Danelectro Innuendo

2001, Korean, 22 frets, Laminated 8 or 9 ply body (woods unknown), 1 vol, 1 tone, 2 effects knobs, 3 single coil passive pickups, 4 effects onboard!, reverse strat style body, old strat style tremelo bridge, Gotoh tuners, 25" scale length neck.

Sounds faboulous, especially considering the price of this guitar! The pickups are jangly in the 1, 3, & 5 positions, and absolutely gorgeous in the 2 & 4 positions. I don't know how they did it. The tone of this axe smoked every Mexican strat and most of the American strats at every music store I visited. Maybe I just got lucky? The sustain is very good, but falls just slightly short (but just slightly) of my best guitars at home. But the tone of this baby makes up for it. You get a great pu selection of punchy, sweet, mellow, rude and balanced. It sounds as good as the best of any of the guitars I have ever owned. Again, at this price, how do they do it?
I don't dislike anything about the sound of this guitar, and I especially love the price. Oh yeah, the effects. You get dist, chorus, tremelo, and delay. Pretty cool, and all sound great except for the dist. The drawback is that the chorus and delay have no control. You only get the one setting. The dist and tremelo have settings, but you have to really work the dist to get a half-assed sound. The tremelo is probably the best effect. You get total control over the speed. But all in all, the effects are cool because they give you a 60's analog vibe, that sound retro. The best thing about the sound of this guitar is that it just sounds good effects or no effects.

Very good in this every category. This guitar was built with care. I hate to say it, but the fit is as good as any Strat I ever saw. Every thing is tight and well fitting.

It's solid as a rock, just like a Strat.

No idea.

I have been playing for 25 years, and have never gotten such a good deal on a guitar. And I have had quite a few guitars. The quality of this this guitar is incredible at this price. Yeah, it's still just a plywood instument, but that doesn't keep it from ringing like a bell and sounding like God. I can play this beast all night and not get tired of it. Dano outdid itself on this model. It is easily as good sounding and well put together as many guitars priced at 4 times the cost.

Probably made in 2000. Korean? sure. why not. 22 frets. mosrite ventures styled body. three single coils. with built in 9-volt powered effects. distortion, tremolo, echo, and chorus. unsure of the wood used, but that hardly matters on a 150 dollar guitar like this. i have the blue/silver sparkle burst. tuners are upgraded from the other danno tuners. and it sports a fulcrum tremolo. mine came with amp in a bag gig bag. and a pedal tuner. quite a deal. no?

i play surf, punk, rock, noise. i really don't use the effects on the guitar, except the tremolo. i have tons of other effects units i can play with. and i rock it out through a fender reverb unit run into an ampeg v4. it isnt as noisy as i thought it would be. the only interferance it gets is the ceiling fan and computer. like my other guitars. the tone knob works well in conjunction with my distortion pedals for a really hollow sound. it can do just about what a basic strat can. with onboard effects to boot. i think its a bit more hollow than my tex mex strat.

set up wasn't bad. but, when i purchase a guitar from a major chain, i take them to get set up anyway. i don't trust major chain stores. got it back, lovely. nice low action. the pickups came back in a better position, sounded a bit thicker and louder. good stuff. finish is the blue/silver sparkle. cheap danno finish. i love it to death. people can whine all they want about the finish being a gimmick. the guitar does come in plain black you know. the set up fixed anything that could have been wrong with this guitar. it plays great.

i'm rather sure this guitar could withstand quite a few live performances with me. i'm afraid to use the tremolo because i hate fulcrum style trems. strap buttons are kind of a problem. but i fixed that with wood shavings, superglue. i use different guitars live, so... i always have two at a show. but i suppose, if in a pinch. i would use it without a backup.

i've been playing for... almost four years. i own a '68 mosrite celebrity. a 98 fender tex-mex strat. 99 ibanez rg-570 (yuck). takamine accoustic/electric, 2000 canary yellow/silver flake brownsville impala, danno dc-3, ampeg v4 tube head, '63 fender reissue reverb unit, boss dd-5 delay, danno dan echo, boss distortion, rat distortion, big muff, EH deluxe memory man, EH tube zipper, danno daddy-o overdrive, danno fab tone distortion, EH small stone phase shifter, vox wah, moog/realistic mg-1 synth.
this guitar is nice, i wish i could have been able to find a danno hodad with vibrato, it would have been better to me with the bigsby/gretsch style vibrato. more than that i wish i could actually afford an original mosrite ventures model over the hodad. but i dont have 2000 laying around. and the cheaper japanese copies are 7/8ths size, and look really funny on me. so overall i say this guitar is alright. not what i wished i could have bought, but for 150 dollars. i am not going to complain.

It's not a Strat type body,It's shape is that of a Mosrite!!!!!!!

This Dano is perhaps the most usable guitar I have ever owned, at $225. it seems a steal! Everyone who has read any of these reviews knows what it is made of. My Innuendo is nearly Flawless! The active electronics sound very quiet, I will record with this guitar. The pickups sound actually better than some strats that I have owned. I will not change them. The Dano Battery's actually sound better. The standard Duracell etc. last just as long but seem to have a harsh edge, I almost sold the guitar, but as a last resort I tried the Dano Bats. Sound funny to me I always felt a Battery is a battery, not so with this Danoblaster. Tuners are great stays in tune, don't use them trem, it feels real stiff. My particular Dano is very resonant. The solid body I think enhances the resonance. This guitar is heavy. I weighs about 2lbs more than my Tele. But what the hey!

The sound is great, There are sounds that I can not get with any of my other guitars. It sound great with a compressor, it really enhances the marbly sound, almost tele like. It sounds just as good if not more gutsy in passive mode, I really like the chop that you can get, almost jazzy sounds. I am current using this with a vox, and a crate as well as going direct through a RP100. I expect a lot from my guitars, playing as much as I do! This one is an fantastic, main or back up guitar for Oldies, blues, some retro contemporary sounds!

This guitar needed only a slight tweek on the truss rod. I wish they ahd put the access to it up by the tuners as, you have to remobe the neck. My suggestion is go a little at a time a quater turn in often enough to put the guitar in great playing shape.But very careful when removing the neck my neck joint is very tight, thought I might chip the paint ir break something, nope, this finish seems really tough! This guitars fit and finish is better than the 335 that I recently sold. The intonation was very close. Did need a tweek with a tuner the "D" was out a tad.

I have been playing it regularly, it's great. I bought it as a back up to my aging tele. I often play this instead. Can't put it down. The strap buttons on this we great as they were larger than most, don't need locks.

I e-mailed Danelectro, and recieved a reply one hour later, concerning the reverb, it squeels they are sending me a new pc board wow!

If this guitar was stolen, I would replace it! It's a keeper! Hey If you haven't tried it out or are driven by peer pressure you could wait 35 years to grow out of it as I did, or go and be your own person and buy something just because you like it! Danelectro is giving the little guy something for his or her money. This guitar is awesome!

This is a 2000 model, made in Korea. It has at least 3 frets and
no more than several hundred. I'm guessing 22. There are four knobs,
a pickup selector switch, and four buttons for effects.
It has two outputs, one with effects and one without. The woods are
cheap, plywoods. I think that the fretboard is mahogany but I'm not sure. It has a vibrato bar and a strat-like body.

This guitar is very fun, especially for the effects. It has
tremolo, chorus, distortion, and echo built-in. It is a bit
noisy. This is not a guitar for a professional musician. It's
a great toy however.

There are small cosmetic defects throughout the guitar.

This guitar is not made from premium components but you
get what you pay for. I broke the volume knob off in
my hand.

Danelectro sent me two free knobs in the mail. I had to assemble
and solder the new one on myself. (No biggie.)

I've been playing 20 years. This guitar is a rock monster.
But don't hit it too hard and keep some batteries
handy.

I just want to say that it apparently ISN'T plywood. Alright, here is my arguement: WHY don't they offer sunburst colors on cheap brands, such as rouge? Because they are made of plywood. It would be obvious if you put a flame/sunburst color on it, and would look terrorable. Innuendo offers a blue and black sunburst, and the baritone and 12-string models offer a beautiful flame red top or red sunburst. They AREN'T plywood.

Actaually, there is a way to change the gain on the distortion. Just lower the volume of the guitar while turning up the ampvolume.
Atleast it worked for me...

Blue Sparkle finish which isn't that bad, rosewood laminated on
maple neck which is wide and chunky. 3 single coils, 5way p/u selector. Fulcrum trem which is usable and the main reason for getting this guitar is the 4 built in effects. Distortion, chorus, tremolo, and echo. Has 9 volt battery compartment in the back. 2 output jacks one wet and one dry(great for splitting signal to 2 amps.) Tuners are alright and the guitar keeps in tune as long as you don't go nuts with the whammy bar.

I play everything blues, rock ,jazz, fusion, rockabilly, experimental,
funk, and tons of Frank Zappa. I play it with my Carvin X100 tube amp with reverb thru way too many effects to list here. I also use a Fender vibro champ and a Pignose(which the guitar sounds the best thru.)I think unamped it sounds good with nice resonance. Amped it sounds great for a $189 guitar. The distortion has a great cheesey sound and thick fuzz sound just play with the knob and find out. Chorus is nice and thick but only 1 speed, tremolo is very good and you can adjust the speed(my favorite effect on the guitar) and the echo is perfect for cheesy rockabilly sounds and it adds a ring modulation type sound when combined with the distortion. Overall I love this guitar.

Finish is nice, neck is a little sticky at first until you work it in. I got it off the showroom floor and its action was perfect for a cheap guitar. The strings were not 4 inches off the fretboard like most junk guitars, the bridge has adjustable saddles and the overall feel of the guitar is very nice.

I bought this guitar as a travel guitar to take with me on trips along with my pignose. I think it will not break if dropped many times and I think it is made rather well for 189$ I would gig with it as a backup and as a guitar for certain songs and abuse. I have the feeling I can abuse this guitar big time and won't have to worry about it being destroyed.

Have not dealt with them yet. I have heard some good things about them.

I got this baby for trips and playing outdoors and in any situation where I wouldn't want to bring my more delicate guitars. With a pignose it sounds fantastic and I have been playing it everywhere. Having the effects was key for me because I didn't want to haul my pedals with me and also the effects sound cool and sometimes cheesey which I like for certain stuff. I also know that it could be my kids 1st guitar because this thing will last forever. All they need to do is add an amp case and you have the perfect travel/beginner guitar.
Overall I love this guitar for its features, price and vibe, given its not as good as my Tele or Hamer SP, but for what I need it for its great.

I bought this Danelectro new in the Fall of 2000. The gloss black body is some type of wood ply or composite, shaped like a modified Strat, in a nice '60s design. Maple neck (non adjustable with satin finish), rosewood fingerboard, graphite nut, 3 single coils, 5 way switch/1 tone/1 volume (low budget but ok), trem. bridge (trem. is not really useful/stable), reasonable tuners. 4 built-in effects, distortion, chorus, tremolo, and echo (you have some control over the distortion and tremolo speed). The effects use a 9v battery, and you have an option to bypass using one plug over the other.

After a while I had the guitar set up by my luthier here in town, he had to reset the pickup heights, action, and a slight amount on the intonation (all minor work for pretty low cost). This guitar has some of the classic sound of a single coil Strat, but not completely the same. Average noise levels are coming from the single coils. The guitar has a surprisingly good bass response, I can actually feel it resonate when not plugged in (surprising to me at least). The effects are not as cheesy as they might sound, but I do admit the gain on the distortion is too much for me. I wish there was a way to tweak the thing to control the gain, but just the same some kid out there is going to find this most appealing (or ear splitting). Without the effects (bypass) the guitar is a nice knock off of a basic Strat. I'm not much of an electric player, but I wanted something with the Strat sound and reasonable playability. Works for me...

Like I said above I had the guitar go through a minor setup. I did find out from my luthier that the fret board was not completely 'flat' in the sense that a straight edge would 'see-saw' over some of the frets close to the 12th fret (but for $200 what do you expect - perfection). Actually I'd say the guitar was in pretty good shape coming out of the factory/store. It was worth the $30 to have a pro go through the finer aspect for me. I know that some people may be annoyed with the placement of the switch and trying to strum without hitting it. Try it first, then decide for yourself.

The guitar seems to be solid enough. I'm sure the thing would hold up fairly well in most conditions. The switch may not stand up to heavy use, but for me it's ok.

The guitar came with no instructions about the effects or the use of the knobs (although you could figure out quickly), but I emailed the folks at Danelectro. They promptly emailed back with the layout of the guitar and features. I appreciate that.

I'm not a big rocker, but this guitar does have a lot to offer. Here is my final take on the Innuendo:
I played a quite a few of the lower end guitars including the Mexican Strats, other Danelectros and most everything out there in the lower range. I chose this guitar before I knew about the award it had received (Editor's Choice). I chose it for a three reasons-a really nice feel to the neck (far superior to the other guitars I played), the similarity to a Strat (which I preferred), and finally, I knew that this guitar might one day be one I could give to my son or daughter if they decide to play. I actually agree with the person who thinks these might be collector items some day (maybe for nostalgic reasons only). The guitar is not a first class axe in the sense of a real Strat, but I really don't think you can come closer in this price range plus have the option of the built in effects. I would buy one again for my kids or myself. If you can find them down in the $150 to $180 range then that's great. If you want a decent low budget Strat try out this guitar.

One of the new Danelectro strat models with the 4 different effects built in. I first saw these danelectros last year and I thought what odd looking guitars this company makes. They looked like something from the 60's but judging from the reviews in here I was convinced to buy one.....I always had a tendency to buy guitars without playing them for some reason. I had a plywood body guitar before and it was super loud so I had no fears straying away from a solid body guitar. This guitar is made in Korea....hummm the thought just struck me if fender made a guitar like this the could charge whatever they wanted but mine was at an almost giveaway price of 175 dollars and this included no shipping charges and no tax. Hell, I just bought a harmonica a few weeks ago that cost 150 dollars so I did not flinch one bit giving the credit card number out!he he! Mine is the blue sparkle color. The sparkles look gimicky, but I suppose I will get used to it. Some say the buttons and pick up selector get in the way while playing, yes I suppose if you strum like Pete Townsend but for most people I don't think the pick up selector position and the one knob thats also to close to the strings will be to much of a problem.

I was looking for more of a 60's sound, something different but similar to a fender strat which was my second choice. It has a chorus, tremelo, distortion and echo effect all built in. You say to gimicky? well yes I thought so to till I played it with the effects on and then you realize it is no gimmick but purely functional except for the distortion effect which has a very nasally sound but maybe its more of a 60's distortion sound which would explain its unusual tone. This guitar sounds great and I understand why it won an award from one of the magazines. You start to mix the different effects and yes there is some noise but nothing that bad...nothing out of the ordinary in my opinion. The pickups sound good and lively and I dont think I will ever have to replace them. If your looking for a 60's type of sound this is the guitar to buy.

This is an economy guitar but it's finish is very good. If you buy one I would not worry about any quality problem like you might on a squier or some other inexpensive guitar. The guitar is set up well I can find no flaws the way it was delivered.

I just play for myself and have been doing so for 15 years. If I was playing live with it sure I would bring a back up...you know the old boy scout moto...be prepared!

Dont know about that. Everthing works fine as delivered. There is a waranty maybe 6 months or a year I forget.

I had a noise accident at work that caused some hearing loss a few weeks ago the same time my guitar was delivered but my hearing is starting to come back now fortunatly so I hope I can play more music than I have been. I play this guitar and I think I'm strumming something very special and I cant beleive I bought this thing for 175 dollars. If you like the 60's guitar sound jump on this guitar but if your gig is heavy metal look elsewhere. I have reviewed 4 guitars and this is my most positive review I've given.