Danelectro DC-3

Gotoh locking tuners, adjustable bridge, 3 lipstick p/u's, 6 way pickup selector + 'blow' switch (all 3 p/u's), stacked volume/tone knobs, rosewood fretboard, maple neck, plywood body (w/ nice retro binding tape!), double cutaway with silver sparkle finish.

It looks fantastic, and the way it's designed makes it easy to great sounds quickly. I'm docking a point for a couple of very minor niggles:
1. The volume/tone knobs have a drill-hole marker in them, but it's impossible to see against the white pickguard, esp. when you're thrashing around with sweat and hair in your eyes.
2. The finish is lifting very, very slightly under the screw that holds the bridge in place.
3. The pickguard is held in place with three screws (one at the neck end, two at the other), but mine has a tendency to try to pop up in the middle. A dab of glue or a strip or double sided tape should do the trick.
Those things are just small though. Everything else is great - have no problems dialling in quickly using the p/u switch, the blow switch is stiff enough to not flick on w/ the slightest brush of a hand but not so stiff you need a crank either. The neck strap button is positioned right under the neck/body join, and is fiddly to attach your strap until you get used to it; for some it may impede high fret widdly stuff and thumb gymnastics, but I find it OK.

It's a very acoustic guitar and is amazingly loud and clear when unplugged. Try miking it up unplugged in a small live room.

I play a lot of old rock 'n' roll and some punk/pop/alt. This guitar is perfect for them all. I know I'm not supposed to say that but it just is.

I use it through a Fender Blues Deluxe or a Selmer Twin Zodiac. I don't use many FX - a Boss O/D, a Big Muff, an old Wah and an analogue delay. Oh, and a Boss tuner/bypass pedal.

This is the most versatile guitar I have ever known and can go comfortably from a wiry Tele/Jag sound on position 6, to Even More Strat Than A Strat(5), to a warm, chimey Rick-like jangle on 1. Positions 2, 3, 4 are less immediately useful, but by experimenting with your tone controls on guitar/amp, some interesting sounds can be found. The blow switch I find great for beefing the sound up for a bridge, solo, whatever, but as a tone on it's own, I don't find it that useable.

The p/u's are outrageously microphonic, and as a consequence it can be quite noisy. But once you start playing it disppears and in between songs I tend to hit the b/p anyway. One of the great things about the p/u's is that you can get lovely, controlled feedback very easily (esp. w/ the Selmer) - if that's your thing. Personally I love it.

The one thing I find slightly annoying about it is the noticeable drop in o/p level when switching to the bridge p/u (6). Needs some adjustment to deal with that, so a point deducted.

The set-up from the shop was good - I'm assuming they set it up on arrival from the distributor, 'cos I don't think it was a factory set-up. If it was factory, I'm very impressed. My Les Paul was in a horrible state when it arrived compared to this.

It had Dano strings when it arrived and I didn't like them much. They were very thin and 'brittle' feeling. And the G kept going out of tune. So I changed them quite quickly for my faves - D'Addario EJ22's. Now the G stays in tune beautifully, although I must admit, it's slighly more fiddly to get right than the others. But once you've got it, it stays there.

The finish is lifting very, very slightly under the screw that holds the bridge in place, it's not falling off or anything but if I ever took the bridge off, I think a very small piece would flake away.. a minor niggle, but it's such a beautiful sparkle finish I want it intact!

The neck is absolutely gorgeous; very smooth and beautifully carved. It's not quite as wide or chunky as my Corvette (like playing a cricket bat) but again, smoother and more comfortable than (dare I say it?) the Les Paul.

This thing feels like it will go on forever. All the hardware is solid
and I haven't had any probs w/ the strap buttons, although I must admit, I don't like them because they do seem flimsy... I carry a tube of glue in my pedal box!

I'm paranoid about chipping the sparkle finish, because it's so well done. It looks lovely and I want to keep it like that.

Never dealt with Dano, so no idea.
Didn't come with a warranty; it was one of the last five in the UK and the shop were selling them cheap w/out warranty. Hence the good price.

I've been playing for about 15 years and at the moment I use the DC3 along with a Gretsch Corvette, a Firebird and some other bits and pieces.

I love the versatility of sound on this guitar, it's really quite amazing. I'd say it was more versatile than a std. Tele, but doesn't feel as doesn't feel as solid ('cos it isn't). Although the construction ethos is 'cheap' the quality of workmanship is excellent and the hardware is good too.

I sold a Les Paul std. right before getting this, and, at the risk of upseting some... I prefer this. It feels nicer on the hands, the neck is smoother and more comfortable. I know they're completely different guitars, so comparision isn't always that helpful, but's that's my opinion.

If it was stolen, lost etc I'd definitely try and track another one down.

The design, which is admittedly an old one, is difficult to play on the upper frets due to the way the neck is attached to the body. Also, to adjust the truss rod you need to remove the neck - what a pain in the ass. I think Danelectro should have changed the design to make the truss rod adjustable without removing the neck.

I do not like the tuners on my guitar - the strings (especially the G string) refuse to stay in tune.

I began having problems with the blow switch - when I switched the selector to all three pickups, sometimes I would get no sound. I e-mailed Danelectro numerous times, and I finally got an e-mail back stating that the guy would mail me a new switch. No switch ever showed up, and my numerous follow up e-mails received no reply. I believe you are on your own once you purchase the guitar.

I ended up taking the switch out myself and resetting it an it now works fine.

This is an update to my previous review. The guitar is pretty good for $200. It plays well and the craftsmanship is decent. But there are better products out there for this price range.

I would not buy another Danelectro product due to the crappy customer service and the problems I had with the guitar noted above.

Yea, a korean reissue dc-3. Probably made in 2000. 3 lipstick pickups. all other features are described in earlier previews. You can get a bunch of different sounds out of this monster, so I'll give it a 9. it's a quite cool 60's-look-a-like guitar with adequate sound. black sparkle finish with a white strap on the sides of the body. No tremolo bar, but heck, who needs that anyways?

Wow. I dunno where to begin. imho the most versatile guitar ever made. I've owned (and still own) and played a bunch of other guitars, incl. fender strats and teles, gibson lp's and sg's and all the sh*t in between. they all sound quite cool - but that's it. millions of records made with those guitars - I can't listen to them anymore. Is it so hard to "reinvent" the guitar sound? no, it's not. this dano proves me right.
My setup: dano -> bunch of effects (a lot of them, but all bypass-able) -> fender twin or fender hot rod deluxe or a roland jazz chorus.
Sound: every pickup setting sound a bit different than the other - from 60's twangy surf guitar(6th setting on the pickup switch) sound to full blown high output (blow switch on) - almost all sounds are available.
the tone control is quite cheesy, though. turning down to 3 makes only slight difference - then bang - completely shut. this might be annoying for many players - but I think it's great. some cool effects can be done by turning the control back and forth around that spot.
pickups are hell of noisy! absolutely no hum - only noise. I don't care about that, as long the sound's alive. it definitely is!
To all you vai & satriani fans (I don't think they would ever think of reading a review on a dano - anyway ): get yourself a f***ing Ibanez super modern, dimarzio no-noise-high-output pickups and a pod and tune in some sh*tty creep guitar sound. cry your heart out - but keep out of my way!

I'll still give it a 10, since I'm completely in love with this guitar. I simply can't help myself. :)

Well, factory setup was quite good, except for the frets - sharp as knife. they got ok after playing a while. since the body is made of kinda plywood, it's quite light-weighted.
strap knobs are a real crap. plastic-no-use buttons. quite loose too. I've replaced them with security locks (i do that on _any_ of my guitars, since my lp STUDIO LITE once got loose during a show - annoying _and_ embarassing). that was quite a deal, since the holes are far to wide for a normal screw.
The finish is AWESOME. as said before, black with cool silver sparkles on it. there was a white "binding"-tape on the sides of the body - what a funny vision of a binding do people at danelectro have? :) Anyways, I took it off. looks even cooler now.

well, I've played a couple of times with this one - no need to worry. at least after changing the strap buttons. oh yeah, the neck button is about 1/2 inch away from the neck - so get yourself a thin strap.
Hardware is ok - the guitar stays in tune even when I bend the neck (I know, it's a misuse - but the sound of it - dc-3 playing 60's chords and bending the neck -> twin and a bunch of reverb - sound I'd die for!)
a backup? well, I use 3 guitars minimum per gig (different tunings). I wouldn't trust _any_ guitar, so it's never a bad thing to have another guitar as a backup. Just in case.

never dealt with them.

yeah. another great guitar added to my collection. Another guitar I fell in love with. I think of buying a 12-string version. the price is not worth being mentioned, compared to some gibsons or even fenders. If stolen, I'd _have_ to buy a new one. But, once the heart's broken - i dunno it I'd ever get healed. :)

Dano made in Korea (of course), probably 2000. 22 frets. Has the suck-o-matic pickup selector and the blow switch. I like the blow switch, but attempting to accurately select which pickups you are using via the suck-o-matic in the middle of a song is quite difficult. You gotta look down to see what number the selectomatic switch is pointing at. Not acceptable if you need to change what pickup you're using mid-song.

Its got 3 lipstick pickups, and its looks pretty cool. Cool in a super-corny way. I don't know if the body has any wood. The neck and fingerboard, however, are wonderful. When I received the guitar I took it out of the box and ran my fingers down the sides of the neck (after reading a prior review discussing cheese grating). I have to agree, those frets are sharp! Don't swim for an hour and then attempt some full neck slides.

One allen wrench came with it - no manual!!

I like the sound. I use it with the Dano Nifty Fifty (which I need to review in the future). But I get a better sound when I run the guitar through my stereo system - I spliced a guitar chord to an A/V cable so I could record patches directly to a cassette tape. Its somewhat difficult to remember what sounds the guitar makes on the different pickup configurations; i.e., they are not so distinct. But I can usually get a sound that I like. I run the guitar through a Dano French Toast pedal and I love the sounds that I get from it.

The guitar came from Musician's Friend and it was set up wonderfully. The action was very nice. I noticed no flaws, except the strap buttons (see below). Also a SLIGHT buzzing of the G-string (ha ha).

Dano's weakest point. I don't think this guitar would do well if dropped. For the price, who cares if the finish wears off? Its not an american fender.

The strap buttons: the strap buttons are acoustic-style push in type. Totally inadequate for an electric guitar. I pulled on the strap button under the neck and it pulled out with very little effort. I guess crazy glue might work. But there is very little room to get a strap on the button anyway. Maybe its just a guitar you are supposed to sit down with rather than stand up with. The strap button snafu really need to be addressed by Danelectro.

Haven't dealt with them.

I've been playing bass for three years but have always wanted an electric guitar. I fell for the whole Dano retro thing and wanted a modestly priced guitar that was pretty decent. This guitar is pretty darn good for the money. Its plays quite nicely. And I like the sound it produces, even through the silly Nifty Fifty 15W Amp. I am very satisfied with the product I received for the price I paid.

Ahh yes the lovely Danelectro DC-3. For those who don't know this guitar is completly hollow and has 3 single coil lipsticks a 6-way rotary selector and a 'blow' switch which basicaly turns all the p/u's on. The p/u's don't seem to be hum canceling in any mode so if that's a turn off get something else.

This guitar loves feedback if using high gain and high volume stand away from the amp. Other than that it has you basic bright single coil sound not much on the mid's but all around seems to be good for classic rock and even a little grunge.

Guitar seems set up pretty well. The control cavity is not shielded in any way that contributes to some of the guitar's feedback problems. The guitar's neck joint prevents acess beyond the 15th fret which prevents leads to soem extant.

The guitar is ply-wood and formica it's like playing a conter-top. Does your conter-top withstand being a conter-top. You could technicaly use it as a table.

N/A

Marvelous guitar sounds good, looks good.

The DC-3 is made in Korea, has a wonderful thick neck, 3 single coils (lipsticks), a select-o-matic switch (6 position + a "Power-Switch": all 3 Coils), Gotoh hardware. It's a remake of the famous Danelectro 59 DC, but with better Hardware, and 3 instead of 2 pickups.
A wonderful instrument!
The only thing I am afraid of, is the day I have to adjust the neck, because for that, you have to take off the neck from the body! So that's why I give the DC-3 "just" an 8!

I guess the DC-3 suit every style except Heavy Metall. But even in that genre, you could use it for background. The guitar sounds very sweet, does not have so much brightness, but you will always hear the attack.
I would say that the sound is between a Rickenbacker and a Tele. It has a very acoustic sound!

The finish of this guitar is perfect!

These kind of guitars (not exactly that one, but the 59 DC) have been played for over 40 years. I have seen a picture of Hendrix as a teenager with that guitar, and Jimmy Page stil uses his 59 DC for the one or the other song.

I would not use the 59 DC as my "main guitar", but this pretty baby (the DC-3 with advanced hardware) might be! But, anyways ... never go on stage without a backup!!!

I have no idea. But the webside is buillion times easier to use than the ones from Fender and Gibson. I bought the DC-3 at a store in Europe. It has a1 year warranty.

I've been playing guitar for over 6 years. I played an Ibanez before, and lots of other guitars owned by friends.
I guess that guitar is one of the big. It has it's very own sound, it's very own style, and even people who play Gold Top Les Pauls use that guitar. It's cheap, it's great! And it has personality! You can't compare it that easily to other guitars. I would say maybe "sooomething" between Rickenbacker and Tele, but it has it's very own style. Not everyone will love that guitar. I do!

OK...you've already read about the blow switch and select-o-matic pickup configurator. They are simple and useful. To me, the best feature is the absolutely phenomenal styling! Who doesn't like glitter metal-flake? Only old stick in the muds. I like the skunk shaped pick guard as well. Digression: I was given a dano very similar to this in 1980 for free. I didn't play guitar at the time and I sold it for $5. I thought I had really done something great...what an idiot I was! So I'm keeping this one.

The sound is great. In my experience cheap guitars are often in tune at one point on the neck and out of tune at another point. We don't have that problem here at all...it is right on the money. Blow switch is very useful if you don't have time to monkey around with the selectomatic switch, like if you need to stand out pronto. Unfortunately, even though the tone and retro-ness of the lipstick pickups is exceptional, they are noisy as hell...bad 60 cycle hum. I wish I knew of a way to filter the noise for purposes of recording, but this is an area that every manufacturer in the world apparently neglects. Maybe it can't be solved without a humbucker. I'm going to have to dock it for that. I often use it with their amp in a bag...and it sounds really great. In fact, I bought the guitar just to go with the amp in a bag. The styling on the bag was so great and retro looking I had to have it. Anyway, it has a real quality sound.

The action was perfect right off the bat. It was very refreshing to play. The gotoh tuners are excellent quality, but they all needed to be tightened, which was a simple matter with a phillips head screwdriver. Took 2 minutes and started holding the tune much better after that. It has a real quality feel to it, way more than you would expect for the price.

Haven't had any problems with it and don't see any noticeable flaws, unlike my Fender-made Rogue from Musician's Friend that this replaced. I think that guitar was assembled by an orangutan. You should see some of the flaws in the finish. But what do you expect...it was real cheeeep. I also have a Fender telecoustic. Pretty pathetic from day one with strings an inch off the fretboard. Same price as the Dano, but needed to go to a luthier.

Well, up to now I've been raving. Unfortunately, I have not had good luck with Dano support. I wanted to find out if there was any way to improve the 60 cycle hum problem associated with the lipstick pickups...some sort of filter or add on box. I have called and e-mailed them a total of 4 or 5 times with no response whatsoever. Are they still in business? They only have voice mail...no operator. Maybe that is why the guitars can be sold so inexpensively. I own a corporation. We are a catalog business. If we acted like this we'd be out of business in short order.

The local dealer gave me a good price because he says he can't give Dano guitars away...they aren't perceived as cool. However, that is more of a reflection on our very unsophicated city in which the definition of success is when you graduate from a single wide to a double wide mobile home. I made him throw in a set of strings. I LOVE MY SKUNKY! It feels good, looks good, plays good. However, if you are planning to do a lot of recording as opposed to live gigs, you should certainly play one first and see if you can live with the single coil hum...it is significant. In fact, if you go to the Dano website and listen to some sounds clips you will hear some of this hum. If you have a solution that doesn't involve a noise gate (that is a non-solution) please drop me an e-mail...I would really appreciate it.

I just bought this new - I got the black and white. I love the retro look (like an old Silvertone). And the 7 different sounds - WOW!

We play classic rock and a little country. I use my tele for the country - this is for the classic rock. I'm using a Crate GX60D with it and the distortion is great on it, using all 3 pickups. Nice sound.

No set up needed when I bought it. Nothing I can find yet; however, I've only had it about a month and only played it out twice. I did install strap locks and had to drill into the NECK for this, since I didn't think the body could stand it. I normally would never do this, but it's a cheap guitar and knowing I wouldn't drop it was more important. (The original peg came out the first time I put a strap on it.)

Haven't had it long enough to gauge yet. But a nine because of the strap peg.

N/A

Was looking for a warmer tone than my tele. Got it.

OK...it's a reissue...it's Korean....one model varies from another. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE mine. I got the beautifully ugly green turquoise sparkle with toilet seat white pick guard and it was set up great! Adjustable bridge, truss, etc..Selectomatic switch, volume tone...particularly shines on 1st, 2nd and 3rd postion of selectomatic switch. Gotoh tuners that are firm and tunes nicely and stay that way. if you bend strings violently you may have to retune periodically. Would not call it a problem in the least...depends on your playing style.

It is a Dano. I play through a Hughes and Kettner Vortex half stack and I can dial up ALL kinds of sounds with the 7 postion "Select-O-Matic" switches. All I can say is GROOVY BAYBEEEEE! It stays in tune and plays like a good looking cheap prostitute who knows what she's doing! Low level pickups, but they do what they're supposed to do...Sound like a Danelectro. The DC3 is like one of those cheap Sears guitars from the 50's/60's except it is modified with good stuff to make them stay in tune and sound better than those older models.

Great frets and action. My intonation was perfect. Finish was absolutely a cocktail waitress with a Dolly Parton wig beautiful. I am even sold on the Danelectro strings that they come with. I will start using these babies on my other two electrics. I have played the crap out of this thing since I got it 4 days ago and it holds tunings great and is just unique in sound. You will either absolutely love this guitar or hate it. If you hate it, go buy an Epiphone Les Paul Gothic and pretend you're a rock star. Anyone can play power chords at volume 11 and sustain until heck freezes over. This is meant for the bright, jangly, poppy, put it through a Vox player. I CAN get some very powerful sounds between the neck and middle pickups if you're into grunge instead of quality. I achieve this by cranking my H&K dirty channel or running it through a Digitech RP2000 "dirty amp" model. It will hold up. Strident lead guitar sounds are a little harder to achieve but if you work with your particular amp you can get these, too.

I wanted to give it a 10 because it feels very light but durable...WILL NOT stand up like a Les Paul or Strat BUT IT IS hollow inside and that's where the unique sounds come from within. My tail strap peg DID come out the second day as was predicted by most other reviews here. I was ready for it and had super glue tucked away for just that moment. I'm glad to say all is well, glued back and holding up beautifully. If you buy this to use as a baseball bat or if you are real abusive to your instruments, this may not be the axe for you. Now I play hard and I am banging the Sh*t out of this guitar and i wouldn't hesitate to play it hard. Just don't drop it from a building. It will break. By the way, with the DC3's you can set individual string intonation, etc...The nut is metal also adding to the unique sustain and "jangliness" of this guitar. I would call this quality. Know what you're buying when you purchase one of these. The guys in my band swear they like the sound of my Dano compared to the Les Paul and Tele best. It doesn't offer ALL sounds of ALL guitars but it comes pretty darn close especially when it comes to the single coil pickup sounds of Tele's and Strats. It will hold up....if you're good to it. Prepare for Super Glue modification on strap pegs...by the way I did have to trim down my strap so it would fit in the narrow space behind the neck. If this is a problem for you, you probably like to raise your pinky when you drink tea, too....!? LOL!

Have'nt needed 'em. Nice web site, though.

Lots 'o guitar for the money...Hold out for the best deal and the cheaper you get it, the better you'll feel when you get it. I STILL would have gladly paid the 399.00 for this if I had to and YES! I would buy another or replace it in a heartbeat. I have come to depend on it. I DO gig with it and it has all but become my main guitar on most tunes unless i need an all out Les Paul sound. It is definitely the guitar I pick up first to practice and learn new songs. It feels great! My Tele is almost the backup at this point, but you know.... Stuff changes. I might like the Tele next week to get that Stevie Ray Vaughn Tele hum sound (Although I CAN achieve this beautifully with the Dano!)
If you are seeing bad reviews on this guitar, it is either a kid who needs a Gothic guitar to make him think he's cool or someone who thinks they are too cool to play one of these. Also, I can see someone getting one that was a bad run and I'll give you that. Give it back and try another if this happens to you. Hard to trash this baby for the money. It can do other guitars but other guitars can't do this guitar. Wanna ask me how it sounds? It sounds like a DANELECTRO. If it's good enough for Jimmy Page and the Editors of Guitar Player magazine as a Hot Pick, it's good enough for me. Look at Guitar Player's review of this model. It is VERY accurate. When I grabbed it off of Ebay (NEW) for $175.00, I was pleased! These types of instruments are what rock and roll was built on and I'll take it every time. Especially with the bridge modifications. It will definitely get attention all by itself on looks. It may even become somewhat of a collectors item one day. I can definitely see that happening with certain models of the reissues that are out there. Check out the Greg Bennett Signature Series guitars by Samick if you also want a beautiful guitar at a GREAT price. I have two of these and they are the HEAT!!! I'm going to be reviewing my Tele model soon, so look out. It is one gorgeous geetar!! I have reviewed my Greg Bennett Les Paul copy if you want to check it out. I do lots o homework before I buy and it just may save you some money and still put a BIG smile on your face when you play it and see it in person! Thanks and happy picking!

This was a black electric guitar with three lipstick pickups and a lot of hyped-up volume control knobs. I won't repeat all the features because they have been well documented in the guitar press. It had a knob that bascally matrixed the volume combinations of the three pickups - and a switch that turned them all on full volume. I sent the first guitar back to Danelectro and the second one was a little better.

There was a lot of buzzing. I tried adjusting the action but couldn't get rid of the buzzing. The high E and B string notes had no volume or sustain. The second guitar was a little better but still buzzed and the high notes were still a little less full. I did not try adjusting the action on the second guitar to see if the buzzing would go away. The volume control on the first guitar had no effect at all until it was turned all the way down and then the sound was muted like a cheap phonograph from the sixties - (there was some nostalgia after all). The second one was a little more gradual but was still basically a mute control. This definitely did not sound like all the great guitars of the sixties.

The action was fair. I was truly dissapointed after the rave reviews I was seeing. I am essentially an acoustic player so I was expecting something easier to play - it wasn't. There was a rattle on the inside - something must have come loose. I didn't really like the appearance of the plate on the front of the guitar either - but that's a matter of preferance.

It seemed pretty solid. There was some weird tape all around the sides of this guitar - this could only look worse over time. On the first guitar the tape was already coming off.

The customer support was excellent. I complained to them and they immediately told me to send it back and they sent me a new one.

The dealer was a friend of a friend and told me before I bought it that they were "a dime a dozen." I obviously didn't believe him. I kept the second guitar a couple of months and sold it for a loss. Whoever bought it probably got a good guitar for the money. This is probably a decent guitar for a kid or somebody just starting - although for the price, I would recommend trying an Epiphone or maybe a D'Armond. I guess I was just way-dissapointed after all the hype. I dumped my subscription to Guitar Player magazine after this because they had given it their best rating.