Danelectro Hodad 12-string

Hodad body styled electric 12-string, with three "lipstick" single coils, wired in series, and a "blow" switch to engage them all at once. The body is plywood framed, with masonite back and top, a thick black/gold metal flake finish, and plastic edge binding. The neck is maple, with a rosewood fretboard. The tuners are non-locking Gotoh, in chrome. A nice feature is the individual bridges for each string, as opposed to Dano's other twelve, with only six bridges. No suprise, given the design, but this guitar is slightly neck heavy. In another review of this guitar, it was suggested that a bit of weight be placed behind the electronics cover, and I'll probably do that. That said, this is a nice, basic twelve-string electric, at a low price.

Nice "jangly" sound (what else, it IS a twelve-string, after all!). No sustain to speak of, but my compressor fixed that right up. A Danelectro compressor into a Vox Pathfinder practice amp works quite well for this guitar. Besides the obvious Byrds and Beatles things, this guitar comes in handy for old, pre-disco Rod Stewart (think of the intro to Maggie May, You Wear It Well, or Every Picture Tells a Story). The pickups are quiet (no 60-cycle hum), and the bridge setting (Selection 6) is nice and bright. A very good sounding guitar for it's price.

Adequate set-up from the factory, and a trip to my local luthier set everything to my preferences. All the parts were tight, well-fitted, and in pretty good adjustment on arrival.

I think this guitar would hold up to live playing, after all, you probably won't use this guitar for every song.

Well, my dream guitar is a Rickenbacker 330/12 (what my wife refers to as my "Wayne's World" guitar: "IT WILL BE MINE), but for the money, this is a nice electric twelve. If it got lost, or stolen, I'd buy another, it's an in-expensive way to enjoy the a fairly specialized sound. While not as versatile as a Strat, an LP, etc, it creates that folk-rock sound that my ears sometimes crave. Dano seems to have a talent for building inexpensive, but fun, guitars and effects, and this guitar fits right into that mold.

6 position tone selector knob, 3 pickups, aluminum nut, metal bridge, adjustable, neck does not appear adjustable, gotoh mini tuners

sound is bright, playing through fender '50s deluxe amps, one pickup position setting is dirty and distorted, probably by design, very interesting, 3 pickups, but only 2 position pickup switch! I guess you get either the front two, or rear two pickups, middle is always engaged?

setup well, pickups are close to strings, intonation is very close. feels neck heavy, becase body is so light, probably some composite/plastic/veneer, definitely not solid wood for the body. paint appears ok, no rattles, but definitely a fragile feeling compared to fender strat, tele, and gibsons.

see above. for the price, it has a great sound and seems solid if not abused. stays in tune well for now, am contemplating some slightly beefier light 10s (comes with 9s to 42 (9/9, 11/11, 16/8, 24/11, 32/17, 42/22)

no contact

Have several other guitars, but this is my first 12-string. I like it. It was inexpensive (relatively), and has a good sound. It is not built like a fender, it seems more fragile and light.

Purchased Sept, 2000, came in perfect conditon, hollow body with laminated top...it is somewhat neck-heavy but I can live with it. Tone is super! String gauges are uniquely just right for me. I've been playing Ernie Ball lights and the danelectro set is better. The selectomatic has great choices of pickup configurations. Neck and size is better than any other that I've played. Bridge and tuners are very good quality.

I play a Fender Hot Rod Deville (4x10) and a wide array of country rock styles. This hodad is great on country and classic rock tunes. Mine is the black/gold beautiful finish.

Haven't found any flaws yet.....action is excellent for a twelve string. no problems with any of it.

Metal strap buttons, Neck is near perfect, tone and volume controls work well. But the body does seem a bit fragile since it is not a solid body. It arrived in a cardboard box..for now I keep it in a padded bag, but I plan to order the tweed hardshell case for it this week. If it gets dropped or stepped on, it may be a catastrophe. I've played this thing for about 5 shows and it plays great. It's a keeper.

I purchased the extended warranty from Musicians' Friend...they've been good about returns in the past. I hope this hodad will not need any repairs....but it is a cheaper guitar than I'm used to. I would definitely buy another if it came down to that. If you like electric 12 strings, this one will please you.

I've been playing 12 strings (acoustic and electric) since 1965...I was fasinated by the Byrds' sound. I emailed the Danelectro company and asked some questions about the neck and pickups before ordering, and they answered in about 3 days and were helpful. I've played several models of electric 12 strings, including gibson, fender, and ibanez...this one beats them in all categories.

Brand new from the factory. Made in Korea. Wide straight neck, perfect frets. Comfortable to play. Flawless finish (Midnight Blue). Reasonably balanced between neck and body. 3 dano lipstick pickups with varitone switch provides lots of tonal combinations easily. Very clean and resonant sounds.

Can replicate virtually any 12 string sound with the exception of a fat Gibson 12-string (335 style), from very trebly to warm acoustic tones. Lots of variation tonal-wise.

Guitar had to be set-up by technician for string intonation. Bridge, nut and saddles needed minor work. Neck was straight and didn't need resetting. From factory, intonation was off but is now absolutely perfect all the way up the neck. Finish was flawless.

Goo quality throughout.

Took a real long time getting the axe from the factory to the seller. I purchased it over the Net. UPS lost the package, then found it again. No damage occurred during shipping. Probably wasn't the fault of the factory.

Tried all kinds of 12-strings over the years. Rick has too narrow a neck and felt like balsa wood. Originally bought the earlier model Dano 12 (2 pickups) but sold it to get the Hodad model. This is absolutely the best 12 string for the money, very comfortable neck, good sound, I love it!

great

great

Problem: neck heavy. I'm thinking of putting a piece of lead inside. (there's a little chrome cover at the back on the control cavity)

great

I posted 4 or 5 questions on the Dano website a week ago; still waiting.

I wonder what will happen if I reverse the strings, like on a Rick.The sound will probably get thinner as the thin strings must go through the body instead of the thick ones. Anybody who did this, or can predict the result soundwise?
I'm thinking of putting an onboard compressor inside; is the orange squeezer any good?

Brand new 2000 model Hodad 12string guitar. It has the Hodad body style, like a Mosrite shape. It has three lipstick pickups, a rotary six position pickup selector, and a blow sitch that harnesses all three pickups in series for a humbucker sound. It has a fixed adjustable bridge and Gotoh tuners. Neck is maple with rosewood fretboard. Body is semihollow plywood frame with masonite top and back. It also has concentric volume and tone knobs. Lots of cool toys, espcially all the switching choices.

This is again where this guitar shines. Compared with the other 3 pickup Danos, this one has its pickups pushed more toward the bridge. This helps give it more of a bright sound. And bright it is! It has the jangly shimmering tonalities you would expect out of a 60s style 12 string electric. Its easy to nail the Rickenbacker sound, and for less than a third the cost! The guitar cant get very deep and rich sounding, but thats not why you buy a 12string. It still sounds full, as long as you dont select the bridge pickup alone, which is a sort of useless setting. The blow switch gives a humbucker sound with a little less treble bite, more volume, and a thicker sound when you need to have the Jimmy Page "stairway to heaven" 12 string sound. Surprisingly my guitar is quite quiet. I expected a noisy buzzer of a guitar. But overall very pleasing in this area.

Great set up, plays great for a 12 string guitar. Havent spotted any flaws yet. This is all pretty amazing for a cheap import guitar. The best thing in this category is the fact that the neck is wide and playable, as compared to the unnaturally thin and cramped necks on the Rickenbackers. Also its very light. And the finish is deep blue pearl, a real dark sparkley blue. Nice.

Ok here I'm pretty confident. This is one of the very few Danos to actually have real strap buttons. Yes, good solid metal ones that wont rip out whenever they feel like it. It is a hollow masonite guitar though, probably couldnt stand that much abuse, but I love it far too much to find out. I give it a 9.

I emailed frequently a guy called Pat McGinnis, he was very helpful in helping me find this guitar. Pretty good service. Of course I was buying a guitar, who knows what theyd be like if I wanted to return it because of a problem.

A great "novel" instrument to give me a break from stereotyped clean strat sounds and crunchy les paul tones. Very cool...I may not use this guitar all the time, but I have a feeling I am falling deeply in love with it. So much new territory to cover with this new instrument. Again, VERY VERY cool. If somebody stole it I would choke them to death with an 80/20 bronze 54 gauge string. I love this guitar.