Danelectro Baritone

Other folks have described the features... most important is that it is a very light instrument, with reasonably solid one-piece bridge (easily adjustable) and good tuners.

I play solo Delta blues and R&B, in a blues duo same material, and in a guitar band doing classic rock. My sound is greasy and my style is aimed above all at making asses move (otherwise known as dancing, but sometimes it's hard to tell). I use this instrument mainly tuned to open A (with the bottom A at the same tonality as the A string on a bass). Instead of packing a bass to a gig, I bring this. In a duo setting it is incredible (you do want a regular 6 around if you're doing a whole evening). The midrange chords sound like a piano, the extremely long neck brings me up into regular guitar range, and the bottom strings have an excellent bass sound. I do not use the treble setting much -- but then I never do on any axe, because a slide plus a treble pickup can hurt your ears, and I am meanwhile trying to keep the bass moving with my thumb. (You can't imagine what a Robert Johnson tune sounds like on one of these axes till you've done it.) The neck and bridge pickups together have the best definition, I find. I have been using this with a Fender Champ 110 on which I replaced the absurdly lamentable speaker (with a French-made Fenton, very strong on bass and mid frequencies). The amp is not great, but it's light and relatively powerful, and that's good enough. I ran it with a DOD Ice Box chorus and a Peavey Dirty Dog preamp on my last gig, and that's about all the tone twisters I require for juke joint music.
A main attraction of this axe is that it sounds good all the way up the neck, and it has one very long neck. The sound is also excellent when you capo -- I capo on the third, fifth and seventh frets with no trouble and a fairly uniform response.

I had this set up when I bought it at Rudy's Music in NYC (Rudy himself helped, and he is a very sweet guy who clearly loves guitars). I raised the action slightly to use a slide (try this with a bass and weep). There were and are no evident flaws with the instrument. It's a cheesy-looking box, but hey, folks, the last bari I saw before this one cost $1600, and it was NOT five times better, though it was several times prettier. But the guys who invented the music I play were using cigar box guitars, so who cares?

I play the hell out of this thing and it holds up. I have gone to gigs without a backup and had no problem. My opinion is that if you have a problem with a guitar on a gig, you should get rid of the guitar or get it fixed. However, I repeat, you may not want this to be your only axe, unless you devise an entire repertoire. It makes a lot more sense to pull it out when you want to change the sound radically, and believe me, it will do that. As for strap buttoms, they're barely OK, and badly placed; the one on the neck is just ludicrous.

Never dealt with them and can't recall how long the warranty runs. Never had to repair it, either.

I've been playing since I was 13, and that's 37 years ago. The best guiars I have ever played are the Fine Resophonics made by Mike Lewis in Paris -- his electric resophonics are unbelievably good, and I think I've played 'em all -- but I have to wait on that. Meanwhile, I own a top of the line Washburn (double humbucker), a Supro Airliner resophonic with a barcus-berry humbucker I put on it, a Charvel P-bass, a Fender Bassman 100 head (as of last week), a Pignose carry amp, and a Park shoebox amp. (In amps, I go for all sizes, matched to room size and audience). I also have various stomp boxes. I've owned other stuff, including a Les Paul standard (Gibson), easily the best electric six I ever possessed, an Ibanez Roadstar (great little axe for the price), a lap steel (sold -- you can't do everything, and lap work is outside my skill set), Fender P, T and J basses.... I mean, the years go by and you try a lot of stuff, and sometimes you sell it when you need the bread. My method for buying gear is simple: I get it to fill a hole in my current needs, and I look around for ages until I find the right thing, cheap. I do NOT buy gear at new or list prices. If this axe were stolen, I'd buy another, which is more than I'd say for some axes I've owned. (I mean, you can get a P-bass sound without buying Fender.) I wish the bari had lips so I could kiss it after the gig, but then my wife would be even more jealous of the time I spend caressing my guitars. And that's enough madness to share for the day.

It sounds very good , I'm a slide player and I tuned it to an open A
A E A C# E A And it sounds very cool ! nice full sound .
I tryed it out with a champ style amp and the low strings really sound like a bass ! So I'm sure it will scream through a Bassman !
Or Super Reverb !

The Bridge can always be better then a cheap slab of wood !
But so far so good and I wish it had better tuners but it does stay in tune !
The pickup switch seems to wiggle a bit and probably won't last as long as the guitar !

I will use this playing out , the finish is good ,and other then the switch I hope it will last !

Never had to call ,I just bought it .

I have been playing for 15 years ,
I own Gibson's Dobro's, Nationals & Silvertone/ Danelectro's ETC .
A friend had one and said it was good ! If it were lost or stolen I would buy another one .
Once again I am a slide player and I am happy with the guitar for
$ 200.00

There aren't any!

I bought this guitar as my first. So i didn't know anything about guitars then. I play alternative rock, heavy metal, etc. If you do too, just buy an ibanez or a jackson. It sucks!

This and the durability are the only good qualities of this guitar. It looks nice and I didn't detect anything wrong with it. I've had it for two years and nothing has gone wrong.

This is the most durable guitar ever. I've bumped it on almost everything in my room. Not even a scratch!

Ok I guess

This is a very sturdy guitar. But it just doesn't sute what i want.

Looks like a piece of crap. In my opinion ugly headstock with way too small knobs on the tuning machines. Aluminuim Nut. Body is made of masonite and plywood. Mine came in what they call Limo Black. I'd prefer commie red, but the guy on ebay was selling a black one. Anyway, the side of the guitar is covered buy some kind of creamwhite tape.
Two lipstick PUs are installed. It has very cheap (looking?) tone and vol knobs and a 3-way selector (neck, both, bridge).
Well, considering the price its not too bad...

I play whatever I get. Rock, Metal, Blues, Alt.
I use the baritone only for recording (at home). It's a great way to keep ideas for basslines when the bassist is drunk again... :)
You can detune it easily to E-E, although I've tuned it A-A most time.

You plug that ugly thing into your amp and you go "UUUAAAAAHHAHH"!
It sounds amazing! Singlenotes are very twangy and have a full sound. The bass notes really sound like bass notes!
Chords sound just great aswell! In the middle position (PUs), they sound so rich and warm and have plenty of bass.

Action was fine from the first day and I'm glad it is. You had to screw off the neck to adjust it. Finish looks ok. The tape on the guitar sides looks crappy and could fall off easily I think. As well as the Tone/Volume knobs. But until now, everything's fine.

Well, I don't intend to use it live.
I would suggest having a backup. It might take a beating, but it might not. And the Tone/Vol knobs are gone in no time, I could imagine...
To be fair, I didn't have any problems so far.

never dealt with

I wanted a baritone guitar and this one is by far the best deal! It costs very little and gives incredible tone! It really looks like a piece of crap (and a very ugly one) in my eyes, but I don't care. It sounds great! The knobs on the tuning machines are too small. Tuning that guitar is a pain in the ass. Lucky me, it stays in tune very well. :)
If it got lost, id get a new one in no time. A Commie-red one next time...

Danelecto Baritone Features:

Semi-hollow single cutaway body and bolt-on maple neck with rosewood fingerboard.

Made in Korea.

Dot inlays on on non-bound fingerboard, medium frets and 30" scale.

Dual "Lipstick" pickups (height adjustable) with selector switch (neck only, both in series and bridge only) and individual tone and volume controls (stacked).

Enclosed tuning machines and Alumninum nut. Bridge adjustable for height. Rosewood bridge adjustable for coarse overall intonation.

Choice of solid color finishes (black, aqua & red) and "burst" finishes (black-burst, aqua-burst and copper-burst).

This was an impulse purchase. I had no intentions of buying anything at all when I picked this instrument up and played it. I just fell in love with the deep, throbbing sound of chords and the snappy (tic-tac)sounds of single notes.

I've been playing guitar for 30 years and I morphed into a style that draws a lot from jazz, blues and rockabilly. I occasionally play bass when there are too many guitar players in the room and this instrument is perfect for those situations. The added effort of transposing bass lines to an instrument that's tuned to "A" is well made up for in the lack of wear and tear that a guitar player gets from wrestling a 34" scale bass with fat strings.

Jazz chords (the $10 chords, as I call them) take on a whole new dimension when played on a Baritone. "Lush" is the word that comes to mind. Reverb and a touch of Tremelo is mandatory, of course to get the full effect. The "Dano" delivers pure sonic bliss especially when you shift into the "surf" or "spaghetti western" leitmotifs.
A pretty good B-3 imitation can be conjured on this puppy as well, using the neck pickup with the highs rolled off, a little reverb and some fine tuned tremelo.

The best tone is delivered with both pickups enabled. The output increases and the tone expands. As expected, using one pickup boosts either the bass (neck) or treble (bridge) but either sound thin compared to the tone of both pickups working in unison.

My only criticism is the tone and volume pots can't be easily turned without unintentionally turning the other. The plastic knobs rub on each other so turning the large one (volume) turns the smaller concentric one (tone) in the same direction. As a result, I set them and forget them while actually playing. I haven't been motivated to remove the top knob and sand the bottom of it to increase more clearance.

This guitar craves "clean" effects like chorus, flange and delay. It's great for creating sound textures as well as laying down a groove.

As an added bonus, a capo at the 5th fret turns it back into a decent rhythm guitar. I've even tried a slide on this bad boy and it moans loud and deep 'euff to wake Elmore James.

If I would have to use an original Dano as a starting point to compare, I'd have to say this beats an original to a pulp.

The finish is like glass, the body and neck show no rough edges or finish flaws whatsoever. I noticed a few sharp edges on the philips head screws from some over zealous tightening. The tape around the edge of the body seems to "want" to come off easily compared to the original but so far is hasn't. Original Dano's were simple, reasonably well made instruments but they were not elegant in any way. The new Dano's seem to deliver more aesthetics for a modest investment as well as performance. Both are made of Masonite but the new ones don't rub your nose in it like the old ones do.

I have not made any adjustments to the guitar as it is perfect right out of the box. The fretwork is good, actually better that new Gibsons of the 70's and 80's. Gibson didn't bother to polish the frets.

I wouldn't use this as my only axe on a world tour but I think it's pretty durable if you can refrain from tossing it about like on the cover of "London Calling" by the Clash.

As I don't play this guitar exclusively, I can't say if the finish and the hardware are bullet proof. In over a year of occasion play, I haven't seen any pitting of the chrome on the bridge or wear on the face.

I'm not afraid to transport it in a soft case but I'm mindfull that it's still a hollow body instrument and a good impact could damage the "fine compressed wood pulp" material.

Like most Dano things, you get a years worth of warranty. I've contacted the company via the website and they seem ready and able to address any problems. I haven't experienced any with either the Baritone guitar or any of their Mini-effects. They work and they do not cost a fortune.

The only thing I wished I had before I bought this guitar was a crystal ball to let me know that the very same guitar (1 only) would be on sale at Guitar Center during one of their "blowouts" for $100 six months later!! Even that hardly detracts from the fun I've had with it. If I lost it, I'd get another...Heck!, I almost bought the $100 one just to have a spare!

Danelectro always seems to keep surprising me with their new line of crazy, but good guitars, and the Baritone is definitely no exception. I guess the idea is pretty old as these things were popular back in the 50's and 60's (according to Dano,widely used in spaghetti westerns) Normally tuned low to high - B E A D F# B, but I keep mine tuned a step down to A. Cheap looking tone, vol knobs, but they do they job. :-)

II play a variety of stuff from hard rock, to funk, to jazz and classical. Usually run it through a Fender Ultimate Chorus Amp with out too much effects. This guitar looks so cheap, but the sound is jsut awesome. Even though it only has 3 pickup settings, they all sound great. My fav. is definitely the neck pickup for full clean sounds wth a little bit of chorusing. On the flipside, however, the soapbar pickups are awfully noisy when using distortion. I ran it through an RP-7 processor, and there was a lot of noise on any pickup setting. But at the same time, this guitar sounds GREAT with distortion. Clean or dirty, the Baritone puts out a PHAT sound.

I got this one straight from E-bay, supposedly unused, so I really did have no idea what to expect. Thankfully, I was completely impressed by the playability of the guitar. While it took some use getting used to the heavier strings and longer neck scale at first, I have never had any problems with tuning, buzzing, or intonation. The finish and the overall design of the guitar is pretty cheap, but everything does its job!

Sure doesn't seem like it would stand up to much. I definitely wouldn't consider tossing this axe up in the air after a great concert, cuz I don't think it would survive the fall. Mine's been bumped a few times with out a scratch. I'd say the first things to go would be the volume, tone knobs. I'd definitely have a backup at a gig.

Haven't had to deal with them, and don't think I will anytime soon!

I remember coming into the music store when my friend who works there showed me the Dano and said "You gotta try this thing out." Within minutes, I was completely set on buying one and started looking on E-bay for a good deal.
I have been playing guitar for about 6 years and bass for 5..and the Baritone definitely gives me the flexibility of playing both in one guitar. It sure looks like a hunk of junk, but the sound is absolutely amazing both clean and distorted. I'm not a big fan of Danelectro's "hip" color options, but the Limo Black definitely just looks tough as hell on stage! I would definitely buy another one if mine were stolen, except maybe a different model. I once saw an Alvarez Acous/Elec. Baritone on Ebay that I am kicking myself at the moment for letting slip by. For the money, the Bartione is a sweet deal that you cannot pass up.

assumadly a 2000 or 2001 Danelectro baritone, made in korea like the rest, black finish, two pickups, 2 volume/tone controls...little plastic pieces of shit :-). a very minimalist guitar, it's made of masonite (yes, like the countertops) and plywood. it's the guitar of the future...at least it was in the 50's. mine has a rosewood fingerboard, god only knows what the neck is made of. a five, because you get what you pay for.

this is why i bought this baritone over any other; i was in town for my grandfather's funeral, i stopped at a guitar center on my way to the airport, played this guitar and fell for it. a really nice, full sound with some balls, it pulls a convincing sound no matter your amp, very origional. i guess you really have to play it to really get it. but do yourself a favor and try one if you see it sitting around.

action was low when i got it, to the point that the strings buzzed a bit. a quick turn of a screwdriver fixed that, and i had no problems. i would have liked an adjustable bridge (i know. i'm acting like a little girl, but everyone else wants one!) but this does fine. i still get the occasional string buzz, but nothing terrible.

the finish? paint on what might be wood. feels nice though. shows what i know. i didn't open up the guitar, because that's just *asking* for trouble with a cheap guitar.

will it stand up? it's made of what you make countertops of. ever break a countertop? the hardware is fine, save the shitty little plastic rings that function as knobs. i know they'll be the first thing to go, if they do. would i gig without a backup? i'd bring another guitar, but it would be a real guitar.

hell if i know. never called them. any luck, and i'll never have to.

i've been playing for five years, and i'm by and large self taught. as such, i really don't have a preference for eqipment so long as it sounds right, and this just sounds right. it's a fucking awesome value for 250 dollars...no other guitar in its range compares, let alone a baritone.

One of the new Danos made in Korea, this is the single-cutaway 2-pickup Baritone model (as opposed to the new Hodad Baritone). 24 frets, 2 concentric controls (one tone/volume knob for each pickup) - the concentric knobs are run opposite from the way Parker does it for the piezo pickup so I had to get used to this (on the Dano the inside knob is tone and the outside ring is volume). Only other control is a 3-way selector switch. Pickups are lipstick-tube style. Electronics are passive. God only knows what wood this thing is made of - mother of chipboard? Bridge is very simple - just a piece of metal to hold the strings and a slice of wood to set intonation. Tuners are retro-looking, non-locking. Metal nut. Neck scale is longer than your typical guitar - about 29.5". No accessories come with mine, not even a cheap gigbag for protection during shipping.
I can't give the guitar very high marks in this category as it's built to a very low price target and materials are very cheap.

The sound is the surprising part of this guitar. It sounds really great. I suppose if you put strings this size on anything it would sound good but I have to say the tone is very nice. I mostly play this guitar through an old '58 Supro Holiday amp which may be part of that, however I've also played it through my modern Carvin AG100D and BOSS VF-1 processor and it still sounds cool. I sometimes kick in a Dunlop Univibe on the Supro for more of that retro vibe. The bridge pickup is the brightest, and not surprisingly, the thinnest. It has its uses though as it's not a bad bright/thin sound. I can't decide if I like the middle position (both pickups) or the rhythm position the best. I think my mind changes depending on my mood. The neck pickup is a little darker than both together, but both settings are very rich and have plenty of bass-ey twang.
Single note playing sounds great with this guitar - very twangy, with a full, round sound. The lowest strings sound really cool - almost like a bass, but tighter sounding. Where this guitar really shines is chordal playing. Because it's tuned with the same spacings as standard tuning (just in B - B/E/A/D/F#/B) you play the same fingering you normally do. They sound much more lush and full though in this tuning. Really cool sound.
The volume and tone controls do some sound-shaping, but not nearly as much as, say, a PRS. You're pretty much stuck with three sounds, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as all three sounds are musical.

This is where the guitar gets beat up. Danelectro has expert marketers, not expert guitar makers. Although action, intonation, and overall finish were good; the fretwork was the worst I have ever seen. I literally couldn't play this guitar without cutting up my hands. I bought it via mail order so I couldn't have known this prior to buying. Out of fairness to a very unique instrument however, I waited until I had a fret job done before writing this up. Spending $30 with the local luthier was well worth it. It now has better frets than some of my very high-end guitars and feels great.
The frets are really my main gripe with the instrument. The horrible fretwork made it almost unplayable. Other than that - although the materials are cheap, everything works fine and it's a really neat guitar. Now that the frets are fixed I love it. The finish is surprisingly good (no faults that I can find). I have the mint-burst finish (I don't know the real name - it goes from an ivory white in the center to a mint green on the sides. Very 50s looking.)
Since the guitar doesn't come with any sort of protection it got scratched on the back during shipping. If it was an expensive guitar it would have been returned. Since it was cheap, I chalked it up to experience.

I doubt that this guitar would take much abuse. It's hollow with cheap wood on top and bottom. Cheap electronics, cheap strap buttons. It looks like tape holds it together around the sides. ;-)
The finish though is good and looks to be fairly scratch resistant (under normal duress). I wouldn't rely on this guitar as much more than a neat bedroom noise-maker. If you're serious about gigging with a baritone, maybe a Jerry Jones would be a better choice. For what I wanted it for though, the extra cost of the JJ didn't make sense. I can't imagine that it sounds much better than the Dano. Oh, the Dano stays in tune very well.

Customer support seems good. I called to find out how to properly tune this thing and they got right back to me, both via e-mail and phone. Like I said, this company knows how to market and that's what they seem expert at. Good customer service is important in that type of organization and they don't seem to have dropped the ball.

I've been playing for a long time (at least 20 years) and own some of the best guitars out there (Parker, PRS, Brian Moore, etc.) as well as some excellent mid-level guitars (Fender, G&L, Carvin, Samick, etc.). I know what I like by this time and I know what feels good to my hands and ears. This guitar is definitely worth owning. It's different from anything else that I have and has a sound/feel all its own. Now that the frets are fixed, it's a great guitar, especially considering the price.
To be honest though, I doubt I would buy another Danelectro model. Although they're cool-looking, they just don't have the quality that I'm used to. If I wanted a less expensive but high quality 6- or 12- string I'd look elsewhere (like Carvin). The Baritone though is fairly unique in the guitar world. I would definitely buy another one if this were stolen or lost. I kind of wish the Hodad Baritone were available when I bought this as I probably would have opted for that model. I don't see the point in owning two Baritone guitars so I'll be happy with what I have.
If you think you'd like to own a Baritone guitar, you can buy a Dano and get a really cool, different instrument. It's pretty nice for $250! I'd say you really can't go wrong with it.

Danelectro Baritone 1999 model. Made in Korea. Single cutaway "les paul" type body. "Aqua" finish thats like a bright mint green. Im not absolutley sure waht this is made of exactly, but it seems like 2 plywood boards for the front and back, and its hollow inside except for blocks of plywood to mount pickups and controls. Maple bolt-on neck with rosewood fingerboard, i think the scale is 30', its the eqivalent of a short scale bass neck. 6 strings tuned a 5th below a standard guitar (B, E, A, D, F#, B) really fat strings but i dont remember the gauges. 2 lipstick pickups with 2 concentric tone/volume pots. I looked inside the control cavity and it doesn't look super high quality but then again what is at this price.

I really dont konw how to describe this tone, but it was really the thing that suprised me. when i saw this guitar, i was thinking that 50's style single coil pickups on a cheap guitar were going to be super thin and trebly but i was really suprised with the life of this tone. i wouldn't say its "fat" like a les paul or anything but its just got alot of life. It sounds really good clean, its got some nice deep warm sound to it wit hthe neck pickup and the tone about half way, and it has a biting, jangly treble tone on the bridge. It also sounds good distorted, i play pop/punk and it suits my style perfectly. It does make some noise but nothing worse than my strat, actually maybe even a little quieter.

I bought a display model (not my first choise, they didn't have any that werent on display) when i bought it, i was so impressed that i didn't give it a very thrurough lookover. Im very happy with it, there are no major flaws, the finish is fine, intonation is good, and action is perfect. Only problem is that some kid must have pulled the strap peg off of the bottom of the guitar, but thats alright i'll figure something out to fix it. i love the color of the paint finish, its just crazy!

I dont know about this, i havne't had it for long so i cant say, but it doesn't really look like something that could take a beating like my strat. Its not a solid guitar, the insides are hollow and its extrmeley light so i doubt it could take a thrashing. On the other hand i think any guitar will last a long time with proper guitar, and no guitar will survive constant abuse and neglect. On thing is that the volume pot on the bridge pickup is faulty, it only works if its tunred all the way up, if i turn it down even alittle, the pickup just drops out. This wont be a problem for me, but when you buy one of these check all the little thigns like that because if you use the volume pots alot that would be a problem for you. Im giving it a 2 for the volume pot, even though it doens't matter to me, that is something that shoudl be caught at the factory, and its no tank.

I've only been playing for 2 years, but this thing is just loads of fun. I was looking to get a bass, but hte salesman at guitar center showed me this and i just fell in love. The tone is just perfect for me, its got its own little sound thats pretty hard to describe but its great. I think i will get a ton of use out of this. By the way i play it though a Crate VC 508 tube amp which i also highly recomend.

Made in Korea, 1999, 24 frets, two single coil lipstick pick ups w/tone and vol. for each (plastic knobs on top of each other, kind of wierd and cheap feeling), 3 way pickup selector with the dual pickups louder than either one by itself, passive electronics, non-adjustable bridge (also a minus) nice tuners, nice fret size. 28" scale, closer to a guitar than a bass. Six strings, fairly close together, but can be played with a pick or fingers, even a little slap and pop. I got mine used with the protective plastic on the outer edge removed.

I put dano 6 string bass strings on it and tuned it E - E an octive below a guitar. It sounds great as a bass and is easier play quickly since the scale is shorter and there's less tension in the strings. The neck pickup is more bassy and the bridge more guitar like, but the combination of the two is all I use since it's a good balance. I play bass in a trio so it's great to be able to fill up more space with the extra strings and play guitar like parts when needed.

The bridge is fixed and from what I've read the neck has to be removed to be adjusted, but considering the non stanadard strings and tuning I'm fairly happy with the intonation. High up the neck on the low E sounds out and so do most of the frets past 18 or so on the high strings, but I'm not planning on using them too often and the greater versitility and ease of playing down the neck makes it a worthy trade off. I imagine with the adjustable bridge on the real 6 string bass this problem could be cleared up.

It's light and there's a tiny crack where the strap lock was installed which I will keep a close eye on, but it seems fairly durable, I suppose only time will tell.

I tried to track down a Six String Bass but was told they wouldn't be available for 2 months, so when I e-mailed them and got word a Baritone could be tuned E - E and get the job done. That's been all my contact with Dano.

The adjustable bridge and metal (rather than plastic) knobs and strap pegs would be nice, but it's great to be able to play guitar parts a full octive lower and have this big deep sound out of something easier to play than a conventional bass. I'm a guitarist who got bumped down to playing bass and I love the access to more and higher strings and the feel of the shorter scale. I really wanted a Fender Bass VI like Jack Bruce used in Cream, but even the 90's reissues cost $1,200 so the $200 Dano Baritone with the Six String Bass strings is a great compromise. It's probably worth the extra hundred or so to get the Dano six string bass with the adjustable bridge, but they don't seem to be making a lot of them or everyone else has ordered them, so I went with the immediate satisfaction of the Bari.