Danelectro Guitar/Mandolin Reissue

"Commie Red" Dano Guitarlin in the classic "Longhorn" shape that I bought used in July '07 for only $300. I thought it was a pretty good deal since the new ones were going for $500 retail. Lots O frets (30?), with a fairly "medium" heft to the (I assume rosewood/maple) neck, not too thin or chunky, and it has those classic "lipstick" pickups and an aluminum nut. The only problem I've had is with the stacked volume/tone knobs. They stick like crazy and I'm going to have to wear them in quite a bit so that they don't both turn at the same time.

The bridge pickup is one of the brightest, thinnest and twangiest pickups I've ever heard on a guitar, almost painfully so, that being said, the neck pickup is a lot nicer. It's noticeably louder and fuller and I find it similar to a Strat's middle position pickup. I often play it in the middle position or with the neck pickup. The bridge pickup makes a Tele's bridge pickup sound like a neck pup on a giant hollowbody jazz guitar. Overall it's moderately versatile. I like being able to slide up on the neck beyond reason with it's 30 frets. Acoustically, I love this thing and find myself grabbing it whenever I want to play on the couch with a little volume. (ie. not an acoustic guitar)

This thing was really close in the set up department, but I bought it used, so they must have done it right, I find that guitars are rarely set-up correctly after being mailed from the factory to a guitar shop and then having sat in a storage room or guitar shop stand or who knows how long. Mine had no dings and is in good shape.

The tuners are decent but not great, and the strap button near the neck came out easily just with normal playing, but I don't expect to play with this one live very much if at all. Basically it's a decent but not great foreign made guitar that does what it's supposed to do, and I look forward to recording with it eventually.

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Overall, if you are considering buying this guitar, do so unless you can afford one of the Jerry Jones versions or an original. This does what it's supposed to do, but the odd pickups are only "OK". If it were lost or stolen, I'd be down about it, but wouldn't necessarily replace it with an exact copy, I might try a U2 or DC model instead, I love the quirky body shape and have wanted one of these ever since I saw pics of Dean Deleo (of STP fame) playing one, but it's not the most useful guitar in my arsenal. It sounds better on cleans with reverb and does
a decent impression of an electric mandolin. I like it.

New issue guitar/mandolin with 25 1/2 scale maple neck and rosewood fretboard. Asian made. Has 30 or so jumbo frets encompassing a two and a half octave range. Upper frets beyond the 15th fret cover the mandolin territory, while everything below covers standard guitar scale. Body is masonite over a hardwood frame and is shaped similar to the Longhorn bass, with two sweeping horns and a short, stubby body. Includes two passive lipstick tube pickups and two concentric volume/tone knobs and a three way switch. Mine came dolled up in a cool purple-flake paintjob. It came with a good quality tweed coffin case to tote it around.

This is an unusual guitar. It sounds good when used as a regular guitar, but when you capo it above the 12th or 15th frets, it can do a reasonable electric mandolin imitation. Because the huge cutaways remove alot of mass from the body, this axe doesn't sustain as well as the 56-U2 and U3 models. It has a thinner tone with a weaker bass response. Using it as a mandolin can be fun, but you have to be judicious with it. The Guitarlin is pretty useless for high gain lead playing, but that's not what it was designed for anyway. It seems best suited for rhythm and fingerstyle playing. The pickups have a bright, twangy quality that I find very cool. Sort of Telecasterish with less low end bounce. They seem to sit well in any musical environment. They don't have much output, but are very articulate. As for noise, these pickups are no worse than any other Fender-style single coils I've used. What I like to use the Guitarlin for is slide playing. See below.

The workmanship of this axe, along with the other new issue Danos I've tried, is excellent for a guitar in this price range. The fretwork is godly, the paintjob is smooth and blurp-free, and the hardware seems rugged. My axe has good Schaller type tuners. I don't dig the cheesy plastic used for the knobs, and the binding tape around the side of the body needs to go. Otherwise, the Guitarlin is trashy in a good way.

This is a rugged guitar. I haven't had any problems so far. I try to be careful with the horns on the cutaways, since they look quite breakable.

This guitar works pretty well for rythm and fingerstyle work. The mandolin sounds are pretty convincing, but you have to have thin fingers to really take advantage of the highest frets. The Guitarlin is super lightweight. What I like this guitar for is slide work. I raised up the bridge on mine and put a Dobro conversion nut over the existing nut and tuned the Guitarlin to open D. The lipstick tubes are excellent for slide work because they have lots of midrange slice and gristle. The longhorn body alows you to travel effortlessly along the entire length of the neck, and the 30 frets guide your slide position all the way. I play it through a Bellari tube compressor/limiter, an Ibanez TS-9 and into a reissue Fender Deluxe Reverb. I use a 3/4" socket wrench for a slide. On top of all this though, the Guitarlin looks most cool. Jimmie Vaughn plays an original one occasionally, and for capturing the audience's attention you can't beat it. I play in a blues/R&B band, and everywhere I go a crowd forms around this axe during breaks. Everyone wants to know about it.