Danelectro DC-3

What I have is a made in Korea Dano DC-3 in stunning black metalflake. You know the specs - three lipstick PU's, hollow, resonant masonite body, good feeling neck with rosewood fingerboard, a versatile selectomatic switch, concentric tone / volume pot and a blow switch, gotoh tuners, cheap plastic strap buttons. Everything one has learned to expect from a Dano, and then some!

It sounds like a Danelectro - bright, jangly, resonant. Those lipstick pickups are amazing and have a unique sound which you either love or hate. I, personally, adore it! I tend to produce noisy, dusty, burning post-rock-ish tones that somehow sound bluesy, and this guitar delivers perfectly! The selectomatic switch gives you "7 different guitars in one" as the ad blurb says, and it's pretty much true - loads of variety on this one. the blow switch (which turns on all the pickups) is handy for pushing your sound forward when you need it. The guitar is very resonant, even unplugged, and loads of sweet tones verging on the brink of feedback can be heard twinkling underneath whatever you're playing. and speaking about the feedback - it does that too, very gladly, very often and very musically. fantastic!

The setup on this guitar is reasonably low, exactly as I like it. Pickups needed to be adjusted a bit, but that's no problem on this guitar. The neck truss rod, however, is a different matter - you need to remove the neck to access it. Not that I have had any need to do so, since the neck is straight as an arrow. Fine tuning of the octaves can also be a trial, since you have to loosen the tension and remove the string before you can move the saddle. Overall quality of the workmanship is surprisingly good for such a cheap guitar, and the finish is absolutely gorgeous! Due to the mentioned design flaws (which are, by the way, not inherent to the original Danelectros - the adjustable saddles bridge and truss rod are a relatively new adddition to the Dano design) - this section gets a 9. Considering how dirt cheap it is, a 9 is excellent.

Will it withstand heavy playing? Although I've had my doubts at first, I have reason to believe it will hold up just fine. The finish seems resilient enough, and the masonite body, tho very lightweight, seems like it will hold up a good deal of bashing and kicking. The pickguard is flimsy and does not look very strong, and the strap buttons are really crap - glue them in, it seems to work like a charm. I wouldn't have a problem using it without a backup, but I always take two guitars to a gig, so I'll probably never be in a similar situation. The tuners hold tune quite well, no remarks there!

I've never contacted them, so I wouldn't know.

I've been playing for some 15 years all together, and have had my hands on a reasonable amount of guitars. Currently, along with the DC-3, I own a CIJ Fender Mustang, a CIJ Jazzbass '62RI and a Yamaha accoustic, a Roland RE-501 tape echo, a Turbo Rat, and a Fender Twin Reverb amp.
This guitar fits my setup quite nicely, and I'd hate to lose it. If it got stolen, I'd try my very best to get a new one asap. And the price at which they're going, you owe yourself to try and track one down as well. Truly, a fantastic value.

The previous reviewer, Glen, is grossly mistaken. The guitar certainly does have a truss rod. One must remove the neck to get at it. It is not visible when the neck is bolted on, but take it from me, Glen, it's there. The pickguard is masonite and Glen fails to realize that it's faithful to the original Danos. The "seal" pickguard looked like a shop project way back when and still does. That's part of the retro vibe of this guitar. The old Danos were excellent "cheap" guitars made of easily-obtainable materials. I have the turquoise sparkle finish DC-3 and it's a well-made, inexpensive instrument that looks great, plays fine, sounds fine, and stays in tune.

Overall, I'd say the sound is a bit on the trebly, twangy side. It's not the right guitar for everything I play, but I have many choices at my disposal for whatever sounds I need. The DC-3 has good volume with the three lipstick tube pickups and many sounds to choose from.

No issues, no problems. Looks cool. What's not to love? The legendary Danelectro reliability is present and accounted for. When I got the guitar, the original strings were on it. Even though they were old and corroded, the guitar tuned right up and played great. I had a setup done, and it plays even better now.

She'll be fine for years, I'm sure.

No opinion.

I have owned MANY Danelectros-they've all been good, solid guitars for very little money. These new ones are faithful repros of the old ones, with modern improvements, like adjustable bridges, better tuners, etc. Take a basically good design and make it better is the MO here. The DC-3 is a terrific instrument for the money.

I must say my inital reaction to looking at this was not great. Plywood w/masonite not impressed. Very light almost flimsy. The pick guard looked like something a kid made a shop class. No adjustable truss rod. Why? The combined volume & tone control are made of cheap plastic and often both turn when trying to adust only one. That took some getting use to. The toggle switch to blow past the pick up selector and go directly to all three pick ups is good quality and I do like the Gotoh tuners and the adjustable bridge. The two piece neck is good quality. I like the sparkle in the Masonite top and back. Overall for the price what did I expect. This was well worth the price.

WOW! This is where the DC-3 shines. Twangy biting tones. A sound that rivals both my strat and tele. The chambered body (the reason it's so light) allows for rich sonic sounds. Low noise clear sound with all pick up configurations. The blow pass switch allow for a total of 7 pickup configurations giving you a great variety of tones from one guitar. No compaints as far as sound goes.

After changing the strings I had to make some slight adustments to the bridge. The neck is a little thicker than I normally like. But still great action and feel especially for the price. Again, no truss rod to adjust.

I do have some concerns in this area. I do love the sound but don't know what I'll do if I ever want to adust the neck. I think it would be very difficult to scratch the Masonite top. I do have concern with the quality of the volume/tone combo knob. There are obviously some things I'll need to be careful with.

Never needed it. The website has alot be desired.

Why 9 you ask. The sound and the value for the price. In the end its all about sound for me

Already covered

Nice range of sounds. Not a 10 or 9 out of 10 but it aint a 59 flametop or 63 strat

Good for the money spent

Cheap strap buttons as mentioned but other than that....worth the money spent

Never tried em

Good guitar for bangin around on. Will do okay on stage for a few styles. Is reliable and quiet when the amp is up loud.

This is a DC3 in silver sparkle, 1990's made in Korea I think. Lightweight construction and 3 lipstick tube pickups. The neck is rosewood and plays really nice. Tune-o-Matic bridge, Selectomatic pickup selector and blow switch (mental). The Gotoh tuners are quite cheap looking, but work great. I love the tone/volume knob, very retro.

I play surfy rock stuff (quite 60's sounding) and this Dano suits it perfect. I use a Vox AC30 amp and various boss pedals. Sounds great with a trem and distortion running, fantastic sustain due to the semi-hollow body. You would think that it would be the opposite, but believe me this guitar has sustain. Dano's just cut through, some might say it's all a bit harsh sounding to the ear, but when the band is rocking I can still hear the DC3 cutting like a knife.

I always set my guitar to how I like it, nice low action. These guitars are easy to set yourself. I think all modern Dano's are made on the cheap, but they are a mid price range guitar. Don't be put off by some of the cheap looks, they play well and sound great. I have a 60's Danelectro too, and they were cheap guitars in their day. 40 years on and it still sounds great. I see no reason why the reissues shouldn't be the same. I dock points here for the terrible strap studs that others have mentioned. I replaced mine with locking studs, problem solved.

I use mine on every gig, and I use my 60's one as a backup. It hasn't let me down yet, which is more than I can say for the expensive Fenders I have owned.

I contacted Danelectro about the strap stud problem. They no longer make these guitars. Have you seen the latest Pro 56 guitars that they are knocking out? I got one and it was awful, that's why I got this DC-3.

I have been in various bands for around 10 years and own several guitars. A 90's USA Telecaster, a 60's Dano Silvertone and a Gibson Firebird to name a few. I am going to buy another one of these if I see one at the right price. I would cry if it were stolen. I wanted one of these after playing on my friends, it just looks so great on stage. It sounds great too.

This is a 90's DC-3 in black and silver sparkle. 22 fret rosewood finger board which is a dream to play. Really nice light masonite construction and a killer finish. 3 standard Dano lipstick pickups with a cool chicken head selectomatic 6 way selector switch. Alos includes the 'Blow out' or 'Full On' toggle switch for those solo lifts. You can get some very different sounds with the selectomatic switch, from mellow to dirty. All the hardware is pretty cheap, but this is fun guitar and should be treated that way.

You can get a really nice vintage Dano sound out of these guitars, if you spend time with the selector and the concentric volume/tone knob. I find backing the tone off this guitar works a treat. As I said above, you can get a full range of tones out this guitar. I use a Line 6 Duoverb 2x12 and the DC-3 sounds great through it.

I have had this guitar set up by a pro and it plays like a dream. All pickups are sweet and the neck is really playable. The only real down on this guitar is the strap studs. They are just pushed in and look like they could fall out at any time (mine never have though). There's no doubt these reissue Dano's are not expensive guitars, but in my opinion they're great fun and I don't expect it to do things a ?1000 guitar will do. I use it for certain songs and it works just fine.

I have giiged with my DC-3 many times and it is as reliable as any other guitar I own. I would never do a gig without a backup for any guitar. It does what it does and it does it well.

N/A

I have been playing for many years and own many guitars including some vintage Dano's. I would say this is up there with all of them for specific sounds for a specific song. I would need another if it got stolen, it's part of my sound.

it's worth noting at the outset that all of these 90's production danelectros are really just "copies". nathan daniel has nothing to do with any of it. it's just some new company that bought the rights to the name and is using cheap korean labor to copy nathan daniel's original 50' & 60's guitar designs and exploit the cult retro interest in the original models. these are really no more "danelectros" than the new eastwood repros's are "airlines", the phantom guitar company's copies are "voxes", or the new samick guitars are "silvertones".
this is a later production blk/silver sparkle, double-cutaway DC3. characteristic of almost all danelectro models, it has a short-scale neck that is inset into the body. like the originals, it's got the cool old semi-hollow masonite body (or some facsimile). it has 3 lipstick tube pickups and a 5-way pickup selector switch that seems to offer the same configurations as a strat. it has concentric-style tone & volume controls, a "blow-by" toggle switch to engage all pickups simultaneously, and the updated tunematic-style tailpiece. it has a soft metal nut that wreaks havoc on tuning, and a screwed on neck (with difficult to access "trussrods") that dosen't seem to want to stay in place. it has a reasonably thin neck with a wide rosewood fingerboard. the strap "buttons" are a joke (mine fell out the first time i picked up the guitar from the case), and the shoulder-positioned one is in a stupid place.
this guitar really has way more "features" than i will ever use (pickup combinations, etc.). but because of the short neck, the lack of solidity, and the useless strap pegs, i give it a low features rating.

these guitars sound pretty damn good, as close as you're going to get to the vintage dano sound for under $500 (i guess you can still get the old 60's sears-catalog silvertone amp-in-case models for around that if you want true vintage danelectro). you'll pay upwards of $1000 for the 40+ year-old originals of this guitar, and the vastly superior to this jerry jones copies are only slightly below that.
i play 60's style garage rock, stax-style R&B & soul, and chess-era blues, and these guitars sound great for this. no effects necessary when played through a good, vintage tube amp. as on most guitars, i find that i use the bridge pickup the most. it has a good sharp bite for a great classic rock sound, as well as a crystaline chimey delicacy when played lighter. the warm neck pickup sounds good too, especially when rolling off the bass and tweaking the top end up on the amp. various pickup combinations will give a wide variety of mostly bluesy-sounding tones.
these pickups are mid-impedence and not especially hot, but therein is their secret. to me, all of the super-hot modern pickups are like too-hot hot sauce anyway. you know, when it's so hot that you can't taste any flavor? backing off a little bit on the output seems to make it possible to truly savor the flavor of the lipstick tube pickup's unique tone.
it should be noted that these reissues sound considerably brighter (and thinner) than the originals. but i begrudgingly admit that when played through a warm old tube amp, you can discern the faint ghostly echo (like a long-lost illegitamate child) of the sound that danelectro was famous for: a unique, magical, mid-rangy clang. the new ones are a little more plastic-y sounding than the originals, with considerably less personality, but this character is still somewhat inherent in the sound.
since playing in tune is inextricably linked with sounding good, the tunability of these bears some discussion at this point. i've had two different models of these dano reissues (a U-2 & a DC-3), both of them are tuning nightmares. the reasons are obvious. the nut is made of some kind of metal that is so soft that as the string slides through the slot, it cuts into the metal nut like butter, literally digging a rut for itself (no pun intended). the unwound strings (especially the g) seem to then bind in the slot, making tuning feel like you are fly-cast fishing. it's excrutiating to tune, gradually bringing the string precisely up to pitch, hoping to not hear the dreaded "ping!" as the tension eventually forces the string to suddenly free itself from the bind and jump a half-step up in pitch beyond the desired mark.
correct and consistant tuning is further sabotaged by the wobbly & weak constuction of these guitars. despite the neck being screwed on, i would swear mine seems to shift around on its own free will. i've heard this is a common problem with these reissues. guitar-techies have told me about putting a layer of metal screen mesh in the joint between the back of the neck and the guitar body, then screwing the neck down in an effort to keep the neck in place. i wonder about this, though. i mean, the whole guitar is so flimsy, with useless trussrods, etc., that i'm not sure it would ever really stay in tune for any length of time.
considering that the originals had used such unlikely components, assembled in an unorthodox way in an effort to cut cost and reduce shipping expense, it's amazing that old danos would wind up being much sought after for their great tone (or be worthy of reproducing). oddly enough, this great sound (that seems to have been more of a happy accident than the result of careful planning) is actually a by-product of the guitar's cheap construction. greatest of all ironies is that the cool tone seems to result directly from the cheapness of the materials and cost-cutting design concepts (the hollow cavity resulting from the assembled masonite 3-piece semi-hollow body,

i can't complain about the action per se, the guitar plays well enough. but as with all danelectros, because of the short scale neck being inset into the body, the actual possible playing area of the fingerboard is much less than almost any other guitar. it's impossible for me to play above the 17th fret (high a) with any accuracy. this means waving bye-bye to ever being able to play the good old blues/rock lead box-shape in the high a position (between the 17th & 20th frets). it dosen't help that i play in a band that has several songs with lead breaks in the key of a.
the pickup adjustment mechanism is wimpy, unpredictable, and uncontrollable. no matter how many times i adjust the pickup height, the screws will work loose and suddenly you'll realize the pickup has gone wonky and is woozily leaning into the strings, bonking away and deadening the strings.
the cord jack is mounted on the front of the guitar, and i'm constantly slamming my hand into the plug when making the grand strumming gesture. this is further complicated by the flimsy pickguard material that shatters if you look at it the wrong way. this particular combination of oversights has necessitated my using a guitar cord with a right-angle plug. the jack would be better placed on the side of the guitar.
as i said before, the strap "buttons" are a joke. they appear to be the plastic cone-shaped pegs that are commonly used to secure the ball-ends of the strings on an acoustic guitar. they depend on a friction-fit to hold them in place (an abnormally large hole in the body edge). as a result, they don't stay in and on top of that, the shoulder one is positioned oddly to me. i always immediatly replace strap pegs with strap-locks anyway, but on this guitar the large holes left by the pegs are too big to sink any sanely-sized screws into. no choice but to leave them be and make a new hole. in the DC-3's case, i had to move the shoulder one to the outside edge of the top "horn" anyway (where it makes more sense).
the finish is cool, a sort of black base coat with much silver glitter laid over. it's so flashy that it hardly shows dirt at all. the edge has a white vinyl tape covering that is smooth and not as cool as the original, thicker, pebbled vinyl. it stains easily and after some use, i realize that it will never look as white as when i first bought the guitar.
this may be one of the lightest and most comfortable guitars ever to wear and play (once you solve the strap-peg dilimma).

as must be obvious now, these reissues have some serious problems, some of which are inherent in copying the original, flawed danelectro models. but the worst problems are unique to the reissues.
the inability to play up high on the neck, the lack of a useful trussrod, and the generally cheap construction can be blamed on their copying of the original danelectro ascthetic.
but the loosey-goosey pickup height adjustment, the soft nut, the the awkward position and stability of the strap pegs, the abyssmal tunability, etc., surely could have been improved upon without sacrificing authenticity.
this brings me to the greatest problem with this reissue guitar: it is built to be a toy. it is not a real guitar (at least in my book).
let's see: where do i begin?
i tour a fair amount all over the world. i wanted a danelectro for the sound, and not wanting to spend the amount required to get a vintage one (or the jerry jones version), i foolishily decided to get the cheaper reissue. i tried it out at practice, and being pleasantly surprised at the sound, decided to take it out for a spin. admittedly, i had tuning problems from the git-go, which i attributed (erroneously) to the new strings. after a week on the road, not only did it become apparent that it would be a tuning nightmare (rarely staying in for more than a song), but more surprising to me was that the guitar seemed to be shredding away in my hands. three times in three days i managed to smash the pickguard-mounted jack down into the body, each time requiring a larger washer to repair it. upon taking the pickguard off to fix it the first time, i realized that the pickguard was glued on, with too few screws to actually hold it. once i took it off, i broke the glue bond and now am totally dependant on the inadequately mimimal screws to hold it on.
not only that, but the jack and pots were mounted to a sort of tin brace that mounted to the back of the pickguard. after studying the break, i could see why this was needed. at the break, the pickguard had shredded like cardboard. in fact, it looked to be made of some kind of pressed paper product and was weak as a kitten. evidently dano didn't think the pickguard was strong enough to handle mounting the jack, two knobs, and a switch, either (without collapsing) so they put this wimpy tin brace in there!
it's now apparent that the guitar's lightness is due to there being very little in the way of materials, period. i eventually broke down and got an early nineties jerry jones shorthorn, and i was astonished that, considering they are both copies of the same guitar, the jerry jones weighs twice as much as the dano. and the jerry jones is still lighter than most guitars!
the dano DC-3 reissue is so flimsy that i'm sure that if i continue to try to use it on tour, it's going to wind up with a hole bashed through it, and probably soon. it just dosen't hold up.

i understand that the "new" danelectro has stopped making guitars again, and based on my experience, this is probably a good thing. so i doubt there would be any customer support whatsoever. in my opinion, these guitars are like most new stuff. if it breaks, you don't try to fix it, it's not even worth it. you just throw it away and get another.
if one was so inclined, it might be possible to modify these guitars into something that would hang together better. i've learned my lesson, i'll stick with the vintage ones, at least they'll remain valuable (even if you do have to baby them). my jerry jones shorthorn is a much better and sturdier guitar, it sounds like an old dano double cutaway, and it stays in tune.

i've been playing professionally for 35 years now, i've collected too much stuff to list. i do wish i'd known that this guitar wouldn't really hold up (i did have people tell me that they were a joke), but i wanted to see if a dano sound would work for what i was doing. i figured out that i do want the sound, just not in this cheap, reissue form. i am currently using it as a backup to my jerry jones shorthorn (my main guitar now), and only use it if i have a problem. it still sounds good, and it serves this purpose fine. but if it went awol, i'd probably be glad i had an excuse to get something better. if this guitar did not look and sound so good, i'd probably give it the lowest rating possible. but because it does sound so good, i'll give it a higher overall rating than average (5 being average).

For feature details, see the website, or what has been mentioned here already.

This is a good, versatile guitar. OK, it's not a Les Paul, but a good beginner or niche guitar. Buzz in amp.

Action is OK. I have tried to adjust it to get it better (I do my own set-ups, thank you). The truss rod can only be accessed by taking off the neck = very, very poor design. Other problems with repairing or adjusting include: the pickguard is glued on in places and has to be pulled off causing the pickguard to not lay flat when reinstalled; the bridge is adjustable, but the screws are hidden by the strings so the strings must be loosened a lot in order to adjust the bridge.

Blow switch is big and clunky and sometimes intermittent (I don't use it much, therefore). Tone and volume controls are stacked which means sometimes one moves along with the other. knobs are cheesy plastic and won't stand up to heavy gigging.

Tuners aren't the best; the guitar doesn't stay in tune as well as better guitars will.

There is a buzz created in the amp with this guitar (I have checked, it IS the guitar). This may be due to the lack of shielding in the electronics compartment.

Probably not good for heavy gigging. Hardware is sort of cheap. Strap buttons are plastic. Don't know about dependability yet; haven't gigged with it enough.

Have emailed CS asking about the buzz problem. Never received a reply.

I have been playing for 35 years. I got this guitar for free, so the price was right. I probably wouldn't have bought it and wouldn't replace it if lost.

It is a funky, retro guitar whose designers chose style over function. It is a reproduction, so that is understandable. Still, they should have improved on the original and put some better hardware into it.

Late 90's reissue - made in Korea.

The neck is hard maple, two piece, with some nice flame going on in places. The truss rod can only be reached by unscrewing the neck and removing it from the guitar, but the neck is heavy and pretty stable. The body is plywood and masonite, hollow and extremely light, painted a nice maroon. Tuners are not terribly nice, and the bridge is adjustable - it seems to work, though it feels very suspect to me.

Three lipstick tube pickups - ah, the lovely lipsticks. Chrome. Pretty. Selecting-dial and blow switch for all combinations, pickups wired in series, one volume, one tone.

All you need, really.

Signal Path: DC-3 > Danelectro Fabtone > Carvin SX100. I'm playing basically anything I feel like.

The sound isn't versatile, but it's extremely pretty. There's basically three distinct sounds - many pickups (loud, fat, and dark), neck or mid alone (thinner, brighter, clearer), and bridge alone (supermodel-thin and funky as heck). The overall sound of one pickup alone involves a good deal of highs, a bit less lows, and little midrange. Add in more pickups, and you get more volume, and a very warm, dark sound.

Clean, it sounds almost chorused. Dirty, it screams and snarls like a psychotic terrier. It's very quiet, despite the single coils - I blame the tubes for that.

This has an amazing rhythm sound that can cover almost anything less than metal.

The action is surprisingly low, with only a little buzz. It plays very well, better than any strat I've played. The hollow body makes it a bit neck-heavy, though.
There were no cosmetic flaws I could see - the tuners suck, though, the bridge is terrifying, and I need to adjust the intonation.

This is really a 7.5. Use your imagination.

Everything looks solid here, EXCEPT:

-The tuners are pretty lousy, and could use replacing.
-The bridge doesn't inspire confidence at all.
-The knobs are cheesy plastic.

Other than that, as long as you don't stomp on the body (it's HOLLOW, silly) you should be fine. It's a guitar, of course, and you should never gig without a second guitar, but this looks like it'll hold up for a good long time - no worries.

They don't exist right now, so don't even bother.

I've played for 3 years, maybe 3 1/2. I have two other guitars, a Carvin DC135 (my main guitar) and a Martin DM acoustic.

This is really a niche instrument - you can't get the usual sounds, but you get sounds that can come from nothing else. That's fine for me - the Carvin is versatile enough to cover most everything else that I need, and the Danelectro has a great, unique sound.

Another plus is the style - this thing is hot. You cannot help but look cool with this guitar around your neck.

If it were stolen, I'd get another for sure. Might be hard to find such a good price, though.

I would readily call this both the ultimate beginner's/budget guitar, and a pro-quality instrument at the same time. A sickeningly good value.

This guitar was made in 2001, has 22 frets, body is that plasticky masonite. It has 3 lipstick pickups that are stock. Body type is double cutaway. The bridge is a tune-o-matic and it has gotoh tuners without a tremolo. The neck is maple and thin, the frets a thin medium. The guitar feels small and your fingers a little cramped when playing chords. There is a 6 position bakelite pickup switch that looks like something out of the early 1960's that gives the looks a cool vibe. The 6 positions give a huge variety of tones, and all 3 can be turned on at once. The pickguard is wavy and quite retro looking.

The DC-3 produces great tone. I play it through a Musicman 212 tube amp with a Digitech RP-5 effects set up. It sounds awesome and the tone variety is so cool that I often do not use any effects, just the ax and amp---and that is unusual for me.It has a very bright yet rich sound,great for John Fogarty style music or John Melloncamp. The hard rock sound is not bad but it isn't gonna do Van Halen or Ozzy for you. It can give a respectable crunch, but don't expect miracles. One complaint I have is that the pickups do buzz some but this is minor. It stays in tune very well despite string bending. I don't know if the guitar is supposed to sound like this but the high E string seems to be less loud than all the other strings, however the ax sounds great so I don't know what to make of this.

I bought the guitar used so I don't know if set up was messed with but it is great. Action is low, no fret buzz. There is no fraying at the top or bottom of frets. The pick guard lifts a little off the body in a couple of places and I occaisionally have to push it down and the glue holds it for another couple of months- will have to fix this.The finish is wicked cool and inevitably draws cmments from all who see it. It is an aqua sparkle with off white pick guard.

I haven't had this too long but it appears durable. I was very leary to purchase a guitar that did not have a wood body, I figure it would be bending and warping all over with any weather change but that doesn't appear to be the case, it seems rock solid. I think the masonite is kind of like formica so it will probably look cool long after I am in a nursing home. The strap buttons are oddly placed and take some getting used to to keep the strap on the neck button from falling off. It seems like I will be able to depend on this guitar, but would always keep a backup.

NA

I have been playing for 25 years and this guitar is a great addition, givingvme sounds I just can't get from my other guitars. I would definitly buy it again if it got lost. I love the way it looks and sounds. The action is great but I wish the fretboard was a little wider, and the feel takes a little getting used to, the guitar has a "small" feel.

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.

These are masonite tops and bottoms sandwiched on a plywood frame. Completely hollow inside- I have seen one that has been cut in half. Neck is your typical maple with rosewood board. The DC-3 has 3 single coil lipstick p/u s and uses a blow switch for p/u setting changes.

These are a good and unique sounding guitar- they are fairly quiet for single coils and sort of have a bright, Keith Partridge sort of sound (and i dont mean that in a bad way).

This is the weak point of the guitar- For one thing, the TRUSS ROD is at the bottom of the neck and you have to take off the neck to adjust it!! I have seen other reviews where people think there is no truss rod- there is one, its just hard to get to. I am afraid to screw the neck screws in and out much on this masonite. Another thing, the bridge is merely screwed into the 3/8 inch masonite top. I know a man who is a Danelectro endorsee and the bridge completely pulled out of the guitar and ripped the masonite top off the guitar! However, when you first get them they seem pretty solid, and seem put together ok and the fit and finish is pretty good- however you should check out many as quality does vary from dano to dano. If you get a good one these guitars play as good as anything out there- thats the truth. Its just that you have to look around to find the right one.

If these guitar had a truss rod adjustment at the neck and if they had some type of support under the bridge they would be much more durable and usable. Danelectro has addressed some of the problems with their early reissues such as poor tuners and non-adjustable bridges on these 2nd wave of issues but they need to go one step further and address the truss rod and bridge support problems. The strap buttons are weak and i am not sure as to the rigidity of the blow switch, although mine works ok. You need a backup with these guitars.

They are very good and do not try to mince words- they readily admit there is no support under the bridge and say they prefer the truss rod where it is. However, i bet they get a lot of guitars back from where the bridges pull out. In fact, Guitar Center told me they do! But they do stand behind their product very nicely.

For what it is, it is OK, but there again it would only add maybe 5 bucks to each guitars price to put a support under the bridge and no cost to put the truss rod at the neck. These guitars are no longer going to sell based on "nostalgia", everyone who wants one for that reason has already bought one by now. They need to address what players want. I have played for 25 yrs and have had every type of guitar that you can imagine. I currently have a Les Paul, Les Paul Smartwood, and a Fender American Tele. With only a 1 yer warranty, i am afraid that in year two the bridge will pull off mine.

I've been EyeBaLLinG this guitar since it came out and was basically looking for a good deal. A few days ago I noticed that Musicians Friend had three colors on sale for $299 but Black Metalflake was priced at $149!!! (The most I could see spending on plywood and cardboard) UPS brought it just as I was making dinner so I opened the box, pulled it out and grated cheese with the frets.(Ouch!) After dinner I put on some leather work gloves so I wouldn't cut myself playing it. Sounds really nice...very jangly. You can play the soundtrack to Desparado on it and nail the tone. I'm playing through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe so the clean tones really sparkle. (By the way, MF sent me a free Danelectro Pastrami distortion pedal with this guitar...yawn) The guitar has all the tones you miss if you own a Paul or Jazz Box or Strat. Tons of those neat little sounds you hear on so many records.

This guitar is a real bargin. It can be fairly full sounding if you run all the pickups at the same time or very thin like a weak Tele if you want. I like the middle pickup setting best so far. It can do a decent impression of a Strat in other positions.

I just tuned it up and started jamming. The action was at the height that I like, which might be high for some. The pickups needed to be dropped as they were almost touching the strings. One problem that I experienced was a faulty "Blow" switch. (Whoever named that one was on the ball) As I previously stated the frets were a little on the sharp side so they'll have to be dressed. The guitar is actually put together fairly well, the paint is fantastic. I keep thinking $149 is all I paid...

After I upgrade the strap buttons and the Blow switch it should be good to gig with as a 2nd guitar. Here is a hint for the metal nut: Put some Vaseline on the string grooves to eliminate the annoying squeaks when bending and tuning strings.

Haven't dealt with them yet. Doubt I'll have to.

I rate this guitar pretty high overall. You can't go wrong for the price. I own an American 62 reissue Strat, a Mex-Tele and a Hardbody Gretsch and this guitar is about on the level of the Mexican Tele. If you know a little about tweeking guitars you should have no problem making one of these into a killer little axe.

Nothing spectacular, nothing terrible. The noteworthy thing is that it's got 3 lipstick pickups, a 6-position selector switch, and Dano's "blow" switch.

I play a wide variety of styles, and use this Dano as my backup for my Washburn D12 (yes, I know the D12's an acoustic/electric. It's my main guitar). When I break out the Dano, it's usually for the bright, jangly twang you can get using the bridge pickup. I do use it quite often for my more bluesy moments. The tone's nothing spectacular, but I disagree with people who say it's terrible. Yeah, it's not perfect, but you didn't spend $1400 on this guitar, did you? If you're a pro... well, you'd be spending more than $300 on a guitar anyway, wouldn't you? Semi-pros (like me) will love this guitar, because it's got damn fine sound for the money.

I've had no reason to change the factory set-up. It fits me just perfectly. I always play with very light strings, and Dano seems to set their guitars up specifically for that.

I'm not comfortable with the plastic pegs, but they've not given me any trouble. I got set up with some funky quick-releases that work on this guitar, so I don't have to mess with the pegs too much.

Hey, that "tape" isn't structural. It's decorative. You can rip it off and your guitar won't fall apart. Purely for looks.

The finish is fantastic. Doesn't seem like it'll chip, and it looks really, really funky. I bought the silver-glitter one, 'cause I just couldn't resist. Serious pick-guard that you just cannot hurt. This guitar is definitely a looker.

This guitar will (and has) withstood live playing. I even used it as my main guitar at one show, and didn't bring a backup. Okay, so I don't OWN a backup, but I wasn't freaked out, and the Dano came through for me.

It feels light, so I'd hesitate to call it "sturdy," but I don't baby it, either. The neck, head and tuners are super-reliable. I'm currently having troubles with the pickups, but that might be my fault.

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I've been playing on and off for about 5 years now. If my Dano were stolen, I might buy another. I'm about to take the Stratocaster plunge now (I'm too poor to take that step lightly), but I really like the Dano's tone... If money were no object, and I already owned a Strat, I'd definitely buy another Dano.

Seriously, this guitar is solid. No glaring flaws, good (not excellent... good) tone, great features, and amazingly funky-looking. Great value, and I love its looks.

Probably made in 2000; according to the sticker, in Korea. 21 frets. Masonite and plywood body, 6 position selectomatic, blow switch (all 3 pickups on), 3 lipstick tube pickups, black metalflake finish, gotoh tuners, decent bridge, nice neck, blah, blah, blah.

This guitar fits my music style okay enough (bluesrockfunk), use it with a '65 RI Fender Deluxe Reverb. Usual noise associated with SC pickups. Fairly bright and "jangly". This guitar probably has only 2 or 3 really good sounds, the rest are mediocre. That's the honest truth. I bought it to have as a decent, cheap, guitar that I wouldn't have to worry too much about if it got stolen or if I carried it around in a gig bag instead of a hard case. It's a good guitar, not great, not terrible, but good. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a decent 2nd or 3rd guitar that doesn't want to spend too much money. People need to understand that a) it uses lipstick tube design pickups - you're not going to get a fat humbucker tone, even with all three pickups on. It's also going to buzz a little - that's what single coil pickups do. It will make SIMILAR tones to a strat or a tele, but only because the pickup configurations can be selected like a tele or a strat. It's not going to sound better or like a strat or a tele. Having said that, you can get a decent enough range of tones to gig with and for the money, it ain't bad.

This guitar comes with some pretty thin strings. I go for .10's or even 11's. It also comes set up with the action pretty low. If you're able to handle it, raise the action and stick on some heavier strings. Raising the action slightly will especially improve the tone of this guitar. Trust me. The neck is really the best part of the guitar, but you do need to raise the action a little to get this thing to play and sound decent. The finish is fabulous. Mine's a black sparkle finish (glitter) and that's really what caught my eye in the first place. I'd read that Dano was making pretty decent guitars for the money these days, so when I went looking for one, I shopped by looks first - hey I know guitars very well, but in this case, I knew that you get what you pay for and that for the $220 I paid for this thing, I wasn't going to get a guitar that look, felt and played like my strat or my Les Paul. As far as all the comments about the cheap tape binding, Dano's are all about kitsch. It's MEANT to be a little cheap looking, I mean hey, look at the "sparkle" finish. Do you really think that any manufacturer that has the balls to use actual glitter on a guitar finish, could care less if a few people felt that the tape made it look cheap? And if the tape on your particular guitar was coming off in the store, why did you buy it if it bothers you so much? The strap pegs are a little cheesy, but they're probably plastic instead of metal because the pegs on the original Danelectros were plastic. The knobs and pots are cheap looking and feeling because, well, this is a cheap, mass production guitar. Wake the f#ck up. If you bought one of these, you didn't buy an Historic Collection Les Paul or a Custom Shop Fender Strat. Or even an Am. Std. Fender or a MIJ Fender. You really do get what you pay for and in this case, you do get a decent guitar for the money.

Unless you're a complete idiot, everything on this guitar should hold up fine for a long, long time, except maybe the strap buttons.

Who the hell actually deals directly with the manufacturer anymore? If I had a problem with anything I bought recently, I'd take it to the retailer first and then chances are they'd have to return it to the manufacturer and the retailer would have to give me another one from they're stock.

I've been playing for 21 years. I currently own quite a bit of gear (too much to list) that I've accumulated over the years, most of it quality stuff. I can honestly say with confidence that I know a lot about guitars - I'm not bragging, it's just what I know. These DC3's and other Dano's in general are decent quality, inexpensive (that's relative of course), mass production guitars. Would I recommend one to a beginner, maybe; probably not - a cheap Yamaha or an Ibanez is probably going to satisfy a young beginner a little more, as they're more contemporary in design. But I would recommend this guitar to anyone who is looking for an inexpensive, backup guitar or someone who's just looking for something interesting and fun. The DC3 is a decent instrument. For a pro, it's definitely playable and versatile enough, but not as a main guitar.

Three pickups and a 6-way selector plus blow switch. I'm a binary purist so I put on a cutoff switch so I can turn them all off. When the guitar is set with all pickups off, it has much less tone.

Hey... I wrote a review previously. A few things to add... as many people have said, the strap buttons are the only major flaw on this guitar... plastic (which is fine), they fall out with my abusive playing style (which is not fine). I glued them both in and everything's irie. Additionally, it won't accept the Musician's Friend-special blowout discount plastic quick-release type straps, but I tied mine on which I think looks cool anyway.

Also, the D-string saddle had a little burr on it that I noticed after a few months but I filed it off and it's great now.

Some people have said it's taped together... not true. The "tape" is a cosmetic vinyl lining & the body stays together without it.

Danelectro is very responsive if you use the web site. I asked about putting a whammy on it and got a response back really quickly... to those of you who might consider it... DON'T. The DC-3 is hollow behind the bridge and would probably cave in if you put one on.