200 guitar may only be a 6 or 7 for a $3000 guitar. Not with the Dano. The sound of this thing can stand up against anything. It's very distinct and the guitar will maintain it's sonic signature through any amp. I've played it through custom made tube amps, cheap SS cheapies and even a Pignose (my favourite!) and it always sounds like a Dano.

How to describe the sound this thing makes?

Think spaghetti westerns, think trashy garage rock, think dirty blues, think surf guitar. Think Link Wray.

It's an obviously retro sound, a little bright in the top end, although the pickups have no problem lending definition to the low notes. (Danelectreo used the exact same pickups on their basses). The pickups are very low output, so it'll take 'em a while to overdrive your amp, but when they do you're in garage rock heaven.

Having both pickups on gives you the "classic" Danelectro sound, with a bit of an output boost. The neck pickup is very similar to a tele neck pickup. The rbidge has quite a "jangly" sound which reminds me a little of a Rickenbacker, although still with that distinct Dano mojo.

I use it for dirty slide-blues and it fits my style perfectly. On slightly overdriven settings it does an incredible job of sounding like a biscuit-bridge resonator guitar. Turn up the filth and you're staright into Hound Dog Taylor territory.

Very well put together. No flaws in the finish, electronics very well done. Strap buttons are a bit cheap, but that's no major complaint.

Pickups are very noisy when around electric interference.

Seems pretty durable. Masonite's stronger then you'd think. More then able to withstand live playing, provided you're not Pete Townsend. I often do a bit of the Bukka White style slapping, so it gets a bit of a pounding, but it just smiles and asks for more. Treat it with respect due to a musical instrument and it'll last.

Danelectro (or rather Evets, which owns the name) don't make the guitars any more. I tried e-mailing them and all I got was a failed delivery message.

I love this guitar. It's probably the most rock-and-roll guitar in the world, provided that your definition of rock and roll places Link Wray, The Cramps and ? and the Mysterions above Led Zeppelin.

For what it does, nothing does it better. It's not an original, but factory production in Korea seems to to fit Nathan Daniel's industrial design asthetic more then a Jerry Jones custom job.

I love it. The day I bought it was the day I found my sound. It's my gigging and recording guitar. I think I need another one.

Surf green and cream colored guitar. Two lipstick single-coil pickups. This is a 1956 reissue and It only cost a little over 100.00 its a steal. i also play a Jag-Stang and this old guitar beats it out by far. 21 frets.

The sound is warm and full. It has he in/out phase switch and it can get really good distortion. The sound is grungy/surfish. Probably the best sounding guitar Ive heard for being a classic reissue. I played an Ibanez Iceman IC400 and it was amazing, but this one comes pretty close.

This guitar is made to last. I thoroughly trust this company, they make amazing beautiful classic looking guitars. I never would have imagined I would buy a Danelectro, but I did.

It seems durable.

I just got the axe Friday afternoon, I havent had to deal with the Danelectro corp. yet but I anticipate it will be hard because they are a relatively old company.

Ive been playing for a few years I am still young and I am fem. guitar player. This is a perfect guitar for small hands, its easy to manage. It just looks old and different, to me thats beauty right there.

Features have already been covered by those more ambitious than I. (You gotta give me credit for using AMBITIOUS in a sentence though.)
I give it five not because it's bad but because there aren't alot of them.

It is perfect for blues. I picked this up to just bang around on while my Epiphone LP is on consignment and fell in love with it. I play it through a ZOOM 7010 portable effect amp and when powered on batteries I get no hum. My Blues2 setting makes this sound identical to a Resonator I MEAN IDENTICAL!! I love it. The lipstick pickups overdrive a tube amp with some definite hum but tolerable. I am looking to use a booster with this thing.

I took this guitar apart and the control cavity was SPOTLESS. The first time that has ever happened to me. Can't comment on the factory setup as I bought it locally and they set them all up before selling.

This guitat was meant to take a beating. The body and neck are pretty solid. The rosewood bridge and saddle will have to be replaced a few times I am certain. I am going to get a replacement bridge for the U3 that doesn't have the rosewood and keep that on hand. Also going to order some Rosewood replacement bridges as they probably aren't going to make them much longer. The tuners suck but I am not planning to replace those anytime soon. Drilling would be required and I always hate to do that. If live playing I would not jump around with it too much to begin with. It just ain't that kind of guitar.

Haven' dealt with them and doubt I will. Besides, they stopped production on these guitars.

I love this thing. I find myself picking it up quite often. I am not afraid to let my kids bang around it or that they are going to knock it over and destroy it. I am looking to buy other Danelectro's if the price is right.

Second hand two pickup U2 reissue, edible turquoise color, art deco styling and the cutest knobs you've ever seen. In perfect condition, same specs as described before. Pretty basic construction but just perfect, although the bridge seems a bit dodgy and the intonation of the second and third strings can be a bit of a hassle. Medium/thin frets, very flat fingerboard radius, just perfect for slide. Not many features but the construction is amazing for the price. Why don't they make them anymore????

The sound is very bright, airy and resonant. Incredible. Moreso for a guitar at this price (even though they are very hard to find in Spain and not cheap...). Using a small Marshall combo and other small solid state amps for that bluesy sound. I mainly play blues and country, some jazz. The sound on the treble pickup is very edgy and thin but perfect for chords. This guitar is a screamer for the blues, add a little distortion and there you go. Pickups hum a little but these lipsticks are amazing. Want to try them on a Strat or Tele... The middle setting is just fabulous, tons of middle and much more volume, the tone pots work really well. The neck pickup is also thin but wth more open sounding, perfect for some more chords. It is a killer rythmn and slide guitar, full stop. Not a "do-it-all" horse, but would definitely use it as a reliable second guitar. Also VERY nice sounding with gobs of reverb for surf and instrumental, lots of snappy and choppy rythmn with both pickups on. I give it a ten because I was astonished with the sound, fell in love with it the minute I took it out of the box. Definitely not a metal guitar, but a cutie for bluesy/vintage rythmn sound lovers.

Setup is a bit weak, very high action and difficult to intonate, also difficult to access the truss rod, but hey, this is a Dano. Pickups can be adjusted from the back and sit below the strings perfectly. Action is killer for slide, the neck camber is very flat and you can slide those Elmore riffs like butter. The only thing I dislike is the plastic strip that covers the sides, I've had the guitar for a couple of months and it seems it can peal off easily, but it's not a major issue. No flaws, no construction defects, just perfect. Gibson and Fender quality dept's should check this baby out, see what can be done for just a few bucks.

The construction is pretty solid but the guitar is not a tank, finish chips easily and hardware is very cheap. Sounds terrific though. How did they do it?
Strap buttons are crap, replace them immediately, they fall off. This guitar can be used as a main guitar, if you treat it well. I'm not sure it would withstand heavy playing, punk or metal, but for lighter styles it does it all.

n/a

A ten, definitely. This is one of those guitars you fall in love with, if you don't need a versatile guitar that does all kinds of tricks this is it. Been playing for 15 years and own a Fender Tele, Strat, Duosonic, Ricky, Epiphone Broadway and a Les Paul Studio. The sound is unlike any other I've heard. If I had to define the sound in one word I would say it is "open". I am now considering on buying one of the double cut models or the three pickup sparkle finish dazzlers if I find one. I also own a DC3 bass which is also one of my most prized posessions, and that one cost half the price of this one!
I only with it had a Fender string through style bridge which would give more resonance. No sustain here, just choppy rythmn for he masses. Love this baby to bits!

First of all tis is an inexpensive guitar. That is something that must be kept in mind at all times. And for the price it is worth the money overall. I bought this guitar when this reissue had just come out. In retrospect, I probably should have waited, but I needed a back up for slide. I play primarily blues and blues-rock and replaced the flimsy strap pegs and tuners. However,even with the locking Sperzel tuners, I still have intonation and tuning problems. The cheap wooden bridge keeps this guitar from ever really being in tune, but you can get by if you fool enough with the screws on the bridge to get the intonation set as well as can be expected. I don't like just "getting by" however.

Blues and blues/rock is what I play, and it works okay for slide. Tone is bright and there's not too much noise depending, of course, on the club one is playing in and their light set up, neon beer signs, etc. I have had problems with my Strat under certain conditions as well, so really, noise hasn't been a real problem with the Dano. I use a 1966 Fender blackface Concert amp with 4 10 inch speakers hooked up to a 2 12 inch Fender blackface Bassman (1964) bottom. In addition, I use an Ibanez Tube Screamer and a Sansamp in tandem with one another for a more distorted sound. Sometimes I will use just the Tube Screamer. I don't put a ton of distortion on these two effects, just enough for a little more sustain. The Dano does just fine for this type of music.

Action was good when I got it. I had to raise it for slide. I use fairly heavy strings on it, about 12s to 50s top to bottom. Pickups are fine. Tuning and intonation has been the only problem, and while I think I have it intonated fairly well now, I still am not sure it will hold. Guess I'll have to see at the gig. If anyone out there has any suggestions on how to solve this problem, I'd gladly listen.

I have played with it live and it handles it all right. I would not use it on a gig without a backup, but I believe in a backup guitar anyway since I play in a guitar/bass/drum trio. Can I depend on it? Hmmmmmmmm.......that's a tricky one. I would have to answer "Not really." I have almost quit playing slide due to the intonation/tuning difficulties. In fact, I had purchased another guitar, a Phantom teardrop to play slide with and had been leaving the Danelectro at home, but someone stole the teardrop at a gig, so I am back to the Dano.

Haven't dealt with the company.

I have been playing for 39 years off and on. I have 2 Mexican Strats, one with SRV pickups, the other one with stock pickups. Both have Sperzel tuners and Strap locks. I also own an Epiphone acoustic, although I am primarily an electric player. If this guitar were stolen, I would probably look around for something else, but for the price, I don't think I would have a lot of luck.

Crappy tuners, crappy metal nut. Decent rosewood bridge that is adjustable.

For the money, it is probably one of the best sounding guitars available. So why does it sound so good? I find that its character works great in the studio, it has a "signature sound", that is highly uncharacteristic for the money.Slightly noisy lipstick pickups and a semi-hollowbody design make this thing sing.
If it cost $500 I would give it a 9. The sound is unique and unlike anything I have ever played. Probably the best guitar under $200 in the world. If you are a really good guitarist you can use this professionally with your more expensive guitars. A junkyard masterpiece.

The bridge is a little tricky to get correct intonation, and with time it needs adjustment. I would recommend replacing the metal nut, as the strings tend to get hung up on it.
Somehow, my guitar manages to have absolutely perfect action with a set of 9 (Light) guitar strings. You gotta go with the light strings, as this guitar lends itself to hard bends (like a sitar) and is really easy to manipulate because it is so light.

Made like shit. This guitar was probably built by some 10 year old in Mongolia. The toggle switch doesn't stay in place, and the one of the tone pots doesn't Somehow it manages to hold together. I shouldn't depend on it, but I do.

The Danelectro website doesn't help much. There isn't any way to replace the stacked tone/volume pots. Please let me know if you can get them.
chrisjonesblue@hotmail.com

I own a Gibson SG, J-45 and 1936 L-4, so I know good guitars. I like unique instruments, and this is one of those rare instruments that is cheap but great. It is different than any other guitar. The design is simple and cheap, yet everything works as a whole. I wonder how the old ones play. If you know how to play, this guitar could find a place in your heart. If you are beginner, I still recommend this one, but it takes a little knowledge to make this baby sound good.

I have a black one with a light teal or skin colour around the edges. Very sharp looking. This particular guitar was made in korea.

It has the chrome lipstick pickups, somewhat of a thick neck, but is extremely light weight.

I use this guitar for clean stuff with a delay pedal. I tried smothering it in effects but it sounded horrible, so take advantage of its full and natural sound. The negative side of this is that it isn't very versatile. But the positive side is that is sounds bloody amazing in it's role! I recommend heavier strings to take advantage of this guitar...and a heavy ass pick!

I have played it with cheap amps, expensive amps, big amps and small amps. The Dano keeps it characteristics very well.

Keep this guitar away from computer monitors, as the pickups will buzz feircly.

There are only two physical flaws i will point out. #1 - this guitar isn't the easiest in the world to play. At least not for someone accustomed to a thin neck and light strings. #2 - The factory pickup switch was trash! The guitar is beautiful to look at as well.

The guitar so far has been very tough. I have a hardshell case for it and i am very gentle with my gear...so i am not the best one for commenting though. I never belive in gigging without 2 or 3 guitars, but it has never broken down. I will make another poit: I use it for three or four songs in my bands' set and rarely take it to jams. I use a variety of tones so i like to switch to the best guitar. I don't and can't use this guitar for that. I give it a nine because it has never failed, but it hasn't had any endurance tests yet.

2nd hand

The bottom line...

If you want a guitar that is very good at full clean tones go for it! It is a very affordable addition to anyone's setup. I play alot of heavy songs, and when i back off this guitar steps up. Like I mentioned before, i use different guitars for different songs. This one is my clean guitar. I guess it can be described as bluesy, but i don't use it for that. Even with distortion this guitar is very well articulated. But don't use alot of any effect or you'll get some retaliation. I am not against burying my guitar in distortion, chorus, delay or wah, but this guitar likes to be dry.

Email me and I'll send you some Mp3's of this guitar in action.

I have a reissue that I bought new from a local music shop, and it was a great first guitar. Good tone, not too expensive. In its stock configuration, the hardware is horrible. The 'adjustable' (wod plank) bridge makes it sound slightly out of tune all the time (even when adjusted by professionals), and the strap locks fall out with no hesitation. But, after jamming on it for a couple of years, I got some straplocks for a it and a decent bridge from another Danelectro guitar (with adjustments for each string), and it works great, it still has the wonderful tone but it much more reliable. It's also one of the lightest solid-body electrics I've ever seen, so it's nice and easy to play standing up for extra-long sets.

Almost any configuration of the pickups gets a good sound off of this thing, there's not too much variation in the sound (you either like it all the time or none of the time), so I use the pickup selector as a volume control, keep the bass end at a bit lower volume for backing tracks and the high pickup all the way up for solos. But it sounds good any way. Also, you can run this thing through eight effects pedals and it still keeps its nice tone, a sort of rich/bright sound which sounds like a quality steel-string acoustic if you use the low pickup only.

Once again, from the factory this thing is pretty bad. The stock bridge doesn't stay in tune, and I wouldn't put too much force on the neck, because you can bend it easily. I used this as a slide guitar for a little while, and ended up bending the neck quite a bit. It seems to like a low action very well, though. There aren't too many adjustments unless you spring for a more expensive bridge, you can't adjust the top very easily. No problems with the pickups, I love 'em.

Replace the strap buttons and everything else holds up pretty well. I may change out the flimsy tuners, though. A rule of thumb for this guitar is everything wood is fine, everything plastic should be replaced.

My local guitar guy called them up for some measurements for the new bridge and adjusting the action, and they were really friendly then. I don't know how long the warranty is, I never used it.

It's perfect for an inexpensive guitar. I wish it had better stock hardware, but when your price range is about that of a cheap Strat knockoff, it's great. Great tone, nice and light, a nice guitar which is fun to play. It's inexpensive enough that you feel okay in throwing it around and playing it pretty hard. It's pretty versatile, too. With the right effects you can do anything from quasi-acoustic to death metal without sacrificing your tone.

I was looking for a bare bones basic guitar for bottleneck playing and this fits the bill. Very basic, no frills just what I was looking for. Plastic knobs make me a bit nervous though...will replace with Allparts chrome concentric knobs. Strap pegs a definite negative mark, read a good way to install strap locks. Got the beatnik burgandy finish which is pleasing to the eye. The simple bridge took a little getting used to, it just needs to be set at the right string angle, and intonation can be done by sliding the appropriate side of the saddle to the right string length.

Running through a '56 Gretsch 6150 valco made tube amp w/ various analog tube driven effects (down with digital). The clean tone is beautiful & full. I would say the best tone for my style (blues, bottleneck slide) I can achieve a nice nasty tone that seems to modulate within the hollowbody construction. Best setting is Middle for a little extra push because on their own the pick ups do lack power. Great for blues, reggae etc... definitely not a thrasher guitar.

Got the guitar second hand via ebay from a pawn broker so I had to set the action to my height (for slide I gotta do this to every guitar anyway) Some loose bolts (toggle & jack plate) Neck straight & fat (nice), higher frets can be a little challenging for fret work due to the neck joint though, again for slide not much of a problem. Frets real easy all over the neck. Will get used to the vinyl tape as long as it stays where it belongs. Lost the pickguard & filled the holes, making a big difference in the overall appearance for the better. Keeps in tune very well, we'll see how long the keys last (just another easy modification anyway)

I've never dropped it, & with the installation of strap locks I hope I never will. The guitar does feel light as a feather, but the neck to body joint feels solid. I've read alot of reviewers say the dano can't stand up over time, but it seems like there are alot of vintage ones out there that weren't well cared for, and they're still alive & kickin' with better tone. For the price I think it's fine to put a few mods into a great sounding guitar in order to get it up to spec. I've depended on it and it has not let me down so far. I've always gigged w/o backup (thats what the blues is about) and have so far been lucky.

Never dealt with them

Been playing guitar for the better part of 16-17 odd years. I've had some real nice ones (Carvins, Fender Thiline, Les Paul, Melody Maker etc...) & some crap. As with all musical equipment, your likes & dislikes depend on your style. For the price I think this is a real winner. I think it will take some updating of some of the hardware (knobs, strap pegs etc...)but it's supposed to be about the sound & the tone, ain't it?

Pretty basic-
Made in Korea. 2 lipstick single coils, 2 stacked tone/volume pots, 3 way toggle. Semi-hollow masonite body that looks like a cross between a Les Paul and a Tele. Mine is commie red with cream binding. Very sweet retro-looking axe. The color is rather conservative, so it's not too cheesy. I could sit there and look at it for hours. Very nice looking.

I am playing my U2 through a Rocktron Rampage R50C Stereo Chorus. The little bugger is a tone machine! I have both tone knobs rolled back to around 50-60%, neck volume at 85%, and bridge volume 100%. The bridge pickup is nice and surfy/jangly, with twangy lows and spanky mids and highs. The neck pickup is smooth and punchy. Both pickups gives a full tone with increased output. At the edge of overdrive, I get a fat, smoking, bluesy tone from the neck, and a piercing tone I like to play U2 (the band) with from the bridge. Some people have said this guitar stinks distorted. Initially, that was my impression, too, but it is not the truth. Granted, it won't do metal, but with light distortion, it gets a nice, hot crunch. At mid-gain, it does fine for classic rock and anthem-type stuff. You can even get a decent grunge sound with neck pickup at higher gain. Amazing variety in this guitar, all with a cool retro vibe.

The previous owner of mine damaged the headstock pretty good, but it was done in replacing the stock tuners for nice chrome ones. Action is good and low, a little bit of buzz. I kinda like the quirky bridge.

I don't know about live playing. The finish is super-strong. The guitar is built like a masonite tank!

No idea.

I have been playing for only a few months. This is my first guitar, bought after lots of careful research. It is a great guitar. It looks great, feels great, has awesome tone, and is easy and fun to play. If it were stolen or lost, I would really be disappointed. I don't know if I would get the same guitar, but I would definitely get a Dano. They make great guitars cheap. The other guitar I considered in this price range is a Squire strat. (I played my friend's) The U2 blows it away. The only thing I don't like is that I wish it had a little more punch. Next time I will look at a DC-3 or Hodad for that, or maybe a U3.

Made in Korea sometime around 1998 I presume. I don't remeber if it's got 21 or 22 frets but it's enough. It has a solid formica top aqua blue burst and plywood sides. Two lipstick pick-ups, two volume and tone controls stacked. The body style for those who don't know is sorta Les Paulish w/ just a single cutaway. Tuners are "cheap" Danos. and the bridge is basically a "splinter" of rosewood.

How easy is that?

Here's the zinger! Sounds really great for whatever style I play. From hard rock, blues, jazz whatever it's got it covered. It's especially great for clean, crisp sounds but it also sounds great running through my 50 watt Marshall with the gain all the way up.

The guitar store I got it from had a stash hidden in the back in storage so I was able to pick and choose the best of the lot. The one I chose was perfectly set-up and the pick-ups came set up fine. Didn't even need to change the strings. The finish and fit was perfect.

I took this puppy to jam sessions and rehearsals/gigs and it kicks butt. Like any other type of guitar...take care of it and it will take care of you. I usually take at least two guitars to gig's and I think I'll add this one as a third for a couple of Rolling Stone and Zep tunes in our set. OK the strap buttons look week and they might fall out , but hey that's going to be my guitar repair guys problem, not mine. So far so good though.

N/A

I've been playing for about 20 years and own and have owned really great stuff. I usually go for guitars that have a particular sound, tone or uniqueness that fills a need. I presently play a couple of "modified" strats, a Les Paul Custom, a Dean Baby Z, a nylon string classical w/cutaway and a steel string acoustic. I can get all kinds of sounds for any studio or live situation. I run these into a pedal board with a Buddha Wah, a Boss Blues Driver, a Boss Flanger and a Boss Digital Delay through by trusted 50 watt Marshall combo with a single 12" Celestian speaker.

For the price you can't beat it. The Danos are for everyone, from beginners to the pros and I find I tend to play this more than my others because it's so damn fun and sounds great. For those looking for a great guitar at a great price, forget Squire (no quality control) forget Epiphone (just bugs me) get a Danelectro, a true classic. Even playing it acoustically will inspire you. When I first saw it at the store and played it unplugged, I was extremely impressed by the fact that it resonated so nicely. But then again, it is basically a hollow body.

i'm giving a nine because of the TV style pickups. it's something my other 2 elctrics don't have. the lipstick pickups are great...except for the environment noise.

i use many different sounds in my personal style. i use this guitar for arpeggiated chords and a little lead work. nothing fancy as i am not a blues player. i belive this guitar is better for that than what i use it for.

the neck is a little thick for me, but the action kicks ass. no buzz, easily fretted with 11's. the guitar is light and comfortable to play as well. the finish is very durable as i banged it on something right after taking it out of the case. i like using a slide with this guitar, but it takes care to do it right.

i hate the bridge. the output jack also screws up. the guitar being so
light would also tell me that it is fragile, but then again what do i know considering i never throw my guitars around.

N/A

i run this guitar into a GFX 707 and then into a 30 watt johnson. i use a light creamy distortion and it sounds really good. alot of mids and lows, as well as an excellent high end roll off. it isn't the easiest guitar to play in my collection but it is unique. i have 2 very "high endy' guitars as well as this one. it is great contrast to them.

Bought it in 2000, so I've had a good chance to get a long term feel for the guitar... not much has changed. I won't go through all the features since they've been listed here more than "Stair Way to Heaven" has been played. It's Copper Burst, though.

I use this as a backup/alternative guitar. It works great for a surf sound. I like to use it often for "the good, the bad and the ugly" sound. After all, it's fits the spagetti western analogy... cheap reproduction that gets the job done, no? My only 2 beefs with it is the nut is too low such that I can't raise the action high for slide and that the sorry ass bridge is one piece keeping intonation from *ever* being a realization. Oh, well. I have tried to grunge it with surprising results. Not great, not bad. If you select both PU's, you can fake it alright.

The strings that came with it were too thin, like .09's or something. I switched them out for heavy bottoms, this seems to suit the surf/gunslinger sound better. Lipstick PU's will pick up ANY and ALL electronics near by. Try a 20' cord.

This thing feels like it was put together by a high school shop class. Which is to say that Danelecto has maximized sound from inexpensive resources. Kudos to them. But if you ever drop one, it's dead. Save the strings or something.

I've dealt with them once for another issue and they were pretty helpful. They kinda took their sweet time getting my part to me, though.

For the money, it's good for someone starting out or if you want an extra f*&k around guitar. It's semi-hollow body sounds alright unplugged, so you could take it and play on the raod or something. I don't know if I would ever seriously gig with it. Looks cool, sounds too bright and twangy for anything outside of what was mentioned above or country.

I'm giving this guitar a low number for figures because it is what it is: A kick ass Dano. It's fun to play, feels great, sounds great (if that's what you like), and looks great. It has low features, but you shouldn't buy something unless it's what you want. I didn't want a guitar that would cost a years rent and have active pick-ups with coil tapping and all that. I wanted a Dano. You know the features. One major complaint, if you have an isong cd rom, or ever try to play in front of your computer for any reason, the lipsticks will pick up so much hum you might as well not even try.

I know everything on HC gets a ten, but I'm giving this a Ten for a 240$ guitar. It's no D'Angelio or whatever, but it doesn't cost more than the car I don't have.
I like to pretend this is a casino and play beatles tunes. Not much sustain, but I do all right with a hint of distortion. Good for rythem ( I can't spell to save my life) struming, with a little release of left hand pressure, you can get a nice click helping establish rythm instead of mush.
I also tune this bad boy to open G and pretend it's a Telecaster when I play black crowes songs or the stones.
Also, you can get a pretty good immitation of an accoustic with no extra gear. If you play live, you can leave your accoustic and accoustic amp at home.
I used to run it through a Danelectro fab tone, and then a peavey bandit 112. I thought it gave really good tone for being run through a cheap solid state amp. ALSO it seems like cheap gear sometimes goes together like it was made for each other. Not always though, sometimes shit + shit = super shit.
Now I use a Classic #0, usually with out effects, and it sounds even better.

The guitar is well made of cheap materials. The parts are crap, but it's well constructed. This was made latter in the reproduction, so it has a sturdy toggle switch. I would not gig without a back up. The pick guard will get polish traped under it if you polish your guitars. Then the screw holes will strip out of the chipboard. Minor complaint for a 240$ guitar.
I string mine up with 11's, which might void the warranty, but feels great and makes this loud! Action is good, intonation/intonating is a pain in the ass, but can be done. Stays in tune well. I might glue in the strap button if I ever think of it.

I've had no problems with mine, but I can tell one good shot and this thing would be out for the count. If droped on a tile floor or stage, I bet it would go down. This is not the guitar's fault, it's just the cheap parts give these things their charm and charachter, ya'know?

NEVER DELT WITH THEM.

NOTE TO ANYONE WHO KNOWS RANDALL, better store had it for $220 Randall wanted $260, and had the finish I wanted, Blue Burst. We dealled it down to 240. I hate to buy from randall, and now they are out of buisness.
I know everything gets 10's on HC, but this thing is so cheap, and so great it's a fantastic value. If you buy a $2500 ES335, it will sound better, but you will have more "complaints" because all the little picky things will piss you off more because something should be perfect for that price. With this you just laugh off all the little problems because you're having so much fun.
GO FOR IT!!!

Korean bought new in 98. Actually bought two within a few days of each other then, Aqua and Beatnik Burgundy. Just got a lefty for my 10year old dughter to learn on. See the pile of reviews below for the rest of the features.

Sounds great, bright and jangly. I bought the first two from different shops. In each case, the guy trying out another guitar next to me snapped his head and wanted to try out a Dano. One guy was playing a Les Paul, one a PRS. Once they heard the guitar and the price, they both just HAD to have one. Coulda bought 9 of these for the price of one Les Paul.

Guitars were set up great. Nice action, great playability.

They seem to be doing fine after 5 years of home recording. Only gigged the blue one a couple of times. These things are light but feel surprisingly strong.
I'd use a backup no matter what guitar I was playing.

Why bother? If it screws up, buy another. Probably be cheaper and less hassle.

Been playing 35 years. Own guitars that cost more than 10 times what these babies do. Can't beat the value. The initial shock was that something this cheap brand new could sound so incredibly cool. Run it through Marshall, Vox, Fender.
Of course I'd replace it if it went missing.

Features have already been gone over 83 times but I wanted to add my two cents worth in here as I frequent this fun site quite often. I, admittedly, am a Dano freak. I missed getting one of these U2 treasures when they were in full (re)production and longed for one of for several years. I happened across a great music store that carries used gear called Village Music in Edmonds Wa. Mike, the owner, is a great guy and has the largest collection of black faced Fender amps I've ever seen in one place not to mention a huge supply of guitars too. Apparently, one of his regulars, a Dano freak had to thin out his herd of Dano's on orders from the boss. His loss was my gain. Thank you!.

This catagory is what Dano's are all about. That Lo-Fi, reedy tele tone that is so prevalent in old sci-fi and western movies. Any commercial done with a guitar for early TV was probably done with a Dano of some kind. Team this guitar up with a splash of reverb and most importantly Tremolo,(mine is a guyatone mini and works perfectly), and you are rewarded with the coolest tones imaginable. The lipstick pickups are excellent for this application and I will not change them as much as I like to customize my guitars. The only thing I will change is the bridge. It works ok as it is but I like to intonate my axes as well as reap even a bit more twang that the wood bridge is dampening. The only hit is the switch is noisy when flipping it from one pickup to the next. I drop of three way oil down the shoot of the switch will help that.

My guitar was made in 1998. It's Malt Shop Creme and brown. The previous owner took excellent care of this guitar and had set it up gnatz. The top and back are perfectly book matched pieces of Masonite painted beige. The neck feels super...ideal for me.

No worries, mate! And I'll thank you to not mention my strap buttons...are they solid?....what kind of a question is that??.

I do repairs myself so I'm going to rate it 10. Hey,..I'm incredibly kind and helpful...ask anyone!.

As much as I like and drool over expensive guitars, I have no need for them. I play for my own amusement and therapy now. I used to have some really good gear from boutique tube amps to high end mass produced guitars when I was playing for dough. Now I enjoy producing sounds and tones of yesteryear. The Danelectro's are superb, inexpensive guitars that fill the bill from anything from country, to surf, to good ole rock&roll.

My lefty U-2 reissue ,bought in 2000,for $199 with gig bag. This axe plays better than the one I learned on in 1964! It is what it is,mystery masonite and other unique stuff make a dan a dan.

sounds like the real thing. when I need to hear it I plug it in.

set up was good.pick up fine. OH! that bookmatched top [ha ha] now after 2 years the toggle switch needs help

Itis a great giging guitar. the whole guitar seems like it won't last another 5 minutes but this remarkable little box keeps on &on.Iwould gig without a back up,sure, unless I was playing at the hollywood bowl or lincoln center.

I have no knowledge of korean language

playing 40 yrs,I definitely would replace it,I need to hear that sound once in a while.I have a 1969 lefty strat , 1961 gretch duo-jet firebird lefty, a silver delux and a silver bassman I use with a variety of bottoms, a bunch of less impressive axes too.I would encourage anyone to buy a U-2,it is a real instrument ,with a happy voice,cool vibe,fun to play . as long as you accept it for what it is ,you will be pleased.

I bought this guitar a few years ago , -roughly 1999. The neck is maple? w/ rosewood fretboard., and body is masonite (also known as hardboard) -If you are unfamiliar with masonite, try to remember when you went to the neighbors garage and they had the pegboard with tools hanging off of it. -The pegboard is masonite. -Pretty chincy material.
2vol, 2tone controls, maybe the coolest part of the design is that they are stacked on top of one another, -like pancakes.
2 lipstick pickups, not bad.
graphite nut.
And a dinky bridge w/ rosewood and metal.

Danelectros have a unique sound, -it pops. -Suprisingly nice pickups
Not much buzz at all. Works fairly well distorted, but not ultra heavy. -HERES THE PROBLEM... If you like sustain, this isn't for you. But as i have said, these guitars have a sound of thier own.

This is the easiest playing guitar i have ever played. Little bit of buzz down on low notes, but i sorta dig it. Real low action.
Another MAJOR problem with this guitar is the cutaway, -very akward. So if you like high notation, forget it.
Controls are as smooth as can be.

The bridge pickup on mine has begun to rattle, and there really is no real way to tighten it up... -Not good.
Finish... Ok i guess, like a formica table or something. If you get this guitar you prolly arent tooo concerned.
Strap buttons are cheap plastic.
I would not use it with out a back up guitar.

Ive played for 10 years. The problems are listed above. Danelectro would be wise to make a solid body with a nice cutaway and use the same pickups.

These details have been described in previous reviews so I won't do it again.

I play this through a 10 watt Marshall and a 100 watt Yamaha. It is so quiet. No unwanted sounds whatsoever. Widee range of tones from bright to chunky. lots of variety between 3 way switch and tone knob.

the original setup was very good. I played with the pickup and action and found the original settings very good. I just lowered the action a touch. Not that I know what I am doing but I like it that way.

The guitar is just so easy to play and has a cool style, even if it isnt select wood with a hand rubbed finish.

This guitar has been dragged all over the place by my son and me. So far it seems bullet proof and resistant to scratches. I cannot believe how it stays in tune. When you consider how much plastic seems to be on it, this guitar is very tough. I keep forgetting its just a "cheapo" piece of equipment which not break me if it were damaged or lost. I just never have to worry about it.

No idea.

Bought this originally 2 years ago to get back into playing. My son always wanted his guitar back and he was'nt prepared to share. We have added to the collection since then , but I cannot believe what a great deal this guitar was. Everyone looks at Gibson, Fender , Ibanez , whatever. But for the money NOTHING touches Danolectro. I just laugh every time I think of it. I would definately get another one if it got stolen. I may get one in another colour or model just cuz I like them.

I got this guitar in '98. Features are pretty standard, but I like the stacked pots. I'm taking points off for where the truss rod is adjusted, when you are changing string guages and have to keep taking the neck off to adjust the neck- what a pain in the a$$. Plywood frame sandwiched between masonite boards... what?

This guitar has always sounded cool to me, but was missing something. I just put some heavier guage strings on it- D'Addario Chrome 11's. Wow what a difference, I've been studying Jazz as of late and this is the most perfect Jazz tone without spending money that I don't have (having a family and all) on some hollow body. This thing has an awesome acoustic tone, great for playing on the couch. Who knew plywood and masonite could sound so good. It makes me wonder sometimes if guitar makers have brainwashed us into being wood connoisseurs. The pickups are an even lower output than my standard Strat, that's pretty pathetic. The heavier guage strings seemed to help alleiviate this problem though. All in all this is a great sounding guitar, especially for the price.

Playability was the first thing that attracted me to this guitar. When I got it, it was perfectly setup. The overall finish seems well enough for a guitar in this price range, but the strip of whatever keeps coming off near the neck.

Strap buttons suck.

I've been playing for about 8 years now. I also own a Standard Strat, Taylor 310, '50's gibson acoustic which i got at a garage sale for $10 :D , a Squire P-bass, Behringer BX600, and a Korg AX1500G. Besides where the truss rod is adjusted, the only thing I don't like is that the pickups aren't really adjustable.

Made in Korea, 21 frets, Hardboard top and bottom with plywood frame (body), hard maple (neck) rosewood fingerboard. Two lipstick retro-style single coil pick ups, adjustable bridge (its a combination of metal and wood!)

Two volume knobs and two tone knobs that individually affect each pickup. This is a very nice feature because you can mix and balance each pick up creating pretty cool and unique sounds.

The guitar is basic, almost primitive, but with a great charm and on its own right the features are very nice compared with other guitars of it's price or category (and thinkinking in what was available in '56 for a very cheap guitar)

I love this guitar for Blues. The tone you may obtain with this guitar and a Line 6 POD using models of Twin Reverbs or Black Faces is fantastic. The guitar delivers a nice tone, specially with the pick up selector in the middle. You may obtain also a very good sound for Jazz.
Although you may crank up the distortion, this axe is more blues, rock'n'roll, jazz, R&B oriented. For these styles, the U2 is an excellent instrument with a truly vintage sound.
Being single coils, picks up are reasonably noisy, but with the pick up selector in the middle, they act as humbuckers and you have a great rich noisless sound. Any processor has a noise gate, therefore you can use the single coils with no furter problem.
The neck pickup has a nice almost Strat sound, and the bridge pick upo delivers a bright sound. The best position (the one I always use) is in the middle, because you can obtain a rich full sound or a bright one using the volume and tone knobs. You have with this a great variety of sounds.
I would like better pick-ups. The overall design of the guitar delivers a very original sound. I really like it.

For a middle-low priced guitar the quality is very good. I didn't find any flaws, but the picku up selector is noisy (I think this guitar was for a couple of years in the music store). The action is pretty good, but I found that soloing in the 12 fret is the best position for sound and comfort. My guita color is Cool Copper, and is not the most beautiful color from all the availables from Danelectro, but the paint job is very nice.

The only think I dislike from this guitar is that I don't feel it solid. It's very light (due to the semi-hollow body), but there is some strange lack of consistence that makes you feel like you are playing a toy, not an electric guitar. Although I don't really know how reliable/durable this guitar really is, I actually don't care, since I use this guitar in the studio and not for live playing.

15 years playing guitar, lot of acoustic guitars, PRS custom 22, Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster, Ibanez JS1000 Joe Satriani Signature, Santana SE, Les Paul Custom.
I bought this guitar after a complete investigation. I found that you could have a truly vintage recreation at an affordable price. And I found that's true. The Danelectro was in '56 a very cheap and basic guitar, but a very nice one.
The sound of the guitar is very retro, and its primitiveness is very good if you want to give your music a root-oriented sound. It's perfect for me, because I love blues, R&B, jazz and rock'n'roll, but if you are looking a guitar for heavy metal or hard rock the Danelectro perhaps isn't your best choice (although Jimmy Page played a black baritone Danelectro ).
I'd like a more solid guitar (the construction feels somewhat poor) and better pickups.
The pricetag is very good. The bang-for-the-buck ratio is pretty good, also. If you want to add some color to your guitar collection, you need this Danno. If this would be your first guitar, be sure to use it for styles like Blues, Jazz or Rock'n'Roll and you'll obtain a great sounding axe. If you want to play Heavy Metal or Hard Rock, think twice before buying this guitar.
In overall, I consider it a good investment, great fun, a lot of new sounds at an affordable price.

It isn't that complexe. The brige is a real pain, it is made of wooa and is hard to ajustl. It's thee way pickups you fcan gett a lot of tomes frome, jangley , or twangy at the bridge to mellow jazz at the neck

It sounds great. For 200 dollers canadian this is the hippest guitar you can buy. It is a totally unique yet oldschool 50s tone. It has a real rockabilly feal to it.

Ahhhh I just cant get a good settup with it. It's always got horrible frett buzz, the only way to make it resonable is to set the action so High it's barly playable. If somone has some tricks for getting these things to work Please E-mail me because I am getting desprite. I love everything about this guitar exept I cant get it resonably playable. I think the finnish is realy hipp. It again has a cool 50s look

I hate to say it but it is very unreliable at the moment. If I broke a string at a gig it would take a half an hour to change it because of its weird bridge, and it would have this awfull fret buzz. Maby it's just me but I can't get it sett up to a degree of playability

Garbage so far. I e-mailed dano a month ago about my problems and I still haven't goten a reply. I ask anyone out there familier with danos please e- mail me if you know how to fix my ploblem. I would realy appreciate it.

Ive played it for 2 years. It sounds real cool but I can't seem to get it to work decent for playing

The features are not this guitars strong suit. The parts are plastic,
the body is a laminate over plywood, the bridge has got some wood in it, and the tuners are seemingly very cheap. Having said all that, everything works great (at least, so far. Granted, I've only had the little bugger for about a week). The lipstick pickups have a really cool sound to them, all the knobs work fine, and the damn thing keeps pretty good tune. I had a pretty long practice session the other night and had a really good time with the new toy (granted, I'm strictly a rhythym player, to lead would probably be a different story).

As I said before, the pickups have kind of a cool sound (at least for the style of music I'm playing - kind of a hard jazz rock thing). I was surprised at how much low end the pickups had, and everything kept clear at louder volumes.

The guitar was set up pretty well. Don't expect to play much over the twelth fret, cause the guitar is'nt set up to. The finish is that cool laminate finish (can you say - retro?). The jack had to be tightened and the pickup selector seems pretty loose, but nothing that can't be done bya ny beginning guitarist.

As I said before, I'm kind of basing this entire review on playing it a week which included one 3 hour practice session. I was just so pleasantly surprised by how it held up that I thought I'd drop this word. It might not have many of these sessions in it, though.

No opinion

I've been playing now for about 25 years, and started out with the usual crap guitars until I got a new 79 strat which I played without a backup for about 15 years. Then (when I earned a little more scratch) I got a PRS, a Parker, and some more strats. This guitar I got because of the ridiculoulsy low price, and was pleasantly surprise when I plugged it in. Though not obviously a main axe, this guitar seems to be good guitar to have around to get a certain sound (a twangy, but full, rhythm sound) or just to have a little fun with.

Made in Korea, 2000, plywood frame with a masonite top and back, groovy Dano lipstick pickups, copperburst
I've gutted the electronics on mine and replaced them with 1 volume, 1 tone and a Gibson style pu selector switch, when both puckups are selected, they're now wired in parallel instead of the stock series wiring

I like the overall tone much better now that I've rewired the electronics, the bridge pu has more "sparkle" and the neck pu is much less muddy sounding...the rewiring was a DEFINITE inprovement IMHO
it has better sustain than the other Danos I've played, especially past the 12th fret and it never goes into uncontrolable feedback at a gig, if the pick try to squeal, all I have to do is mute the offending string, I am able to get controlled feedback which is really cool! she sings!

ok, now I feel it's time to dispell some "myths" I've read in other reviews here, the bridge IS adustable for the action, there is one screw on each side to allow for raising or lowering the 6th and the 1st strings, the large screw at the lower end of the bridge can be used to adjust the angle of the strings passing over the wooden saddle
the saddle IS intonatable as well, although not for each individual string, it is designed so it will move and can be pushed into the proper positioning for fairly accurate intonation

tuners are kinda cheesy, I removed the covers so the tuning shafts wouldn't scrape against holes cut in the sides of the covers and now they work much better, the guitar stay in tune quite well and the tuners work smoother after I lubricated them
looks like I may have to break out the Elmer's glue for the strap buttons though
I've gigged with this baby and have had no problems with it, no need for a backup in my opinion

N/A

it's simple, inexpensive, sounds and plays great....bottom line? it works!
ya gotta love the cool quasi vintage, sleazy vibe this baby ouzzes

Everyone else has already gone over this so i wont bore you

I love the sound that comes out of this guitar i was in a music shop and there was a sale in them so i thought id have a play and i was amazed at the sound i play ska/jazz type music abd this sound crazy for it

mine is a aqua burst it is a sweet color and a sweet guitar the only thing was the action was a bit high so i screwed the bridge in a bit lower and i was set

it feels really light so i wouldndt wantto drop it to many times but it seems ok although ill be replacing the strap pins soon

Ive been playing for about 6 years have a mex strat and a marshall vs100 half stack and behringer v-amp
i can dial up a vintage amp plug in my dano and get the sweetest sound its insane i luv this guitar

Late 90's, Korean, 21 Fret, Masonite/Plywood construction. Stacked concentric Volume and Tone for the two passive lipstick tube pickups. A three-way selector for flexible sound.
The finish is a deep burgundy with a matched headstock, on a single cutaway body. This is not a current color offering by Danelectro, so this one was made in the late 90's. The bridge is very simple in design. Slab of chrome-steel, one screw to hold it in place, also doubles a a height adjustment. There are two screws along the leading edge, used to adjust string height. The rosewood bridge is adjustable by usiing a single screw located under the bridge. Only complaint with the bridge is the lack of depth in where the strings catch under the bridge. Also if this height is set too low, it can cause the string balls to dig into the body of the instrument. A needle file took care of this easily. Intonation was easily achieved after this slight mod.
Tuners are OK for factory stock, not the best, but the it does manage to stay in tune for long periods.
The neck is great, even though this one came out of a pawnshop, and had been abused, the neck was still great.

This thing is very flexible in the sounds that I can get out of it. I play through a Behringer GX112 Workstation, out to a Boss Amp Factory, then route the sound back through a Rouge PRM 1208. This little axe can generate everything from a very clean, nearly acoustic tone, through a severely distorted, rock crushing crunch. It's the third true Dano in my collection, the others being the Innuendo 6 and 12 string models, and I have a vintage (1960) Silvertone.
There's really not much to dislike about this guitar. It's light, flexible, and definitely a players guitar.

Since I got this out of a pawn shop, and it looked like it had een left in the rain, then stored in a barn for a couple years, the finish was in really bad shape. Gentle cleaning with a quality guitar polish removed all but some stubborn tape goo. Once that was removed and a final polish was given, the finish came back to an almost new appearance. Beyond replacing what may have been the original strings (with Danelectro Vintage-Tones), resetting the intonation, and cleaning the three-way switch to eliminate some crackling, this guitar was gig-ready, only about 4 hours after I bought it.
Again, because this was a pawnshop find, there a couple of very minor finish dings, almost unnoticable due to the burgundy color being nearly as dark as the masonite under the finish.

This guitar is recommended for live play. It's lightweight construction makes it a joy to have hanging around your neck for long periods.
I may, at some point upgrade some of the hardware, but why fix what's not broken.
The finish does show some signs of playing, but this could just be the abuse of the previous owner.
The strap buttons are OK, But the neck button is a pain, so I have mounted a button on one of the neck screws.
I can and do depend on it, and while I may other guitars at hand, I don't find myself reaching for them, except may the 12 string, but that's for a totally different sound.

Dano support is OK, it owuld be nice if they would sell parts other than the pickups, but there are other after-market vendors who carry a variety of Dano compatible parts.

I had been playing for more than 10 years, then lost interest while chasing a career and raising a family. I recently got back into it as a Bass player and also doing some custom build work. This little Dano caught my attention and has dragged me back into guitar playing. If you are looking for a versatile, light, easy playing guitar, then this is may be it.

Light, thats all I can say, this is the lightest guitar in my collection! The twin lipstick pickups... beautiful! The style, well it fits me perfectly! I have the Blue Seude colored one, and probably would only ever pick up a Limo Black one if I wanted a different color.

It also has great action! Again superior to any of my other guitars (mentioned later).

This has to be the ultimate Ska guitar! The first guitar I was given to play in my Ska band was a Vantage Avenger, the second was an old BC Rich I grabbed for $25 just for the hell of it, the third was a Epiphone "The Dot" I bought brand new for $700. After all of that I still always turn back to the U2! My only complaint is that the lipstick pickups are naturally noisy, but they still deliver a unique sound that rings true even in a blown late 80's red knob Fender Twin.

I have never touched the settings after I receive the guitar, nor did I get the shop (Long and McQuade) to change them for me. I've been happy with the action (which out preforms all of my guitars) ever since day one! The only thing I have actually done as replace the strings with Ernie Ball Extra Slinky strings.

I always feel as if this guitar isn't there, its so freaking light! (compared to my other guitars anyways). The strap stays on snugly, and has never come off during sessions, even during my big jumps and twirls that often leave my Epiphone crashing to the floor. The only backup I would ever bring to a show would by my Epiphone, and that would be only for certain songs where the sound of a Hollowbody is needed.

The site is awesome, tells you a lot about the guitar, but that is the extent of the customer support I've sought out.

If your wondering why the price is so freaking cheap, it's because I bought it during an inventory close out sale. The guitar was sitting on the shelf for 8 months un-touched for $420 until the sale. I plan to buy a Hodad soon, and maybe even a Baritone. This is how impressed I am with the Danelector line! If they were to release a 2x12 combo I would probably run down and try it out as soon as I could!

Their are two amps I have ran this guitar through, the first was a Fender late 80's red-knob Twin, it went though that amp until the amp died in a tragic melting of circutry! The second amp that this guitar has graced is a Vox AC30. While I wasn't that impressed with the Twin, the AC30 has deffinatly made this guitar my pride and joy!

Price: $324 (new) including padded gigbag from Matt Umanov's, NYC, 2000. I won't rehash too much on the features here, but it does have the fundamentals: three position toggle w/stacked concentric volume/tone pots for each of the lipstick pickups. Wooden bridge (more on this below), metal nut, 21 frets. And, unlike some others, I LIKE the strap pins: they actually keep the strap put (unlike those on my Les Paul) with the same kind of strap. Function trumps cosmetics here, so a definite 10.

Again, a 10. Yes, it can do jazz. I think it's that wooden bridge; I know it looks like a popsicle stick, but think about it--vintage Gibsons have WOODEN bridges. This thing is almost, but not quite, on par with my ES 125TC. Works great for jazz, blues, prog and, of course, old time rock 'n roll. I run it through a Holmes Tech15 (see review) or one of the Dano HoneyTone micro amps (it'll fit in the gigbag). Generally w/o effects, but chorus and wah go well with it. It's not the look folks, it's about the sound. But...

This guitar was set up flawlessly, and I commented on that to the sales guy at Umanov's. He said they do their own inspection and set-up work, so of course that counts for part of this score. But, I tend to think these things come from the factory spot on, because the Dano Baritone I purchased a year previously (from a different shop, Dan's Music in Brooklyn) was likewise perfect. This U2 is the only guitar I didn't immediately want to restring with heavier gauges, though I have since. Very stable tuning either way, and the factory strings were great. I now have D'Addario flatwounds (Chromes, .011 down to .050) and didn't have to make any adjustments to the neck or bridge, but I LIKE high action and stiff strings. I call this my Easter Egg guitar as it's finished in what I guess they call Blue Suede.

Dependable; great subway/city guitar. Versatile enough that it could be gigged without backup, though clearly subject to single-coil hum.

No need for repairs yet. Good webstie, and they've answered my emails.

This thing has a great sound, an "in between" one as others have mentioned. I've been playing 18 years (half a lifetime now...wow). Electrics include a '92 MexiTele (wonderful), '99 The Paul SL(ditto), ES 125TC (see review)and a '99 Dano Baritone. Acoustics include a Yamaha EF 15 Eterna, a Harmony Monterey and a Gibson L50. What all of these have in common is wonderful acoustic sound and this Dano is no exception. Worth getting again, though if it were stolen, I might just go for one of the doublenecks...

I think its a 2000/2001. 21 frets, Semi hollow, harboard top and bottom on a plywood frame. 2 single coil passive lip stick p'ups. Individual concentric tone/vol pots. Hard 25 ins maple neck with nicely grained rosewood fingerboard. les paul shaped body (single cutaway). Non locking, cheapish but very effective and stable tuners. Rosewood saddle. Height adjustable bridge. nice c profiled neck not too fat not too thin. Rating based on features. This aint no rock monster but it has a very usable niche in my collection

I am primarily a blues based rock player and this guitar suits my style well. It is played primarily through a Peavey Classic 30 all tube amp and occassionally a Fender Stage 100 and it sounds great through both. It has a very haunting hollow, bright twangy bluesy sound especially when playing slide for which it is perfect. I cannot express in writing just how gorgeous this thing sounds it is so very unique and unlike anything I have played in my 20 years of playing. It is the perfect rythym guitar and has many of the qualities of an old tele only it has more twang. The sustain is not ever lasting but if you want that you should buy a les paul. The neck pick up is just so gorgeous especially with the tone turned up full. There is nothing i dislike about this guitar in fact I have not been able to put it down since I got it it is totally fun to play and totally addictive its a must have instrument for those folks that havn't got one

Factory set up- Hard to say as it looked like it was an ex demo instrument that had had its fair share of use. I wouldn't like to say it was poor from the factory but it was poor from the shop (my experience of Dano equipment in the past is that it is alays perfect).


Intonation was in need of a little tweeking (this is adjustable on thes contrary to popular belief all you have to do is move the rosewood saddle a little. Its fiddly but possible and very worth it)

Pickups were perfectly adjusted, Action needed to be lowered (and I play with it higher than most people) It needed restringing (I would have done this anyway as I only use 1 particular brand and gauge)

Neck was perfectly straight. Frets were perfect.

Pick up switch was a little noisy but frequent use has remedied this.

Well cut nut.

Generally looks flimsy but is very,very well built - built to last. Solid as a rock.

I cannot give this a too low rating as the problems were the retailers fault and not Danelectros

As mentioned appears well built. It is yet to pass the test of time.

Ive never really give a sh*t if the paint job is nice or not or going to look nice forever I only really care about the sound of my equipment. People that worry about appearance should go and join a boy band. These guitars are very much a guitarists guitar.

The strap buttons are my only concern- they are plastic but they seem OK and solid enough.

I always use a back up as I am paranoid and it has been gigged 2-3 times a week for the last 6 weeks and never let me down - I trust this thing more than my 1975 Strat

I wrote to them (JHS-The UK distributor to give them some positive feedback on how brilliant this guitar is and they didnt reply. Who knows what they would be like if I had a complaint)

I have been playing for 20+ years I own a Fender 70s Strat (USA Original), An old Washburn acoustic, A Mexican standard Tele, A 1990s Gibson Les Paul Standard. A modified Dearmond M70 and a Epiphone Es335 (Dot) and of course this U2 reissue.

This guitar fills a niche I didn't even know was there it really is an exceptional piece of equipment. It is very much a players guitar I wouldn't recommend that a beginner buy it as his/her first guitar. You cannot compare this to anything else as it is so unique. My wife calls this guitar the mistress as its never out of my hands and she knows I would rather have this guitar than another women it is that gorgeous - I am in love with it.

Light hollow body with fatish rosewood neck. Two danelectro retro style lipstick single pole pickups, passive electronics and a three way selector switch. Twin stacked volume and tone pots. Adjustable Rosewood bridge and non-locking tuners.

Full sweet sound played clean. Highest output on middle setting. A great little blues guitar. Feels right and sounds right. Also great for knocking out rhythms and surprisingly good cranked up with overdrive. This guitar can really rock if it has to but the limited intonation adjustment and restricted access to upper frets will be seen as bit limiting for some players. Tone pots seem a bit vague and need some getting used to in order to get a full range of sounds. Some great unique retro sounds available though.

I bought the guitar second hand and I would guess it is about three years old. Black body with cream edge tape. Looks really cool - looks a "friendly" guitar - one you want to pick up and play. I lowered the action slightly, reset the intonation and re-strung with a range from 9 to 48. Slight tweaking of the pick ups was needed to give more bite off the bridge pick up in particular. Neck feels good and the frets are well set and true. Tuners seem adequate and it stays in tune quite well. It has a metal top nut but to be honest I am not a fan of metal nuts on a guitar of this type. I glued in the strap pegs and reset a couple of scews that had worked lose. A bit of light polish and it looks brand new.

I think this guitar is a lot lot stronger than most people think. It is light but it has a soild feel to it. Very little neck movement. The finish seems to wear well - mine has very few marks. I am sure it will be great at home, in the studio or on stage.

No support needed to date

I have been playing 30 years. I own an Epiphone six string accoustic, an Ibanez RG 340F, a Fender Jazz Bass and a Fender 70's Stratocaster. A variety of amps from Marshalls to HH Combos. I wouldn't compare this guitar with anything else as in my view it has its own character and unique sound. It is great to pick up and just play around with a few musical ideas with or without amplification. Its light weight design is a big advantage in my opinion. Now I have one I certainly intend to keep it and look after it. I might well buy another if it were lost.

This is a 2000 example in Blueburst. That is a yellowish cream with a graduated blue border and a white side tape. 21 frets, rosewood fretboard, painted neck and headstock.

Stacked tone and volume pots, one for each of the 2 lipstick pickups. 3 position pickup switch. Rosewood bridge and aluminium nut. No whammy bar. No floyd rose. All the features you would expect from a 50's guitar and no more

The gearing on the tuning pegs is not to my taste in that a small turn has a large effect on the tuning - but they do tune the string and they seem pretty stable.

This is a great 50's rock and roll guitar - you can get a real Chuck Berry sound with a little Fender-esque amp. My Electar 10 watt is ideal for that sound. It is also good for early electric blues and some Rock and Roll. I think that it would be OK for bluegrass but I don't play that.

It isn't good for heavy rock or Jazz. It has a very bright, twangy sound - more so than a Telecaster. It is a thin sound with a lot of cut - even through distortion, the guitar tone comes through. It is not to everyone's taste but it is very charactristic and intrinsically good at being itself, intrinsically bad at being anything else.

The pickups seem quiet when not being played - in the same room with the same amp, my Strat has an annoying buzz and my Tele a noticeable hum. The tone is clear but never bell like like a Tele.

There is limited variety in the sound. It isn't capable of fat tones. There isn't a huge difference between the pickups but it is very much focussed on one sound IMHO.

It is a good

I like all sorts of guitars sounds and I like this one.

This U2 was very nicely set up - much better than other U2s that I have played. The quality of set-up seems to be very variable. The finish is very good on what is essentially a very cheap guitar.

For those unfamiliar with the guitar, it is made of masonite and chip board except for the neck and headstock. They were originally sold via the Sears catalog and had to be both inexpensive and light to mail. This means that there are no considerations such as quality of grain.

The finish on these is always fine. The fit and action vary from 3 to 10. This is a good one. The score is based on this example.

This guitar is not built like a rock. It is light. It is relatively flimsy. I really would not want to subject this guitar to excessive stresses. The strap buttons seem especially vulnerable as there is litte wood for them to bed in to.

Never dealt.

I have been playing 8 years and I have 22 guitars including basses, classicals, 12 strings and acoustics. I like at least one of everything and the U2 is unique.

I had a U1 once that I didn't care for but this is a much better guitar. It has a unique sound that it necessary to have for a full tone palette.

I love the sound but I don't like the ultra-light construction - but that is what gives it the sound. You have to take both.

I compared it to other U2s before buying and against my custom built Tele - but this is too individual to compare against a different 2 pickup 50's style guitar.

There is nothing missing from this guitar. It doesn't need anything to be itself.

You know the tune...68th verse, same as the first. This one is a black left-handed model (actually, was...I traded it a few months ago, but I might pick up another one someday. more on that later...).

The only reason I'm doing this review (who needs another review of this thing?!) is because the left-handed models have a quirk that kinda ticked me off, even in such a reasonably priced guitar.

I play old rock, (like Beatles, CSN&Y, Kansas, CCR, etc.) blues, some country, and contemporary Christian (on electric...fingerstyle stuff on acoustic).

I played this thing through several different amps; a Vibro Champ, A Peavey Delta Blues, Classic 20, Transtube Express 112.

All the tones in this thing are usable...from the bridge p-up (try Jumpin' Jack Flash) to blues lead on the neck to great all around rhythm in all three positions) . Like everyone else has said, this guitar is worth getting because it has it's own tone...kinda like a Rickenbacker...nothin' else sounds quite like it! It is just awesome for blues...I actually got the best tone from this thing through the Transtube amp...played along with Johnny Winter for hours...I know he doesn't use one of these, but maybe the weak pickups are on par with a Gibson Firebird with minihumbuckers...

I liked the set-up, great neck for the price, paint job was great (this is the only left-handed guitar I've ever WANTED to own in basic BLACK! The black is the coolest), and unlike another reviewer, I like the cheesy pickguard...

My dislike(s), and the reason I got rid of it: ON EVERY ONE OF THESE I PLAYED, the tone controls went immediately from 'on' to 'off' right at the end of their travel...no variation whatsover. I didn't notice this problem on the right handed ones, or, for some reason, on the volume pot (which is stacked with the tone pot...strange!) This made any slight changes in tone impossible; either it's all the way ON or OFF!! I think it's because they used right handed potentiometers, but wired 'em backward, so they'd rotate 'left-handed." BIG MISTAKE! We left-handed players really don't care if we have to have "backwards" volume and tone pots (do you hear me, PRS?); we're left-handed, for cryin' out loud, we've had to adapt a lot in this righty world!! We're thankful for the few lefty instruments out there (Like this one!)...just don't screw 'em up in the working parts.

OKAY, I'm done griping! The only other dislike was the lousy (and backward, again!) tuners...but at this price they're not bad.

For the price, who can complain about this guitar? Great fretwork, pretty good quality rosewood board (I've seen cheaper fretboards on low end Gibsons and Martins!), no visible flaws, other than the tape around the edge not being applied generously enough, so that it wants to lift off in the cutaway and other lowlying areas.

Hey guys, the bridge is adjustable...figure it out.

This is a great 'life' guitar, cuz if you destroy it (which you probably won't), you can replace it for less than a pair of tires for your car!

No clue. Got mine used. Traded it used.

Been playing for 30 years (I'm forty-three). Have had enough acoustics and electrics (lefties) to know what's what. My favorite features of this guitar were the price, tone and playability...this thing is worth having for the unique nitch it fills, plus it's just an absolute NECESSITY for a good gritty blues tone! I think I'll look for another one someday, and maybe change the pickups and the pots (separate 'em into four pots, drill a couple more holes for more control)...it'll be worth the $$ invested. I've built five Warmoths, so the mods won't be a problem, and I love tinkering! Probably shouldn't have sold/traded it, but I've said that about LOTS of stuff (not just guitars; cars, books, albums...)

Well, you probably know it's a hollow-body, which, as people have said, seems a bit flimsy, but I really can't tell unless you open it up.

Mine has a really nice 50's green colour to it.

The bridge is really cheap looking, not sure what it's called, but it is pretty much a sliver of wood.

I didn't buy it for sound, though I like it. Knowing not too much about the 50s style sound, the guitar lends it's self pretty well to modern stuff, and even distorts fairly well. The pickups have a bit of hum, which is annoying, but you get used to it.

I also own an Epiphone Special, and this is generally a much quieter guitar than the Epi.

Overall, the guitar seemed fairly well set up. I have two main complaints, but to keep from being redundant, check Reliability/Durability.

The strap button fell out the day I got it home. It just came off with the strap. This really pissed me off.

Also, after a while, I noticed the plug for the patch chord was loose, so I took it apart, and the metal nut under the plug had just shattered. How does a piece of metal shatter after 4 months?

I wrote to the company over a week ago about my problem with the nut shattering, and they still haven't responded. It was quite difficult to replace, as it had special fine threads, unlike most nuts.

This guitar, throughout my complaints, it still a joy to play, and sounds pretty damn good.

I wouldn't want it as my only guitar, but definately as one of mine.

If I lost it, I'd buy a new one for sure. (Though I'd check a few more things in store...)

Stange construction - hardboard over a plywood frame, finished in salmon pink (I reckon). Two lipstick s/c pickups, three aside tuners, two concentric volume/tone controls.

After years playing mainly Teles, I plugged this guitar in, settled a slide on my finger and played. Eerie - sounded just like an old Elmore James track. No two ways about it, this guitar has an 'old' sound - it comes from a time when guitar sounds were happy accidents rather than deliberate. The treble pickup is weedy, but again sounds truly 50s with loads of reverb. Both pickups combine in series to deliver the highest output. The front pickup is fine. I wouldn't recommend the U2 for modern styles, but for slide, rockabilly etc it sounds authentic

Bought second hand, can't attest to the supplied condition. Has a low action and provides a comfortable ride. The internal wiring is tidy and other than the tuners I have no complaints.

The tuning is truly odd, it seems to wander all over the place, with the G string suffering the most. I know that this is because the G is the first unwound string, which creates a tensioning problem that most Tele players experience. The single piece bridge also creates some intonation problems which make up-neck excursions a very risky business.

The U2 does have something of the "so bad, it's good" quality. The guitar doesn't pretend to be poor man's PRS or whatever. If you've got the attitude, the U2 will deliver. I don't recall many bluesmen, rockabillys or garage bands having earnest discussions about tuning and intonation - it's really a case of getting a really long strap, a cheesy fuzz or cavenous slapback delay, then let the games begin.

year 2000. pretty basic stuff. this isn't a top line guitar, just a little, cool plywood guitar with a great finish on it. action is ok; played pretty fast out of the box. plastic knobs, lipstick pickups play to the retro look crowd. i like the fact that it weighs next to nothing (mostly hollow body construction). then again i like simplicity.

i do some session work, so play just about everything. even tried "jesu, joy of man's desiring" on it (well, i tried it). its got a unique sound to it. i've used it with a peavey bandit, a carvin (the tweed one), a marshall and a cheapo 50-watt radio shack (yeah, the last one worked great!). for variety i run it through an effects box.

for the price this is a decent buy. real nice set-up- a little high but ok. pick-ups are fine. bridge is a weird hunk of wood that i'd like to replace with a regular compensated saddle- but dano doesn't sell parts so i'll need to cannibalize something else. finish is decent too- reminds me of a polished counter top. what everyone says about the strap buttons - true, they're awful. replace them first chance you get.

i don't thrash around with my instruments, or bash them against amps, or abuse them. hey, they're instruments! i've played out with it a bunch and its fine. (thats with the strap buttons replaced). i always have a back-up (for electric its a tele). lately i've been sitting down when i play (old people do this) so unless i fall down dead on top of it i don't think its gonna explode on me.

contacted them looking for parts- they answered that they dont sell parts. anything that needs to be done on this guitar, you need to save yourself aggravation and just do yourself.

been playing for over 30 years. own the tele, an old epi arch-top, a guild d55, a yamaha c150cce, a ramirez r4 and just bought a cordoba fcwe. my preference is cross-over classical and jazz, so this mix suits me well. i wanted a cheap little electric for variety, and this fits the bill - nice and lightweight, can get a nice jazz line out of it with something different than an archtop sound, easy to play. if it was stolen i'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

Korean-made. 3 way toggle switch gives you neck, neck & bridge, or bridge alone pickups. Has Dano lipstick pickups. See other ratings for more specs. Copper-burst in color and looks cool. (My 3 year old daughter gave me some "ooohs... and aahhs..." when she first saw it. She called it "pretty". Matches my little Danelectro Nifty 50 amp, too. No accessories, but I only paid $129 for it. It is the lack of features that appealed to me. I wanted and like that 50's/ealry 60's primitive two pickup set up.

I am just getting started, but it fits my style. Old country (i.e. 50's), rock n' roll (i.e. 50's), rockabilly, etc. Using the Dano Nifty 50 and a Boss Delay (Echo) pedal. Quiet pickups on all settings. Very rich, full sound. TOld by the guys at a very good guitar store here that most of the gang at the store thought this was the Dano to buy. They all raved about the full, rich tone... and some of these guys play out all the time... and have many years of experience. I figured with a low price tag and these kind of "in-store" reviews I could not go wrong. Can play fairly loud on the couch without an amp! I love this little guitar!

Great set up. No adjustments to the pick ups. Bridge is very basic, but works. No flaws except a little spot underneath where the tape is a little misaligned. Not able to see, so no big deal. I figure in time the tape will get narly and need to be pulled off anyway. Great paint job. Very pleasing. Reminds me of my parent's 1950's counter tops and appliances! Great neck (maple painted) and fretboard (rosewood). I have played a couple of these Dano reissues and they all have the same neck! Very friendly for a beginnner and more experienced guys say the love the neck, too.

I don't play live, but I think it would survive. I pluck away at lower volumes. Hardware looks cheesy (plastic tuner knobs, plastic strap holders, etc.) but it stays in tune much better than I thought it would! I worry that the body seems so light that I might sit on it by mistake a crack it! But the light semi hollow body makes it sound so good. I think it will last.

Never dealt with... cannot rate. I do like their whole retro ad campaign though.

Just getting started playing. Own/owned an old Gibson, a Dano Mod 6, and a Fender Tele (Nashville Deluxe). I find myself picking this one up more often than the others. What do I wish I had asked when I bought this?... that they hold onto the Dano DC2 for me (but they have since sold it!). I would buy another if lost or stolen. In fact, I just bought a Dano U3 that I hope has a similar sound. Found it cheap so I grabbed it. Most loved is the sound. Wish they had a little more into the plastic parts, but not a big deal with the price I paid. This is not a toy... this thing is sweet. If you see one of these floating around buy it. I have heard they do not make them anymore, so do not hesitate!

Typical electric guitar features. Kinda on the plain side in a good way.
Cheap machine heads, but it stays in tune.

This is a cool sounding axe. I play mostly blues, so it fits in well.
It's got a very twangy tone with very little sustain. Great for finger picking and really digging in.

I can't get over the fit and finish of this guitar. I bought mine used at the GC in mint condition. They could've sold it as new.
Nice Commie Red paint.
The fret ends are finished very well, better than a new American made Fender.
The neck joint is so tight that it will hold the neck in place without screws (stringless of course).
I have had it for over a year and have not needed to adjust the truss rod or action.
The action can't be set as radically low as my Les Paul, It's more like a vintage Fender.
I find the neck to be a little small for my slightly longer than average fingers.
Maybe I just got a good one.

Nothing has broken on it, but I take really good care of my stuff.
Cheesy tuners, strap pins that seem like they're looking for a chance to fall out, masonite ply-wood construction...
It's kinda flimsy, but in a fun way, like my old MG Midget.
It's not rugged like a Fender, but I don't thing the headstock will snap off like a Gibson.

I don't use this guitar every day. I also have a Les Paul, Telecaster and a couple of Stratocasters and generally prefer their more conventional sounds. But If you want to go to the local blues jam incognito and blow everyone away with your unique sound, this guitar will do.If this guitar was lost or stolen I would probably get around to replacing it.

20 fret, 2 lipstick pick-ups in dark red finish. All very standard

Love the 2 tone knobs being mounted on the two volume selectors, very nice. I much prefer guitars with 2 tone controls + 2 volume controls

My style varies from Blues + Folk-rock to grunge dependant on what I'm feeling like. The danelectro can be mellow enough for blues yet raspy enough when the amps turned to 11.
Very bright tinny sound sometimes is a bit two much and the tone rolls on very sharpy at the lowest settings.

Action was a little high, I've had it for a year and a bit and only just changed it now (very easy with a cross-head screwdriver). Does wonders for playablity and confidance. It was a good rythum guitar, now good all-round
Its the first guitar I've had were the electrics a foolproof (others were a squire strat and an Encore Les Paul) and who have been a great gigging tool if the strap holder hadn't fallen out and dissappered. Haven't yet got a spare for it.
Finish is good especially for what I payed for it.

Everything on the guitar works okay except for the damb strap button with as I saide vanished. Otherwise I would use it for a gig. In one years I've never had a string break so I'm pretty confidant that I could use it without back up.
Stays in tune well

Never used it

Relaible, indivdual, stylish, sound great, only two things hold it back, the highish action - now cured and the glue in strap buttons.

Everybody previously reported the specifications on this neat little guitar. Mine is a blueburst with a hardshell case. It was used and probably made in 1999 or 2000. It is bare bones but I paid very little for the ax. I don't like complicated controls.

As everyone has said before, it has a punchy, trebly well filled out sound. I use mine for classic rock, including surf music, the blues. It's tone is warmer than my tele and as everyone has said, the tone is different that a strat, tele or les paul. It is not any noisier than my tele, so that is not a problem. I find that it has a surprising amount of versatility and is not a one trick pony to me. I especially dig the muted "pipeline" sound it makes when I am playing surf music. I play it on the middle setting. I play it through a Peavey bandit 65 or a Roland JC120. Works rather well through each. I play clean or with a very little distortion. For heavy distortion, I use my les paul guitars, which can't be beat. For the price, it is hard to beat.

Wow on the finish. This is my third u2. My first was a brand new aqua blue, which I traded. It didn't sound as good as this one and neither did the next one, which was commie red. The action on this one is just right and since it is used it was set up by the music store from where it came. It is intonated close and the pickups seem pretty balanced. It holds tuning well. Played it at rehearsal for three hours last night and only retuned it once! My strap pins cannot be taken out so that doesn't worry me. The white binding tape is secure. I realize it is not a high priced guitar and am motivated only by its playability and unique tone-why I have this third one. The frets are not sharp. I think buying this used one with a hard shell case for less than $200.00 was a great deal for me. I know there are people who think this is a toy. Close your eyes and let your ears and fingers judge.

It is not a "log" like my tele, but what the heck. I always use a backup in case of technical problems, etc. I rotate my guitars for playing and it will get its chance. I especially intend to use it during deck party gigs, where the u2 will be exposed to high temperatures and sunlight-better the u2 than my other expensive stuff. I have not had any technical problems with this or my previous u2's. The finish seems durable and thick on the guitar body and back of the neck.

Never needed them.

I remember the original u2's! When they came out, we thought they were losers and shunned them. I took a second look when Led Zeppelin used it for some recordings and concerts, but still stayed away. Now I am an owner of a reissue, which I tried out being wary. I asked myself do I need another guitar? What purpose? My answer showed certain situations where it could be pressed into service coupled with the unique tone. I would replace it if it were stolen as it has the best sound compared to the 59dc, hearsay, inuendo, u3, dc3, etc. I noticed that it's body cavity is bigger than the 59dc or dc3, so the tone is warmer and more resonance. I love the tone and price as the best features. Have tried other Danos and there is some quality control variance. Suggest keep trying them out and eventually you will find the right one for you.

I'm not going to list all the specs for it because everyone else has done that. It's pretty basic, but what do you expect for this price? The lipstick pickups give this guitar a very distinctive sound. Mine is that sea-foam green color, and I wasn't even going to pick this guitar up except that my wife noticed it and insisted I play it. I was surprised by how much I liked it. Very light, which is a nice bonus. There isn't much of a variety using the selector switch, though. I mainly control the tone by fiddling with the amp.

I play blues and bluesy-rock with a little old-fashioned punk thrown in. I own this puppy, a Fender Strat, and an Epiphone Les Paul ES-335. For amps I run through a Peavy 15 practice and a Fender Deluxe 90. Like I said, this guitar has a distinctive sound, which is why I bought it. It sounds very tinny, but if you run the treble down to 3 or 4 and the bass and mids up to 7 or 8, you can get a more mellow sound from it. I wouldn't use this as my main guitar, but it's great for some of the old blues styles. It reminds me a lot of that Silvertone sound--probably because both are CHEAP guitars. I have seen some people say it's made for surf music, and I can definitely see why they would say so. But I can get some nice trebly distortion with both the Peavey and the Fender amps. Not versatile in tone, but if you want versatility then pay over a thousand dollars for another guitar.

One very strong recommendation I have: Do NOT string this with D'Addario's. Those strings tend to be tinny themselves and it gave the guitar a noticably metalic twang when I played--and not in a good way. I restrung it with some Dean Markeley's, and it sounds good again. Nothing against the D'Addario's, which I have used for both guitars and basses, but they're just to bright on an already bright guitar.

I bought it used, but it was set up just fine. The problem comes when you change the strings. With my Strat and Epi I can change in five minutes, but it took me 45 minutes of fiddling with that floating bridge to get everything right on the Dano.

I would not use this as my main guitar, but that's only because I need different sounds. Don't be fooled by how light this guitar is; it only seems like it's not durable. It stays in tune while playing and can take a pounding. Would I drop an amp on it and expect it to be in decent shape? Hell, no. But I wouldn't expect that from a Gibson half-hollow either, so don't be ridiculous. This guitar isn't about quality components, it's about a distintive sound.

Never had to deal with this or any other manufacturer. If something breaks, I either get the store to fix it or figure it was a piece of crap to begin with.

Off an on, I have been playing guitar for ten years. Bass guitar for 13 years. I have owned Fenders, Gibsons/Epi's, and Yamahas. Before I bought the Dano a year ago, I had all but stopped playing for two years. The Dano inspired me to get back into it, and now I own more guitars than my wife sees reasonable. I do like this guitar, although I am not in love with it (my love is reserved for my wife and my Fender Strat). If it were lost I would be upset; if stolen, I would pray to the gods to deliver unto me the miserable soul that dared to violate my property. But would I replace the Dano? Yeah, because it's cheap enough to do so easily. Another $100 more, though, and I would have to think about it.

The features have been listed many times before so I won't bore you with that here. The guitar did come with a nice padded Dano gig bag. I've owned hundreds of gig bags in the past and this is the nicest one. It has the twill padding on the inside where the headstock rests to keep the string ends from ripping the insides of bag. Very nice. Mine is black and I bought it in 1998, right after Dano started putting these out.

I play mostly rock/metal/blues type music and I love this guitar. I usually play it on the neck pickup. I think its got a great sound for rock or blues. I usually play it though a Peavy practice amp. the single coil pickups are a bit noisy but not nearly as bad as some strats I've heard over the years.

This guitar came ready to play. The factory set up O.K. but I've since lowered the action and made it much better. It plays extremely well. The black finish now has a few scrapes and scratches on it but overall its held up nicely.

After first picking up this guitar one gets the impression that its not the most well built instrument. However, I've owned mine since '98 and have used it in the recording studio and at some jams, I teach guitar and have used it in my lessons some and it has held up well. Currently my bridge pickup has a short in it. I think it may just be a dirty pot, I'll get around to fixing it one day. I mostly play it out of the neck position so its not that big of a deal. I've never had any other problems out of it. A great guitar for the money!

Never tried to contact Danelectro. I purchased mine from www.pickersexchange.com in Chattanooga Tennessee and those guys did a great job with the set up for me at no charge.

I've been playing guitar for over 13 years. I also own a Les Paul, Schecter Scorpion, Tacoma DR-28, Gibson LGO and a Silvertone. If something happened to this guitar I'd buy another one in a hearbeat! The best thing about this guitar is that because of it's semi-hollow plexi-glass body you can pick away without an amp and still have it be loud enough to be heard over your TV. Its a great "couch guitar". I also love the tone that you get from the neck pickup and the neck on this guitar feels wonderful. I've read where a lot of people say that this is not a "metal guitar" and I guess if you go by looks its not, but it does have some mean bite too it when distored. Even a friend of mine who is a diehard Ibanez(Ibeenhad) player enjoys playing my dano whenever he comes over. For the money this guitar cannot be beat, perfect for the beginner just starting or for the pro looking for something a little different.

Year made: C.2000
Fretts: 21
Construction: laminated plywood body.
Controls: 2 mushroom controls (volume and tone stacked)
3-way switch
Pickup config: 2 Danelectro nifty fifty lipstck pickups. 3 modes:
Bridge; Neck; Bridge and neck. The later is wired in
parrallel which gives it some kick.

Standard tuners. They do their job.
Bridge. Really wierd. Is hell to restring it at first but u get the nack after a bit. Its pretty unusual.

I play lots of different stuff. This guitar is best suited for 60s rock n roll. Used by Jimmy page from Led zeppelin so it must be good for that sorta rock n roll style he plays. I also Play metal, eg rage against teh machine, foofighters etc. This guitar was ok at this stuff. The other reviews say its not but if u find the right effects it is. Ive installed a Gidson 498T Stock pickup in teh middle position so i can play this sorta stuff better on it. I could have bought a new guitar instead but i love the sound it makes from its hollow body and kool bridge it has. It totally rocks like a bitch from hell now with its new pickup. i play all 3 pickups in parallel and its sooo sweet. Anyway. i progress....

Sound: bright sound. full and rich.
No buzzing on bridge pickup but the neck one does a little
I use it on a zoom 707 GFX, a digitech whammy and a few marshal distortion pedels. SOunds amazing with a whammy. great for jimi hendrix stuff

ooooooh, Dont start. THe factory setup is, well in a word... Shite!
The bridge is too high and so teh action is crap unless u like to slide and nothing else. its easy to lower tho. not a problem.
the pickups were in teh right place. thats ok.
The finish is great apart from the cheap bit of sticky tape that goes around the side of the guitar. like a cheap sicker or sumin. well dodgy. could be taken off i suppose to show just the laminated surface underneath.
The plastic strap nobs arent a problem to me but i can see how they would be. The pickup selector is like an industrial strength switch that could survive a bomb. so at least it wont break. i like it tho. gives a sorta power feeling to it.

The overall asthetics is great. ive taken off the scratch plate cos i liek it like that and it looks cool.

I bought this thing second hand and the guy i bought it off did loadsa gigs with it. and can i say this thing was mint. obviously he must have looked after it but even then guitars age. not this one. superb. The laminated body will take punishment. its very hard to scratch. The strap buttons feel very vunerable and since they are pysically stuck to the body you can replace em easily without brute force which could damage the surrounding surfaces.
THis baby will not go out of tune for ages. Maybe its my strings but i use teh same ones on my strat and they detune every few days.
on teh dan it takes loadsa playing for em to detune.
Id gig with this and wouldnt need another guitar. it wont break on you cos its so simple.

rubbish.

Ok first, i emailed em over their webpage....nothing
i did that a few times and no response. I rang em up and they were out for lunch!?

very bad. in teh end i gave up and sorted it out for myself

Ive been playing for 5 yrs now. i own a American Strat, and a les paul epiphone. But i love my new dano.
For the condition i bought this baby in it was a steal. It still had bits of teh plastic sheeting on teh body which they wrap it up in when its new. super.
I dont like th eunplugged sound of this guitar. you kno teh dull sound u get from old strings? well it sounds a bit likethat. and i kno its not my strings cos i restrung it today and it still sounds dull. I love the plugged up sound, especially now its got 3 pickups on it.

2000 Model. Comes with the "lipstick" pickups, and...well, very little else.

This beast is made for surf-rock/rockabilly. And with some good FX you can get a vaguely les-pauly rock sound out of it, but nothing stellar. Still a good solid guitar sound, especially if you want that "vintage" tone. I do love the lipstick pickups. Run through a tweed amp and a nice slapback reverb, you can do some very nice Dick Dale sounding stuff on it. The semi-hollow body gives it fairly decent sustain and resonance.

This is where the problem lies. The one I got...well, the action was okay, but the tuning is crap and the whole guitar is cheaply constructed. The bridge isn't adjustable, so intonation is a pain...this by itself is probably the worst feature of the guitar. The tuners are a little stiff (although not as bad as some people say), the strap buttons fall out at the drop of a hat, and the neck seems a bit too wobbly for my tastes.

But then again, I only paid $150 for it. And I'm not gigging with it.

The finish was fine, and the plastic knobs are oh-so-retro.

This sucker probably couldn't withstand a heavy live gig. Maybe a bit of strumming but no wild acrobatics, please. While the finish and the body would be fine, I have little doubt that the strap buttons would fall off mid strum, the guitar would come crashing to the ground, the thing would go out of tune and you'd have to spend the next half hour retuning it.

Never tried 'em.

I haven't been playing guitar for too long - a few years, really. I have been playing bass for a decade or so, though. I do wish I had known a bit more about the bridge/intotanion issues before I bought it. Had I known, I woulda spent the extra money and gotten a Hodad or a U3 - they have adjustable bridges, are slightly more solid, but still have the lipstick pickup sound. If it were lost, stolen, destroyed, I'd probably get a different model. I may do that anyway, assuming some money somehow comes my way.

But if you need that sound and don't have any money to burn, this isn't a bad guitar for studio work. Despite the flaws, it does have a unique tone that is just hard to find elsewhere.

got it in white off ebay with gig bag for 135 + 20 shipping, 21 frets the usual 2 lipstick pickups, have some nice feautres read below, bridge should be highered cause of buzzing sound.

great guitar for any sound, had to higher the bridge cause it buzzed action is still great

action is pretty good but too low and it buzzes so u should higher it, finish is beautiful pickups highly adjustable, everything was as said id like to see a new style bridge on these its a peice of garbage bridge

used it at 2 gigs good quality pretty reliable, dependable, strap buttons are glued on like to see better styrap buttons on then

not too bad but could be improved greatly

great guitar at a great price, does lack some feautres but for the price well worth whats on it now

I got this guitar from Christy Music (in Slidell, LA- if you live here, just go to guitar center!) as a sort of birthday present, even though I did pay for most of it. I bought this in july of 2000, and it was purchased the week after they got it in the store. I've been wanting to buy one of these for years, ever since I was in 7th grade. Well, I'm a junior in high school now, and my appreciation for this guitar has not died down. This is a 21-fret, 2 pickup bolt-on beauty. I've been playing guitar for almost five years, and I've played almost ten times that number of different guitars. Out of fifty, I would say this easily ranks in the ballpark of say, ten.

I play many styles of music-Rock, Metal, Blues, Jazz, R&B, and even country (though I don't always like to admit it), and some way or another, You can always find a way to use the U2 for that style. I own a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, which runs through a crate BV412 Speaker Cab, and an original 1968 Fender Champ-speakers were changed and power supply upgraded from a 6 watt I believe, to somewhere around 20, and speakers went from factory 6 inch to ten inch jensens.
I love heavy distortion, and the dual rectifier gives me that through the U2 with almost the best tone imaginable. I own a Boss Metal Zone, Blues overdrive, Dod Supra Distortion (FX55c), and a zoom 505. The Danelectro U2 will come through with whatever you shove in its face, with not only satisfactory results, but sometimes it can just blow you away.

I didn't find a problem with the factory set up, just lowered the bridge and pickups a little and I was set. The only problem I had with wiring was that I was playing and one day it died out on me. I took it in, and the repairman said that a wire wasn't soldered on, and it just happened to wiggle loose. It was under warranty, so that was fixed without any problem or expense. The only thing I'm kind of uncertain about is if they actually used wood on the body at all. the whole thing feels like plastic to me.

I'd play it live, Have many others that I'd like to play live, though.
If the hardware is built to last, I won't find out. I'm changing the bridge to a Kahler tremolo, and buying some locking tuners. I don't care about the finish that much-just not important to me, but scratches that you would call normal wear and tear are there, but I've dropped this guitar and had nothing happen to it. I'm still trying to figure out how the get the damn strap buttons off of it! They're great, but I bought a straplok system for it and I'd like to put it on. It's a very dependable guitar, that I probably would take on the road w/ me, but with my style of performing, I have to have several guitars just to keep up with the different tunings I play.

Dealt with danelectro almost a year ago, and i'm still waiting on a response. so, for customer support, I have one thing to say- Booo You Suck :)

Overall, Everyone and their grandma should get one, just to have it. if you play it with elixir's on you'll be surprised how clear and responsive this guitar is. I would be fine putting a microphone up to the guitar and playing it unplugged, but if it weren't for the hollow body, I'd say that this guitar wouldn't be such a sweet sounding one.

As per manufacturers specs.

I purchased this guitar as a complete neophyte, knowing squat about guitars -either acoustic or electric.The purchase was a classic shot in the dark.I love the classic 50's era sound of this thing.I had no specific style in mind-perhaps blues,and i find that virtually any sound from this guitar is great.It has that great 50's twang and I find it very clean and clear.I am using a Dirty 30 amp and find it is more than enough power for anything I do.I get what is I gather the standard hum and occasional hiss from the amp in unison with a single coil guitar of any make.The sound is very bright and clear with little or no buzz.I am not disappointed in the least ang give this one a 9.

As i said I got this one sound inheard so to speak and I think I lucked out in this category.The set-up was fine with no buzz.Initially I thought it might be a little high but from some research I coclude its good for me.The pickups are spot on with the bridge being a little more trebly and I am able to differentiate nicely between the 3 settings- definitely a fuller sound with both of them on.The finish was beautiful(Cool Daddy-o Yellow)with no apparent defects.The pickup selector is indeed a bit noisy but I LIKE IT THAT WAY.Everything seems OK.

Obviously i don't play live but this thing seems pretty sturdy.I do agree with previous reviews about the strap buttons- very dubious indeed, a half life of about 3 weeks if you're lucky.

One year warranty,great website.I HAVE NO concerns if i have a problem.

I love the sound of this guitar.It is perfect for me.I'm not into heavy metal, so no worries there.I find it very user-friendly and thinkitsgreat for a beginner like me.The tone is fantastic, just the sound an ols coot like me loves.The playability is very conducive to learning.Anyone that would mistreat this guitar for some mindless rock-genre aeasthetic doesn,t deserve to have another one of these beauties.If it was lost or stolen i would certainly get another.It has that great retro style sound and feel that anyone born after 1980 probably does not apprecate anyway.LINK WRAY indeed.I forsee years of tactile satisfaction and the commensurate increase in hand eye and manual dexterity with this baby.Agreat purchase with no regrets.

This guitar has 21 small frets that are really hard to wear down.Its sort of a hollow body with a laminate top.It has a 3 way pu selector and 2 of the best pickups i have heard. These alone should make u buy it. it came with crap tuners so i gave it a pair of grovers. The neck is a baleball bat and that is why im selling it. I struck up a new passion in shred

WOW this guitar is perfect for jazz and blues

good action weird finish noflaws here

strap buiions are crap i mean shit but w hot glue they are better it dosent come out of tune you can gig it wo a backup

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This makes a good guitar for a beginner buit if you really want a guitar buy a Charvel oh yeah

I think mine is a 1999. It's dark burgundy. Two pick ups, with a 3 way switch. I have replaced the Bridge, the Tuners (You have to get mini-tuners) and the Pick-ups. (Seymour Duncan has lip-stick tube pick ups that are 1000 times better). I can only give this a 6 because the hardware on this guitar is so cheesy. I knew that when I bought it though, with the intention of replacing some of the hardware. One thing I love about it is it's weight. It's very light. I used to play a Les Paul Deluxe every weekend for 4 a night and ended up spending a lot of money getting massages. I also love the fell of the neck. I do wish however it's neck where a little longer.

The cheap pick up's that came with it are (I'm told) made in Korea and cost about $2.00 each so I replaced them. The sound of the Seymour Duncan Lip Sticks are great! I found that it improved the sound considerably. Being a single coil pick up (even with the Seymour Duncan's) there's a lot of noise coming thru especially when there are Budweiser sign's everywhere. The original pick up's can be very muddy when a lot of distortion but when using a little bit of distortion they don't sound too bad. I think I read another review that said Danelectro's are not metal guitars. I'd like to second that.

When I bought this the action was "ok" not great. Everything else was fine. The pick-ups are super easy to adjust.

I never worry about the guitar NOT working or the neck cracking on stage. I feel it's reliable especially now that I've replaced the tuners and the bridge.

Never had to call them.

It's not the best guitar in the world but if your willing to spend a few extra bucks on some better hardware it has a very unique sound and is easy to play and manage... oh yeah and light weight too.

Ok, just wanted to make an addendum to my last review. The review was, I confess, while still under purchase after-glow. More regular playing revealed that the action was harder than what I comfy with, and the more I played it, the more I appreciated my other guitars.

I wanted to tinker with it: change the tuners, change the bridge etc. Then I actually considered getting rid of it. As I took my Fender Strat to the shop for a setup, I gave the U2 a second chance.

A closer look at the bridge revealed that loosening the bolt behind the rosewood saddle lowered the overall bridge height. So I kept on loosening until the action was nice and comfy and voila! No buzzing frets yet barre chords are nice and easy anywhere on the neck!

With the U2's metal nut, I can't help but wonder if the tone & sustain would improve if metal saddles were used, let alone the fact that each string would be easier to intonate.

But I'm glad it's usable as is. Better bridge & tuning gear would make me feel a heluvalot better about this guitar, but even with the stock parts it still intonates pretty decently and the action can be set low and comfy.

The Dano Reissue U2 is a single cutaway dual single coil lipstick pick up electric guitar. Concentric pots handle the tone and volume controls for each pick up and it has a 3 way toggle switch. There's not much quality in the plastic mounted strap buttons, bridge or tuning pegs but that's the beauty of this simple guitar.
It's a campy reissue of a 1956 campy guitar.
Danelectro should have the U2 pictured on a padded chrome legged chair in a 1950's style kitchen with an Ed Norton (Honeymooners) Racoon Club hat next to it.
Just the basics.
You don't need a road map to figure this one out.

Rock, pop, blues and rockabilly styles are just what Danectro had in mind when making this guitar. The U2 sounds outstanding with a little bit of break up or gritty tones from my amps. I have 3 of these masonite oars in yellow; aqua burst and blue suede and set them up differently. My blue suede one has raised action with .12's and tuned for open E slide work. Through my Marshall reissue Bluesbreaker with a Bixonic Expandora and Danoecho, the blue suede sounds very brown and somewhat like a Billy Gibbons style blues machine or a Jimmy Page Kashmir style guitar. The other 2 are set to standard tuning but with different gauge strings (.10 and .12). These things are cheap enough to buy 2. I bought 3.
Through a clean sounding amp with some slap back echo and trem, rockabilly styles are very easy.
The U2 is a very distinctive and unique sounding guitar.
It's not for everyone.
Definately not a metal guitar.

Well, it's not an easy guitar to intonate.
This is a unique animal. I would'nt get too upset if it's off a bit.
Just pick it up and play.
My aqua burst U2 is very spiffy looking. Not many guitars have this ultra campy look.

The originals were cheap and are still around.
The reissues should have the same life expectancy.
Danelectro is a good company. They replaced my dead Danectro without hesitation.
How do you rate a AAA company that intentionally makes a campy but functional instrument?

Like I said, Danelectro intentionally makes campy stuff and stands behind their product.
You get what you pay for here.
Can Fender and Gibson say the same?

The U2 has a specialty sound. It's not the do all guitar but it sounds like no other manufacturers guitar. The economy of this guitar makes it special and unique.
The only thing that would make this guitar better is a 3rd lipstick pickup and that's the U3 reissue. I also have a U3 sparkle top and a black Dano Baritone.
More on those later.

you can find the features at: http://www.danelectro.com
or read them from the other reviews here.
i think mine was made in 1999.

i think this guitar has a cool sound. i like to play it clean and
use it mostly just for strumming. it makes a good rhythm guitar for
me. the pickups are single coils so of course you get a little
hum, but it's not bad. they actually seem quieter than the single
coils i had in a strat style guitar. it has enough volume for me
to play it unplugged and still hear what i'm doing which is cool.

the guitar is put together well, although some of the parts don't
seem to be of a very high quality. it's very difficult to try to
get the intonation perfect on this guitar. i've been able to get
it close, but not exact. close is usually good enough for me though.
i would like to put another style of bridge on this guitar where
the strings can be individually adjusted. you can raise and lower
the bridge that came on the guitar to change the intonation somewhat,
but it's hard to get it where all the strings are intonated.
another dislike for me is that you have to take the neck off of the
guitar to get to the truss rod, which is annoying and makes adjustments more difficult.
the action is suitable to me, although i'd love to have it a little
lower. i'm still working on that one. it's a tricky adjustment on
this guitar to get the action low with no fret buzzing and at the same
time get decent intonation. once again a different bridge would be a great help with this.
i love the finish on my guitar (aqua burst) really cool and seems
durable. i actually took off the cheap plastic pickguard. i strum
with my fingers though so i'm less likely to scratch the finish.
the tuners, although they seem like they're cheap, actually do a good
job. i was pleasantly surprised by this. although at some point i might change them to something better.
the control knobs and pickup selector switch also seem pretty cheap,
but they do their job. i usually keep them set the same all the time
so they don't get much wear on them. i may want to change that stuff
sometime too though.

okay, i posted some info that probably should've went into this
category in the "action fit and finish category". but here let
me just add this stuff:
the guitar body and neck itself seem pretty stable and durable.
the hardware is somewhat suspect such as tuners and control knobs.
and i don't like the bridge very much as you can tell from my earlier
comments.
also i want to especially mention the strap buttons. they're just
pushed into the body, i was able to pull them out without much
effort. i remedied this by using the stuff that is holding the
rear view mirror on my car windshield. i put some into the holes and glued the buttons in with that stuff. no problems since them.
i give the body construction, and neck a 9. but the other hardware
only gets about a 6. so i'll say 8 overall for this category.

i've only e-mailed with them to ask some questions, but they were
curteous and did reply and answer my questions.

this guitar 'as is' is a pretty cool guitar! it would be even better
with the hardware changes i mentioned. i'm playing it more than any
of my other guitars right now, i really like the sound and the design
of this guitar for the most part. with a few little changes that i
mentioned, this guitar would get a 9 or 10 in every category for me.
in fact, i'm going to overlook the flaws and give it a 9 here, b/c
overall i really do like the guitar.

Features have already been mentioned many times, so I won't repeat them now. Mine is in the nifty aqua finish, which is rather ugly, but has prompted me to nickname it the "Aqua Submarine" and hang a pair of fuzzy dice from one of the tuners for that "Retro" look.

It definitely has a different sound that a Strat or a Les Paul. I generally play with both pickups on, or with just the neck pickup. The bridge pickup is a little thin and weak for my tastes, but I suppose the proper effects could bring out the best in it.

I run it through the Danelectro Fab Tone into a Fender Frontman 15 amp, and it sounds nice. The clean sound is bright and rich, and I discovered that with the Fab Tone, at least, I can get a good heavy metal sound.

My only complaint is that the neck pickup is noisy when near my computer monitor, etc.

My guitar was bought used, but there was another U2 Reissue there that I also tried out, and it felt terrible to me, difficult to play, just something I couldn't put my finger on. The one I have now already seemed properly set up, and it felt great. Only flaws that are on it are finish scratches it has endured from my accidentally banging it into things.

I would guess that it could withstand live playing, and would last a long time, if treated with care. The tuners, although they are kinda cheap, stay in tune really well, I can go nuts on it and play a solo where I'm bending strings up 3 steps or whatever, and it will stay in tune. Th estrap buttons are admittedly cheap, but easily replaced.

Never dealt with them. besides, the instrument is used already.

I really like this guitar, it's my second electric guitar, although I doubt my first one even qualifies as a guitar. I've tried many guitars out in music stores, and I still love this one. I kinda wish it had more pickup options, but that would bring the price up.

1998 Korean-made blueburst U2; the other reviews summarize the characteristics of the instrument well so I won't repeat.

I tried about 20-30 of these at Guitar Center (at the time when this was the first Danelectro reissue) and they varied widely in setup quality and sound. You should definitely buy one from a store where you can try several and pick the best.

Play the riffs from "Houses of the Holy" or "Whole Lotta Love" on this and you'll understand why it is an indispensable rock instrument. It sounds completely different from a Strat or Les Paul and provides an alternate flavor that can mesh with other guitars or stand on its own. Sounds "cheap" in a good way.

It sounds like the pickups are wired in series. I prefer the sound of both pickups; all three pickup combinations are usable in various contexts but I tend to find the bridge pickup by itself too thin. It hums loudly when near a computer monitor, especially with both pickups engaged.

A lousy lead guitar if you like singing tone, but absolutely awesome as an open-tuning riffmonster. The metal nut gives it a "clanking" sound with open strings that is part of the Danelectro experience ...

The intonation is non-adjustable. The one I bought has decent intonation, but some of the other U2s I rejected had horrible setups and intonation. Once again, prospective purchasers should compare several and pick the best one.

The neck tends to bow back and forth slightly over time in response to environmental conditions, but not enough to be a big problem.

The finish on mine is luscious (love that blueburst) and reasonably durable.

They're cheap enough to buy a half-dozen for spares, smashing on stage if you're into that, etc. Guitar Center has sold them as cheaply as $149 US but they're usually around $179-$199. I paid $249 when first introduced and still feel it was a bargain.

unknown - not needed

For the specialty sounds I bought it for it is incomparable. I wouldn't use one as my only guitar because it lacks versatility.

Given its very low price, I would also recommend it as an inexpensive beginner's or child's guitar. Bring along an experienced guitarist if you can to pick out the best one available, given the uneven quality from one guitar of this model to another.

I believe this guitar was made in 2000.

Specs have already been mentioned previously, but here they are again:

Body: Hardboard top and bottom with plywood frame.
Neck: Hard maple with rosewood fingerboard.
Scale: 25?
Frets: 21
Body Width: 42mm
Headstock Width: 15.5mm
Nut Width: 40mm
Action: 1.6mm high 'E'
18mm low 'E'
Pickups: Original style brass tube w/chrome plating
Magnet ? Original formula 50?s style Alnico magnet.

Plastic knob tuners, concentric volume/tone controls (plastic knobs), non intonable rosewood bridge piece.

Mine has the Cool Copper finish.

And another shade of sound not covered by either my Les Pauls or Stratocaster. A nice "boxy" sound with a cool single coil tone, very unique: lower output than say, a standard Stratocaster pickup, nice and clean.

The brass lipstick casing shields the pickups quite well, and 60-cycle hum is minimal. I'd say the standard lipstick pickup is much quieter than the standard (non stack humbucking)Strat or Tele pickup.

The neck lipstick sounded a bit dull at first, but a touch of compression really helps bring out the best in that pickup. The bridge pickup is bright and jangly. Both pickups together sounds full and much louder, it also increases the 60-cycle hum quite a bit.

This makes me wonder whether the pickups are wired in parallel or in series ... a RW/RP pickup in either position would solve that nicely, but I guess that would have added to the overall cost.

This guitar sounds surprisingly nice when overdriven. Thus far, the only effects I've used with it are the Surf & Turf Compressor and French Toast Distortion, both by Danelectro as well. Good results through the Zoom 503 Amp simulator and Fender Blues Jr amp.

Factory setup had one flaw: the neck had a backbow the first time I tried it, the frets buzzed something awful. After the in store setup, the buzz was gone but the action was also a tad higher and harder to play ... but overall, this U2 is a better instrument than the one I had tried some months ago (and reviewed).

The tuning keys actually work much better on this one, it stays reasonably well in tune, the rosewood bridge piece is set just right for accurate intonation and doesn't buzz yet.

Handle with care ... Dano equipment in general seems to be deceptively rugged in spite of a frail appearance, but this sure isn't as rugged as my other guitars. I treat all of my gear with respect and TLC, so it should last a long time.

For the price I paid though, this is a marvelous "upgrade project" guitar. With straplocks, a better flatmount bridge (a look in the control cavity showed me that installing a better bridge is possible) and better tuning gear, this would be an even better guitar!

In my previous review of the 56 U2, I really trashed this particular model as a "what were they thinking?" piece of garbage. The model I tried at that time must have been a lemon, as the one I bought a few days ago is a much better instrument.

I still feel that with the exchange rate, $368.00 is too much money to ask for a guitar made of masonite, plywood and plastic; but at a special sales price ($199.00 Canadian), this little Dano is a nice addition to my guitar family.

The art-deco look of it grew on me, the sound is different from my other guitars and it is feather light.

Improvements ... "upgrade projects" :~)would include a RW/RP pickup to further reduce hum, better tuning gear, and a better flat mounted bridge (I'm sure Schaller has something suitable)for optimal string height and intonation adjustment. If you like to tinker and can find one of these on sale or second hand, this is a perfect contender!

Pretty basic. Two single coil lipsticks with a stacked volume/tone pot for each and a 3 way selector. The selector is a little unusual. Requires a lot more force than those on mist guitars. Seems like a part from a car or something and I like it. Body is hollow with some sort of composite top and bottom. Solid wood neck with a rosewood fingerboard. Mine is a cream/aqua burst and has a strip of white leather binding the body. Bridge is very basic with a block of wood holding up the strings. No intonation adjustment. Decent tuners. Others don't like them, but they're fine for me. Solid metal nut. Everything is tolerably manufactured, but your not going to be amazed by anything.

Here's where it shines. Sounds more like a tele than a strat, but not much like a tele either. Seems like the pickups are in series rather than parralell. No out of phase sound in the middle position. Brighter than any pickups I've played, but not so much that it's annoying. Killer vintage sound. Fairly noisy electronics, but not terrible. I play it mostly through my POD 2 and also have a Vibro Champ and a Blues Junior and it sounds great through all of them.

Others have complained about the action. Mine's great. I played a lot of them and their manufacture seems to be spotty. I really wanted a DC-3, but the necks on the ones I played were all way to fat for my taste. Not sure if this is how they all are, or just the ones I played.

The wood piece in the bridge is a concern. No intonation is scary, but it seems to be fine as is. I'd consider replacing the bridge, but would be afraid to mangle the composite body.

The only serious concern is the leather binding. Since it's white, I'm sure it won't take long for it to get ugly. Also, I can't open the guitar up and do anything, because I'm afraid I wouldn't ever get it back on.

Also, the plate over the electronics on the back won't come off. I took the screw out, but it's either too tight, or glued. I'd really like to get in there and do some monkeying.

One thing I haven't seen mention of is the weight. This thing weighs nothing! It must weigh half of what my strat weighs. Makes it very comfortable to play. A big advantage for those of you with bad backs.

Seems a little more fragile than the average guitar, but not much. I have no concerns here. They're so cheap, that you can have a backup anyway.

No clue. Hope I never need to find out.

I've had it for a few weeks and I love it. I just can't put it down. It's really hard to describe the sound. I can't name a song and say "That's a Dano!" although I'm sure there are examples. I know Jimmy Page played one live for his solo set (white summer/black mountain side) and I can see why. The neck is great for lots of chord work higher up on the neck. Also, the brightness gives it a bit of an acoustic sound.

All I can really say is that I really like it. It was dirt cheap and I like it as much as others I've payed a lot more for. It may only sound 'right' for a few things you play, but it's cheap enough to get one for this.

If I lost it, I'd get another right away. I may get another anyway.

Oh, and it just looks awsome!

Just like the others, 'cept mine's black. It's got a body, neck and pickups. What more could a guy ask for?

Sounds like a single coil guitar. Not exactly like a strat or tele, however, somewhere inbetween 'em. The piercing tele sound and the fatish strat sound. The potentiometers are pathetic, goes from 10-10-10-2-1. Really no inbetween. Oh well. For $299, who can complain? Cheap to replace.
Contrary to what someone said, this CANNOT get a jazz sound. It has single coils, for gawd's sake!

I hate the metal nut. I've gotta load it up with graphite to get the strings to stay in tune. I'm gonna put a different nut on it soon. To all those people who complained about high action, THAT CAN BE ADJUSTED!! Guitars (especially bolt-ons) have lots of potential when it comes to set-up. You just either gotta know how to do it, or take it to someone who does.

I've had no trouble with the strap buttons, but I can see how they may be a problem.

Never dealt with 'em.

I play music. I'm smarter than most of you, and better looking. The danelectro is a wise investment.

Mine is Maltshop cream. I rewired it to get rid of ground loops and added a switch to put the pickups in parallel. I made one of the tone knobs a master tone and the other a push-on-push-off switch for the parallel selector. I replaced the cheesy plastic volume knobs with chrome knobs from my '64 Mercury Comet, they are the same as a '65-'66 Ford Mustang. If you want to do this you can still buy them new from various restoration catalogs. The chrome knobs plug right on but I needed to cut the bottoms off the plastic tone knobs to fit inside. I also upgraded to 11-50 flat wound strings.

I mostly play surf tunes, this guitar is great. I'm playing through an early seventies Sano tube amp. Its a single gain 25 watt amp with tremolo and spring reverb. I put in a 12" V30 speaker. My Dano sounds better on this amp than any other I've played on. It is a match made in heaven. I tried a bunch of different strings and they all sounded way too bright, the flat wound strings sound best, not too bright but real jangly when I want it to be. The bridge pickup is my favorite. I never use the neck pickup alone. The pickups in series are loud and cool. The pickups in parallel are mellower than series and cancel out a lot of pickup noise. If you are going to play a Dano with distortion I recommend you rewire it to put the pickups parallel.

It felt real cheap when I got it. The chrome knobs not only make it look better but makes it feel more solid and higher quality. When I put on the 11-50 flat wounds I dropped the action and cranked down the truss rod 3/4 of a turn. I was able to get the strings WAY down with NO buzzing. I set the intonation right on the money, even without an individually adjustable bridge. The flat wound strings feel like a dream. If you played this thing blindfolded you would never guess it costs $150. I still need to replace the tuning machines. Mine stay tuned even when I'm beating on it but feel real cheap when tuning it.

I don't baby it. I don't have a case or stand. I'm always bumping into stuff and knocking it over and it only has three tiny chips. If I could find the right color touch-up paint it should look great forever. I haven't had any problems with the strap buttons but I can see why people don't like them. With new tuning machines it will be a ten.

I'm sure I've voided the warranty.

Bitchin guitar. These things are pretty cool new but with a bit of work they can sound, look, and feel like a thousand bucks. If someone stole it I would just buy another, unless they took my amp too. I would then have to hunt him down, ask him what he thought of it, then hurt him. I've never played a LesPaul, I'm sure my Dano doesn't even compare. I have played a few cheap strats and my Dano blows them away. Even though its a hollow body it feels more solid. I plan to add a couple more lipstick pickups and wire them like coil tap humbuckers. I've also thought about adding a Bigsby tremolo but I'm afraid it will kill the signiture sound. Everyone should have at least one of these guitars.

I think that we're all aware of the features that this thing offers. Its a simplistic guitar which I think is its appeal anyway

I have a taste for vintage sounds, 60's garage-punk / rockabilly. I find this guitar suits that aesthetic very well. Also, if you happen to think that Link Wray was the greatest guitar player ever, then this thing will be right up your street. It's not a very good clean sounding guitar. I find that you need to dirty the thing up a little to get that unique Danelectro sound that everyone keeps talking about. It certainly is a unique sound, no question about it. It's a bit of a one trick pony though ...you can only really get one sound out of it , both pickups on, tone & volume turned up to 10. But at this price, who's complaining? And I'd rather have that one great sound than 6 or 7 mediocre ones. I use this crude practice amp that my buddy made in his garage and i play it through a Demeter Tremulator.

The action lets the guitar down big-time. It's too high. This means that you can only really play open chords and low-end riffing. With a huge degree of effort, its possible to play lead guitar further up the neck provided you don't play too fast which i guess kinda defeats the purpose. Also, the bridge sucks. Stringing this guitar is a major pain in the ass. However, other than that, it's a well made guitar and to its credit, it stays in tune regardless of how hard you assault it.

I can't really comment here since I'm not a pro and I dont play live. However, the pickups are not too loud so that's something that you may want to consider

I have been playing on and off for 18 yrs. This guitar, I've owned it for 18 mths and in the main I'm very satisfied with it. It has a unique persona that a lot of more expensive guitars don't have. And it doesn't sound like a Les Paul or a Fender so there is no danger of ever sounding like everyone else. However, I find the high action impedes playability considerably. That's what you get if you want to be a cheap bastard not spend money to get a decent guitar. I bought this because I didnt have a guitar at the time nor did I have enough money to buy a Gretsch or a Rickenbacker (I still don't) and for the price it is good value for money. If the action was lower, it would be a perfect little guitar. My advice is buy the thing if you have no money & no guitar. Otherwise save up for something more playable .

You know what it's got. You read all the other reviews. Mine is the supercool Aquaburst. To say the least, this guitar is SEXY! Sexy, with an overwhelming innocence, that's why I've named her Lolita.

This is where Lolita shines. I play a moody sort of rock (VAST, The Cure, etc.) and Lolita is 100% Godlike tone. The pickups are smooth as silk. Combined with the hollow body, it makes a sweet, syrupy, creamy, sound. Put some chorus on this baby and it is heaven. OD it a little and it's blues city. You can play a lot of different styles of music on this axe, from blues, to jazz, to most styles of rock(not this heavy crap that everyone seems to be into all of a sudden).

This guitar was set up at the store as I was paying for it. My ony gripe is a small spot of that gorgeous aqua paint near the seventh fret. This makes me sad. But Lolita is still the sexiest guitar I own.

Wear one or two of these guitars if you think you are going to be shot at. These babies are built like tanks, except for the strap buttons and the tuners are kinda cheesy. But you put this axe in the ring with Townshend, the guitar will win.

I have not dealt with Dano, and probably will not. Well, I'd better not.

I love Lolita. I own an Am. Std. Strat, and Am. Std. Tele, and a Dearmond S-65. This is IT! The perfect guitar for me. If someone were to steal it, I would skin them alive, and fashion a new case for Lolita out of it. EVERYONE NEEDS A U2! BUY ONE NOW!!!

As documented previously except in left-handed and black. These are ugly guitars, but there is something strangely compelling about them. As all left-handed players will know, the market place is very different to a right-handed player. This is as close to a Telecaster a lefty can get without #600.

As I have already said this is one ugly guitar. But it sure sounds sweet. It will handle clean to fairly dirty crunch with bags of charisma. If you like pointy guitars and poodle hair forget it but if yo wanna do a bit of stones/nirvana/blur this is the place to be. It is sound wise very versatile.

Despite previous accounts the guitar is well made and well finished but it does need treating with respect.The neck is a little narrower than im used to but that can have its advantages. Forget fret access past the 15th fret this is no widdler. The tuners feel really naff but up to now have decieved me by holding tune. Big area of discontentment is the scatchplate, truly awfull.

Yes it wiil play live. If you treat with the respect all guitars deserve it will last. The strap buttons are crap. No serious guitarist would ever gig any guitar without a backup and this guitar i no differant.

Dont know

For #120 for a lefty this is a scoop, ok all you right handed players have loads of choice at any price. There is not a better bargain lefty on the market. This is no lead machine it would need better access to fret 15 -22 and a wider neck but for rhythmn its tone just takes over.If it were stolen I would love another. the pickguard must go, im gonna order some black 3 ply and cut my own.

Mine is totally stock. Nothing very noteworthy here, maybe the most unique thing is that the selector switch in the middle position acitivates both pickups. (Seymour Duncan now has replacement lipstick pickups that take advantage of this. The bridge pickup is reverse wound from the neck, so when you activate both via the middle position you get a noise-canceling effect). With the stock pickups using both pickups gives a nicer sound than either alone, I think. Features seem simple but totally adequate.

The sound of this guitar is very nice for its price. I'm using it through a Fender Princeton 65 and have tried it through various nicer amps. The guitar is generally bright, but not massively more than any run of the mill Strat. It's fairly noisy but not prohibitively so for your average beginning player. It gives a fairly nice rich sound with both pickups activated, a slightly flatter one on the neck, and a nasally twangy thing on the bridge. Overall there's nothing so extreme that will prevent you from playing anything. Right now I'm playing a lot of Pearl Jam, Weezer and Rage Against the Machine and basically the guitar works fine.

The thing I liked most was that basically this guitar was really cheap and it spanked my friend's Squier strat, which sucked totally. The Danelectro sounds much fuller with more output and less hum. It's a lot more in the class of a standard Mexican strat. The Fender will be a little nicer, more versatile and probably sound slightly better (and have less hum in 2 and 4 positions) but it's also maybe $200 (US) more. (Also looks less dorky and has more name recognition)

Let me put it this way. With my current set up (56-U2 and Fender Princeton 65 amp) it would get me plenty more sound quality to spend $500 (US) on a nice introductory tube amp (was looking at Fender Hotrod Deluxe) than to spend (I think about) $500 (US) on any of the various Fender Mexican Standard/Deluxe guitars. It's just very good value for the money.

Action was kinda high, bridge looks imperfect but to tell you truth I really have no idea. The bridge is held on by some ugly lookin' screws. There was some wood imperfections in the rosewood fretboard. Tuners aren't spectacular. The input jack's nut is constantly coming unscrewed and depending upon how loose it gets stuff can start falling out. One time the wires connecting the jack to the electronics came apart and the guitar stopped working until I soldered the wires back on. Cheap construction, in general, but if anything it's made me more comfortable with knocking the thing around and being able to relax. Nothing besides the aforementioned wiring problem has affected sound quality/playability. Nothing on the finish has been messed up. Had the guitar a little over a year, was not totally new when bought I think. My feeling is basically "whatever." The action fit & finish is not spectacular but it's really okay unless you want to be anal about a guitar this cheap.

The guitar's taken some knocking about, traveling, plenty of playing and comes apart at the edges somewhat (loose wiring, see above) but basically it's held together. I've had it a year and after a very short time stopped babying it and it's been fine. I can't say it has been/will be totally reliable, but it is certainly decent and generally trouble-free, and of course, is relatively easily replacable.

No idea

I really like this guitar as a cheap, nice sounding guitar that I can throw around (not literally)(most of the time). It's a really great value for the money. My friend has a nice customized 70's Ibanez that he gets rather anal/angry about if you do anything to it, and that sort of thing is okay, but it gets kinda annoying and absurd. This thing you generally don't worry about at all, it sounds good enough, it costs very little, and you generally get a pleasant experience out of it. This is just a guitar that will get you some nice sounds without you having to be a dick about it if it gets broken/lost. Though there is certainly better (aiming my sights on a Deluxe and/or American Strat soon) they all cost a lot more and just generally don't make me feel as good :)

Made in Korea in 2000. 2 sets of volume/tone knobs (stacked), each set controlling one of the Lipstick pickups.

Has a great clean sound...particularly for Surf music. It seems to be fairly quiet, however, I am using a small amp at low volume. Very full sound. The distorted tone is a little weak, but the guitar is not built for heavy rocking music.

It doesn't seem to stay in tune. The tuners don't hold through heavy bending. Seems solid otherwise.

Haven't used customer service, however, they have a very informative website.

I've played bass for about 12 years on and off, just picked up the guitar for recording and songwriting purposes. Overall, the sound is well worth the price of the guitar. I played a Squire Strat and Tele before buying this and the sound on the Dano was far superior.

Every one knows the standard features of the u2 and if you don't well read the others because mine is just like theirs except it's in copper burst.

I love the bright sound of this guitar!! I run this baby straight through a Peavy Classic 50 and some distortion. Some people say this guitar can't handle and distortion but I think for some songs this baby can handle a little fuzz!! The pickups barely buzz or hum at all. The pickup selector switch makes no noise at all when selecting pickups! And guitars pickups will buzz a little at high volumes. This guitar has a great sound unlike any other! The lipstick pickups are the best!!

When I receaved this guitar it was really hot out side and the UPS truck doesn't have air conditioning in the back so the vinal tape kinda bubbled up but I just pushed it back down and haven't had a problem since. The action was just right wasn't to high or to low. Finish is great!! That copperburst finish sure is great!! It has no flaws! This guitar is just about perfect in every way!

This guitar is about as reliable as they come. It definatly will stay in tune!! Every bit of the hardware is standing up great but from what I've heard and read I think the strap buttons might give. They seem ok so far. I would definatly use it on a gig because I love it's bright sound.

I know it's a limited warrenty but I don't know how long. But it says I can get5 anything repaired and if it can't be repaired they'll give me a new one. So I'd have to give it a 8 because it sounds good.

I've been playing for a while now and can't get enough of this guitar. It's a great guitar for the price! I have a lotr of the "TOP OF THE LINE" guitars and they mostlt stay in their cases because this guitar is just down right fun to play!! Go buy one!!

well everyone else went over the stats for this guitar, so i'll just share my year of experience with it:
as far as features go don't expect to fiddle with it too much, like a tele there ain't much adjusting to do. the action is too high, even for a vintage type guitar and the neck is downright dinky, not very wide at all. don't expect to ever touch the truss rod, it's buried in there

this guitar's main plus is it's sound, it sounds great through my ghetto crate practice amp with the gain on full and not as great through my fender 112(which is a great amp) this guitar begs for a cheap, loud amp. through the right amp you can get a unique full twangy sound that can really do well in cramps-meteors type psychobilly or even crust-punk type stuff. it has a good wierd gain sound and a pretty nice clean for reggae and trad ska. i also made great slide blues sounds out of this guitar. i give it a nine because, well don't ever expect to play any kind of worthwile lead on this thing, great for surf rythm and low end riffing.

the action sucks, the fit and finish is well...cheap, though ok for me because i don't really care about flashy looks.

don't expect to be a punk rocker too long with this guitar, i'm the kind of player that likes to really stage-shenanaginize and this guitar basically fell apart, the neck pickup popped out of the thing and now hits the strings if i play above the 12th fret and there doesn't really seem to be any way i can fix it either. other than duct tape or super glue. this guitar is gonna be a pile of trash if you don't treat it kindly, be forewarned.

no contact with the company

this guitar is being seriously neglected now that i've got a custom-garage tele with a neck p-90, which almost completely takes over the tonal range of my danelectro(almost) and also allows me to play lead and more powerful punk parts. I'm in a psychobilly band now and i love this custom guitar. if you're an old dude(ette) and you're looking for a nice lil vintage sound, buy a reverend, if you're strapped for cash buy a dan-0, just bring some backup and treat it nice, oh yeah i forgot to mention the tuners were outright lame.

Per the Dano web site:

Body: Hardboard top and bottom with plywood frame.
Neck: Hard maple with rosewood fingerboard.
Scale: 25?
Frets: 21
Body Width: 42mm
Headstock Width: 15.5mm
Nut Width: 40mm
Action: 1.6mm high 'E' & 18mm low 'E'
Pickups: Original style brass tube w/chrome plating
Magnet ? Original formula 50?s style Alnico magnet.

One of the redeeming qualities of this guitar is the sound: bright, jangly, yet different from the typical Tele or Strat tone, very distinctive indeed.

In all fairness,the factory setup was pretty decent. The action was playable if a bit high on the model I tried out and the neck to body joint was very tight.

The pickups seemed well set and balanced, but since I was trying out that guitar on the same day of a Digitech seminar, I couldn't get a good idea of the pickups tone. They're single coil, so there must be some 60-cycle hum on an amp that's turned loud enough.

The tuners though were crap, as I had to retune every other minute.

This guitar felt shoddy and frail I'm sorry to say: not enough wood, too much plastic, cheap tuners, plastic strap buttons ... it felt cheap! The regular sales price though isn't cheap, but that's another gripe of mine.

No I wouldn't gig with it, and because it wouldn't stay in tune, I wouldn't record with it either.

Unknown

Sigh, on the plus side, a) the price was marked down quite a bit (40% discount?) b) I have to confess it looked cool, c) it sounds unique in a good way d) it was playable e)very light in weight for those of us with bad backs or shoulders.

On the minus side a) shoddily put together b) too much plastic and crappy hardware c)hardboard top and bottom? What on earth posessed those guys? d) the "bridge" on that particular guitar won't allow for single string intonation adjustment e) the regular price is too high for the shoddy quality - even marked down I passed, espescially when Squire's Standard series provides better quality and solidity in the same price range (in some cases cheaper)!

However, on a more constructive note, I must admit those Lipstick pickups left me with a good impression: I'm considering refitting my Franken-Strat with Dano Lipstick tubes!

THIS GUITAR WAS MADE IN KOREA HAS 21 FRETS. IT HAS A MASONITE TOP AND SOME TYPE WOOD FRAME, HOLLOW BODY,IT HAS TWO VOLUME AND TWO TONE KNOBS ON TWO POTS. TWO LIPSTICK PICKUPS WHICH ARE PASSIVE. NECK IS I DONT KNOW WHAT KIND OF WOOD.BODY IS SINGLE CUTAWAY. TUNERS LOOK CHEAP BUT MINE STAY IN TUNE. STRING THRU TAIL PEACE. CAME WITH NO CASE. ILL PROBALLY GET A CHEAPIE FROM A PAWN SHOP.

I LIKE THIS GUITAR BEST WITH BOTH PICKUPS CLEAN,WITH A BOSS RV-3 PEDAL 0N 7 WHICH IS A BLEND OF REVERB AND SLIGHT DELAY THINK VENTURES OR SURF AND 60S MUSIC. ITS A BRIGHT SOUND,BUT MIND SOUNDS COOL THRU MY CARVIN BEL AIR 2X12. AND MY FENDER TWIN ALSO MY BOOGIE HEARTBREAKER HEAD 4X12 CAB THIS IS NOT A HEAVEY METAL GUITAR I ALSO HAVE A ZION WITH EMGS AND A FENDER PLUS STRAT. ALSO A ES 335 AND A PEAVEY FIRENZA WITH P-90S. ON GIGS I TAKE THE DANO AND FIRENZA MOST, I PLAY BLUES AND 6O 7OS ROCK. 20YRS WORSHIP AND CHRISTIAN ROCK. I USED THE DANO AT CHURCH FOR CLEAN AND A BLUES DISTORTION ON MY CARVIN BEL AIR. WE PLAY PRETTY CONTEMPARY WORSHIP. I USE MY BOOGIE AND ZION FOR METAL. I AM 49 YRS OLD AND CAN BUY MOSTLY WHAT I WANT I BOUGHT THIS GUITAR FOR ITS SOUND AND ITS FUN TO PLAY,BRIAN SELZER SHOULD GET ONE.I LUCK OUT A MUSIC STORE WAS GOING OUT OF BUISNESS AND I GOT IT NEW FOR 125.00 SO THAT HELP. PUT A NICE CHORUS WITH THIS GUITAR THRU A FENDER VIBRA LUX AND LITTLE DELAY ITS LIKE HEAVEN ITS COOL IUSE A TC CHORUS PEDAL AND A BOSS DELAY.YOU CAN PLAY EARLY ROCK,BLUES,AND TELE CLEAN I THINK IT SOUNDS BETTER THEN MOST TELES. ALL IN ALL FOR THE MONEY ITS FUN AND MOST PEOPLE RESPECT IT EVEN THOUGH ITS CHEAP. FOR A BEGINNER THIS WOULD BE A WONDERFUL GUITAR ALTHOUGH I THINK YOU START WITH AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR FIRST TO LEARN THE GUITAR INSTEAD OF TOYS.

MY GUITAR PLAYED GOOD RIGHT OFF THE BAT,BUT SINCE IT WAS A FLOOR DISPLAY, THEY PROBALLY SET IT UP TO SHOW IT OFF.THE ACTION WAS GOOD AND LOW LIKE I LIKE IT NO BUZZ.THE FRETS ARE OKAY.I THINK I WILL STRING IT WITH TENS.THE PICKUPS WERE AJUSTED GOOD.BUT THE TWO MUSIC STORES I GO TO IN WICHITA KS. ARE GOOD ABOUT SETTING GUITARS UP AS THEY COME IN,EASIER FOR THEM TO FINE TUNE IT FOR YOUR TASTE.THE NUT IS GOOD NO LOOSE CONTROLS. MY PICKUPS MAKE ABOUT AS MUCH NOISE AS ANY SINGLE COIL STRAT IVE PLAYED LESS THEN SOME.

MY GUITAR WILL LAST ALONG TIME UNLIKE SOME I TAKE VERY VERY GOOD CARE OF MY EQUIPMENT.I LOAD IT AND UNLOAD IT MYSELF.I GUESS THAT COMES WITH AGE,WHEN I WAS A KID YOU LEARN TO TAKE CARE OF STUFF CAUSE YOU MAY NOT GET ANOTHER.I USED THREE GUITARS FOR DIFFERENT STYLES AND THE DANO IS ONE OF THEM SO I GUESS ILL ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP.I PUT STRAP LOCKS ON JUST BECAUSE ALL MY OTHERS HAVE STRAP LOCKS SO I CAN USED THE SAM STRAP IF I WANT.

NEVER DELT WITH THEM OVER THE 35 YRS IVE BEEN PLAYING IVE LEARN TO DO MOST MY OWN WORK AND DO IT WELL.WITH HELP FROM OTHER OLD FARTS LIKE ME.

BEEN PLAYIN 35YRS.DIDNT ASK NOTHIN EXCEPT PRICE.IF IT WAS LOST OR STOLLEN YEA I BUY ANOTHER WHY NOT THEIR FUN AND GOOD WHEN SOME ONE COMES OVER AND WANTS TO JAM AND YOU DONT WANT THEM TO TOUCH YOUR HIGH LINE GUITARS. I LKE THIS GUITAR CAUSE ITS FUN AND SOUNDS GOOD FOR CERTAIN SOUNDS REMEMBER NOT A HEAVEY METAL GUITAR.BUT WORKS FINE FOR EARLY ROCK AND ROCKABILLY, SURF AND SKA. LKE A PEAVEY ITS GOOD FOR THE MONEY.

All of this has been covered in depth before, I've got little to add except to say that: 1.) The damn strap button came off the first time I tried to put the strap on the freakin' guitar, and 2.) Boy, those stacked pickup/volume knobs seem flimsy. I can see breaking them very easily.

Well, here's where this thing shines. What a unique tone - nothing like my other electric, an el-cheapo customized with a Duncan JB in the bridge. The Dano is way jangly, in a swamp-rock sort of way. This thing has a ton of personality - if you're looking for a guitar that's going to allow you to play a wide range of stuff, this ain't it. But if you're looking for that classic '60s sound (I was playing Paul Revere & the Raiders "Kicks" last night, and it was dead-on), this is the guitar.

I'm deducting a point or so here because I'm getting a bit of fret buzz on the fifth string... and with the non-adjustible bridge, I'm unsure how that might be addressed, save with filing the frets (this thing looks so fragile, I don't know that this would be such a good idea).

Aside from this, the action is great, and the intonation appears to be perfect... which surprised me, given that you can't adjust the bridge. That almost made me go for one of the other Danos, but I played all of them at the store and this one felt, and sounded, the best.

This thing looks and feels like, if you drop it, it will break into a million shards of plastic on the floor. No way I'd ever want to be in a situation without a backup.

Just got it, have had no occasion to contact the company.

I'm more of an acoustic player, and I was actually window shopping for more expensive guitars, when I saw these on clearance and I simply couldn't resist. When the Visa bill comes I'll have to explain that to the wife, but...

As I said, unique. The tone is far and away the best thing about this guitar, and makes up for the inexpensie (read: cheap) construction.

I'm still looking for a nicer and more versatile guitar, but this is quite a vivid color in the crayon box of tones.

New model 2000 or 1999 (not sure). Made in Korea.
Rosewood fingerboard with Aqua paint job. Cheap "old timey" style tuners with Plastic knobs. Masonite/Plywood body with "tape" binding. 2 Lipstick style single coil pickups, 2 Tone and 2 Volume knobs in a stacked configuration. Pickup knobs are brown and white cheap plastic. It has a toggle switch that allows 3 settings, bridge pickup, neck or both. Bridge is non-adjustable for intonation, has a wooden sadle that the strings sit on, and the rest of the bridge is metal screwed into the body with 3 screws. Actually, for the price it has a decent amount of features, but a squire strat is in the same price range and has a bit more.

I play this guitar at home usually through a small peavey blazer 158 amp. I have recorded it a bit direct from this amp into my computer. This guitar has a great deal of hum from the pickups in any setting, even at low volume. I have played this guitar while jamming a bit through some bigger fender tube amps, and it generates a lot of hum.

This is a very good sounding guitar, especially considering the price. I play a lot of 70's and 80's style heavy metal and hard rock, and a bit of blues. This is obviously not a guitar that is well suited to heavy metal, but I think it is pretty good for basic rock and bluesy type stuff. I actually think it sounds good with lots of distortion. It will never get that metallica type sound, but it can get a pretty good AC/DC type tone. I actually got it to force me to get to know bluesy tones better.

It has a fair amount of sustain, although it has a tendancy to fade in and out. It has a "singing" quality on the neck pickup that I really find useful. It has a sound different from any other guitar I have ever had. It's really well worth the purchase price and then some just for that alone.

This guitar was set up well enough from the factory. I made some adjustments to the screws that hold the metal bridgeplate to the body to lower the action on the higher strings a bit which helped somewhat.

The guitar That I got was on the floor discounted $30 less than the other guitars they had. I didn't ask why, but I assume it was due to some light brown glue that was flecked over the top of the fingerboard. This has mostly came off with a bit of playing, and doesn't bother me.

It's not quite as easy to play as a good strat or a les paul, but what do you expect for the price? I find that it is really hard to play higher than the 15th fret.

I really like the way that it looks. The color is great, and danelectro has almost made the cheap look of this guitar one of it's selling points. It's a pretty distinctive guitar, and has a cool color. It is pretty lightweight as well.

Well I have never played this guitar live, but I have done some home recording with it. I have jammed a bit with it, and it stays in tune well. I think that it is a fairly fragile guitar due to the body construction. That isn't a totally bad thing, it just needs some TLC - it's not as tough as a strat. The tuning machines, bridge, and knobs are all pretty cheap and I don't think they would cope with lots of heavy duty gigging. The strap buttons will fail for sure (as others have mentioned).

Well, not many people gig without a backup, and I certainly wouldn't with this guitar. I don't think a serious guitar player would have this as their only guitar playing live.

Warranty is suposed to be for a year, but considering that you have to ship it to Danelectro at your cost, why bother? I haven't dealt with Danelectro, but I really like their web site. It has a FAQ and some tips for their guitars on it.

I have been playing for 17 years, mostly for fun, a few years in bands playing some clubs. I have a Fender big apple strat, a P-Bass, and a Danelectro Long Horn Bass as well. I have has lots of Gibsons and Fenders over the years, as well as lots of "el-cheapo" guitars.

If this were lost or stolen I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one, although I might get another model Danelectro if I found one I liked.

This guitar has a sound that is all it's own. It is very cool looking, and is an excellent value. Things I don't like are the hum, and the cheapness of some of the hardware. But actually I think it would still be a good value at double the price I paid.

Very basic axe!!! cheap construction,compofurtable to play.Limo black paint is nice,neck fits like a glove...sound is amazing for a foreign built copy of an American original!!

Been playing over 15 years,have owned plenty of Teles,Strats,Gibsons.this guitar has some kind of magic to it when I play it!!very inspiring sound!!I own a 90 start American standard and a home built tele,and they sit in theyre cases most of the time!!This thing grows on ya!! I play the ol school blues,,BB,Muddy,,,Howlin,,ETC,,SURF,INSTUMENTALS AND OLDIES,,this guitar will put you in a time machine sonically!

The Dana was set up fine,strings work well to my ears and all else is perfectly fine for what it is....kinda like an ol Army Jeep..very basic but its purpose is there!!action was low and not to buzzy at all.it just sits so well in youre lap,youll paly for hours

If you dont play like a moron,it will last!!! respect it for what it is and enjoy it!!the strap buttons are crappy though but I dont jump arond when im playing it!!I hate to say it,,but ,,the Koreans did a good job on this guitar!!

having dealt with company other than to write them E mail praising this guitar!!

This guitar moves me,if you have the right fingers and youre heart and soul is pouring through youre music,this guitar will make the sounds you want.if it was stolen,Id hunt down whoever took it,and.....hehe well,,I like this guitar!!!I never thought a cheap copy of a Classic Electric guitar would make me feel this good,but it does,,,,,buy one and make youre own magic!!its a musical orgasm to my ears!!

This guitar was made in Korea 1999 sometime in the early part of the year. It sports 21 frets not counting the nut ofcourse. This is a semi-hollow doo da with the standard 3 way selector switch for front/back & midway. You have your volume & tone pots plus two old single-style lipstick PU's & thats about yer lot for features.

This guitar is passive, the woods I am not too sure on but they are light weight as in theres some ply-wood in the thing somewhere, most likely as the cap on the body. it's a tricky body shape to nail but primitive Les Paul might be the best way of putting it.

The bridge style is pretty free with what appears to be some rosewood? sitting atop two screws which adjust the saddle height. The strings feed over the back of the wooden tail in pretty standard fashion & rely on tension from the headstock to actually stay in place.

The tuners that were on it were pretty atrocious to say the least so I had mine changed to Gotohs. Gotohs are better than most tuners & at half the price do the same job. Gotohs are totally adjustable & solid. I also made sure that the metal nut was filed to a greater width to ensure the strings weren't sticking & getting caught. The nut was pretty rough to begin with & I noticed the Dano wasn't too reliable on the tuning.

After these changes I am happier & she sings like she should ... for those with a heavier right hand technique though (Like myself) you will be better off with new tuners. The frets are a bit of the Jumbo style & with the right strings I have found I can scream solo's no problems.

The neck is a bit clubby in the hand but it's a nice older feel, something different thats for sure. The surprise comes in the fact that the body is so light & the neck quite the club of wood, so if you are used to a heavier styled guitar, prepare to leap the Shaolin walls in a single bound with this thing.

Pain in the arse that it didn't come with a case but there we are.

This guitar fits right into my funky 60's/slacker/buzzsaw - area regards my style of music. If I am laying down something a bit retro or funky/slinky then the Dano comes out & fills the shoes. I play various styles but it isn't relevant to the review.

The Dano is umbillicled to a SOUNDCITY 120 MKIV CUSTOM HEAD which slaps a JCM900 Marshall A-Cab via a plethora of bizzare effects & devices.

The guitar diplays very little noise at all, if any, & given that it has singles in the PU department, thats pretty good news. It has a sharper sound with the bridge PU engaged with a slight loss in level I have found. The midway position is very warm & fuzzy & the neck PU gives a very full sound though a little too much for me & I never use the neck PU on it's own.

If you play around with the individual tone pots for each PU you can get a good range of bright tinny growls to warm fuzzy grunts, to just full on cotton wool in the ears stuff. It's not bursting with variety but what guitar has it all? I am really happy with what the Dano does for my purposes & I got what I paid for.

Some people have gone on about how this guitar is good for a slide machine & nothing more .. but I think they're missing the point entirely. This guitar is a little growler with a load of sonic potential that isn't really forthcoming via contemporary guitars today.

Think Link Wray & you have one growling guitar ... moreover play some Link Wray stuff on this Dano & you will soon agree that this guitar has a unique quality from the land that time forgot.

Look, it was made in Korea & they surely were trying to emulate the original Sears style in which it was initially sold, back in the 50's. Soooo they did a good job in making it clean but at the same time lacking in the pro quality finish all round.

The body was clean ... the only thing that was a little bit off was the frets were a little untidy at the edges & that the nut was sticking the strings a little. Apart from all this it's a clean machine.

The Dano is fine for live playing ..I treat all my guitars the same, impeccably, so I know it will last because I don't beat up my guitars.
Nothing lasts forever so yeah I expect the hardware to last in proportion to the ammount of use it gets & this again varies from person to person.

Strap buttons will need changing when I get about it but for now they are fine ..I'm not the Steve Vai type so...

I'm pretty sure I can depend on any guitar that doesn't have OLD active electronics in it. And I wouldn't gig this without a backup but thats because it doesn't suit some of the songs I am playing in my band.

I have been playing for 13 years as a session player etc etc & doing my own thing. If lost I would buy another one & perhaps check out another model but I like this Dano allot & am very happy with it overall.

I love it's 50's growl ... I hate that it didn't come with a case! My favourite feature on this guitar is the Coke Bottle headstock & the lippy PU's, tres chic!

Great vibe ... Dano are doing well.

It is a very lightweight (perhaps flimsey is more appropriate) hard-board (Masonite?) guitar with two cutaways. There are two plastic stacked knobs and a three way switch. It has a chrome bridge with a touch of cheesy fake-looking wood, which appears to be the only solid wood on the guitar.

It has a glassy sort of sound, almost like a good tele. Highs and mids are nice'n'spanky, however, lows are not as ballsy as I would like (I am primarily a bass player). It would benefit from some more sustain, otherwise it is a good blues axe. Neil Young style distortion does not work.

The action came nice and low, but it comes with light strings. I think perhaps some at least some mediums would make for better sound, but stings don't grow on trees and if I had money I wouldn't be playing a Dano, would I?

I need to jump onto the bandwagon with the strap button issue. Mine fell off in like a day. I found that pounding them in with something heavy will fix them for a while, but if you move at all when you play, this con be annoying. (It is especially aggrivating when they roll under the couch.) This guitar would be an ideal backup or if you set the action high a slide rig or perhaps an altered tuning, but I wouldn't trust your precious gig to those strap buttons. Maybe if you bought two...

They have a cool website.

I run this guy into a solid state bass amp and play through song ideas and arrange songs for my band, so I am by no means a skilled guitarist nor am I the best person to review the guitar. I like MUCH better than the price-range alternatives. A Squier cannot hold a candle to this thing. I liked it even better when I saw pictures of Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix using old Dano's. I would recommend this guitar to anyone looking for a cool alternative starter axe or even looking for a backup with some character.

Mine is maltshop cream. These are mass produced so it is the same as the rest listed, no sense repeating it. I did replace the cheesy plastic knobs with chrome ones.

I play mostly "surf" tunes, this thing fits the bill perfectly. When I first got it a few months ago I only had a Dano Honeytone amp. It sounded pretty good but it only had one sound, switching pickups or adjusting the tone knobs made very little difference. My uncle gave me an old(1970) Sano tube amp. It brought this guitar to life. Now the three switch positions give three entirely different sounds. The bridge pickup gives a bright twangy sound and the neck pickup gives a deep hollow sound. With both of them on you can get anything in between. You have to play this through a spring reverb to get its full potential. I love the sound of this guitar. Do not play it near a TV set. The lipstick pickups are pretty noisy alone but next to a TV it is unbearable. If you turn it up and play with the sellector switch you can pick up radio stations, no joke. I don't really care cause you can't hear it when your playing, unless your near a TV.

I got this off ebay so I couldn't play it before I bought it. I got lucky, all I had to do was tune it. It doesn't buzz, the action is perfect, both pickups sound good, and the tuners work propperly. I got some scratchy noise from the tuners and selector switch when they were new but they are quite now, I can adjust them while playing and they don't make a sound. The finish is beautiful and durable. For months I've carried it every where without a case and only have one tiny chip.

The tuners are cheap but my guitar holds a tune pretty good. I can understand why people don't like the strap buttons but I have had no troubles with them. I expect this thing to last a long time. I only play for myself so I have no idea if it would hold up to live playing.

I haven't needed any support and don't expect to.

This is my first guitar. I've been playing for about four months. I shopped around quite a bit before choosing the U2. I wanted a cool, reliable, and of coarse cheap guitar. This guitar is exactly what I was looking for and is perfect for surf music. The only thing I didn't like was the cheesy plastic knobs, I replaced them with chrome knobs from the radio out of a 1964 Mercury Comet. A cool new guitar for under $150, your darn right I'd replace it.

Everyone else has already listed the features. I'd like to re-affirm that indeed the tuners are crap, yet the bridge is pretty cool. I have no intonation problems at all (strung with 0.010s). Besides, is intonation your #1 priorety if you play a Dano? The neck on this thing is great. It playes a lot better than a cheap Fender (almost as good as my American Strat).

I use this guitar for punk. I also play jazz, and it is horrible for that. It wouldn't be bad for surf, but I'd take a strat over it any day. When the pickup selecter is in the middle position, both pickups are on. What is cool about this, is that they are wired in series. This means a much ballsier tone than either pickup by it's self. After playing live with my band a few times, I've come to a conclusion: it feeds back like hell. I'm probably using too much volume/distortion, but for punk that's impossible, right? I'd like to see less microphonic pickups and possible a less hollow body. But then it wouldn't sound like a Dano. Oh well.....

I tried 10 of these beasts out before I settled on mine. Mine has no buzzing and near-perfect intonation. I'd reccomend trying out several first, as the vary in quality by quite a lot. The volume/tone pots suck. They go from full on->less on->off. I'm gonna replace 'em soon.

I've played a few punk shows with it. It's not broken. 'Nough said.

I've been playing for almost 10 years now. I've got way too many guitars and this is another. This sounds like nothing else. It's light and it sounds good, therefore I like it.

Usual Danelectro masonite/plywood/vinyl tape construction. Two lipstick case pickups. Three way pickup switch. Bridge is a small piece of wood. Concentric plastic tone and volume knobs for each pickup. Mine is Cool Copper. This is not quite as featureless as some reivews have indicated. The middle pickup selection allows blending the pickups to any degree, which allows for quite a bit of control over the sound.

A very bright twangy sound, almost no matter what you do to it in terms of amp, effects, etc. I'm using it through a Fender Amp in a Can or a Smokey Amp, and Korg Pandora PX1 or Zoom 505 ofor effects. It sounds nothing like my Strat or other guitars, which is why I got it. It is exceptionally bright under all circumstances. My model is hard to play above the twelfth fret or so - gets very tinny. I will try adjusting my bridge and see if this helps. I don't think this would be a good choice for your first or only guitar, but it is a great second or third guitar. Fabulous for surf, but useful for almost anything not requiring enormous amounts of sustain.

Guitar seems very well built for an inexpensive guitar. The finish is quite beautiful. The only adjustment I may make is adjusting the bridge as mentioned above. Strings, action, etc. were fine.

This guitar has been suprisingly reliable. The controls are plastic, but don't seem to cause any problems. The tuners are awful - they will probably have to go at some point. The bridge is a simple piece of wood. I have had no problems with the strap hooks, but others have. I would never use any guitar at a gig without a backup, but I use different guitars for different sounds anyway, so that isn't a problem.

One year warranty. I haven't dealt with the company apart from their web site, which is useful.

I've been playing about six months. My other guitars are a Strat with Lace Sensor pickups and a Lace guitar with Holy Grail pickups. This sounds WAY different from either of them. At the price I paid, it's an absolute steal. If it were stolen, I'd get another. I'd also consider a Danelectro Hodad, with the pickups arranged like humbuckers, but I didn't like the sparkle finishes on the Hodad as much as the solid colors available on the U2. I wish it had an adjustable bridge like the U3.