Silvertone U1

hollow masonite with mandolin/banjo? tuners, steel nut (cant be aluminum can it?...too deadening) 2 knobs and a clear pickguard.

unbelievable orig. rosewood neck with orig. tuners

lipstick pickup...i guess its all orig....looks like its been in a closet almost coke bottle headstock

this neck and its action is really amazing...i mean how many old teiscos, voxs, kays or generally old gits have you tried with crazy high action or warped necks etc...this u1 really has blown away all the old gits i have tried...plays like a dream.

my sound is basically unfiltered guitar sounds...clean and spanky to jazzy...rarely use any stompboxes

having gone through teles, jags, strats of all makes, this is definitely special and a keeper...i sold a 335 with single coils cause the silvertone sounded better, i cant even believe this but the ears dont lie A TONE MACHINE!!! from one pickup? I guess its like they say...its where you put it, and the hollow body prob. adds a lot.
punchy sound from my tube amps, if you want to run through a mesa with mega distortion it also sounds great..though i dont really do that i tried it with an ibanez artist...no contest, dano suits me better in all regards...full sounding, brightish but not tele bright..i consider it the best alternative to a tele out there

heres the conundrum
how can all these semi-cheesy parts come together as a whole to make one of the best axes ever made???!!!! I really dont know but its like taking a pile of junk and turning it into the chrysler building.
2 bolts on the neck? tuners bridge and nut that looks like it came from uncle eds barn? but damn if it doesn't all work like a charm...I call it the miracle.
Action is impeccable, no real flaws which really kills me...all the 80's crap guitars i went through barely lasted 3 years without electronics or frets going dim...this thing is a miracle of standing the test of time.

if playing on a stage and getting bumped around i dont see how it could last long...HOWEVER it has so far lasted bout 50 years so...im impressed. the finish looks like brown housepaint (without brush marks) but everything seems good enough. paint has worn near bridge but cmon...whatcha want ??

um, NO
the new versions are not the old versions and dano may have good customer support now but i do believe these fass outside of their warranty eh?

i would definitely buy one again Think of it this way, of all the 20k plus teles strats etc...from this era what the hell can you afford? I doubt you could get anything modern to sound like this...definitely not the reissues. but for the price of these its almost embarrassing that people still sell them so cheap..i mean I chose this over a vintage tokai, jag, 335, and others i sold to make room for just 3 gits...i have to give this a 10...you wont know till you play one through a tube amp.

The brown body model...no features to speak of but everything on it comes together to make a unique and very desirable sound. Gave up an early model telecaster ...just never used it after getting this thing...cause its twangy but with more bottom end.

wow. this is one of those things thats "you just have to play it to understand" preferably with a tube amp...but whatever you play it through its unique and perfect in its own way. reissues are not even close. i think the aluminum nut, hollow body, nice nice nice rosewood THICK fretboard with the thinnish maple backing all combine with the lipstick pickup and ITS LOCATION make it one for the history books in sound.

surprisingly great action...finish of mine is good but i imagine paint comes off masonite pretty easily. everything fits together very well...USA manufacturers back in the day...they made them right.

it seems pretty solid, very solid if you take care of it, if not, i wouldn't use it as a main axe on stage.

huh?

gotta give it a 10 for what it sounds like. after going through at least 80 guitars in my life have settled on this one, a nice strat and a cheap 335 ripoff that plays great.... hard to go wrong with one of these, so easy to set up and just play forever

Late 50's U-1. The previous reviewers have done a spledid job of detailing the quirky features that make these guitars what they are.

Dano/Silvertones......you either get it, or you don't. I'm proud to say, I get it!

Rating these on features is pretty tough compared to "real" guitars. Suffice to say, many fine players cut their teeth ( and continue to coax stellar tones from ) these cheesy beauties. I will say this, a Dano/Silvertone hollow masonite lipstick tube pickup'd guitar will ALWAYS have a place in my tone arsenal. Don't care if I only had two guitars...one would be a Dano type.

Tone.....such a subjective word. I love the tone supplied by lipstick tube pickups. Rich, jangley, funky, greasy tones that ooooooze da blues. Run through a variety of tube and solid state amps the inherent tone of the U-1 never fails to please. Whether playing blues licks, altered tunings, slide, jang/pop chords....you name it, this little beaut gives up the tone in spades. The happy accident/marriage of low output, alnico mags stuffed in a metal tube mounted to a cheap, masonite body and even cheaper hardware, continues to imprss and inspire.

I paid $25 for this thing in 1977. For the prehistoric bridge design and tuners, it intonates and stays in tune remarkebly well.

Well...it's damn near 50 years old and still going strong....hell, I'm 51 and falling freaking apart! I dare say, this gem is holding up better than me!

Ha...a ha ha......BWWWWWAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

I've been playing nearly 35 of my 51 years. I own a butt load of guitars from cheap, off the wall pawn shop gems to custom built beaut to wonderful vitnage teles, strats and 335's. As stated above, the uniqu features, looks and tone supplied by dano style guitars wormed it's way into my heart years ago and contiunes to have a hold on me. I have a nice 'upgraded' copy of an amp-in-case silvertone gutiar and I love that little bugger too. Now that I have that one, I can dedicate this one to slide. Dano/Silvertones make wonderful instruments for slide. If you ever have a chance to own an original....hell...even a re-issue or one of the several clones,.....by all means do it. While these guitars are not for everyone, if you spend some quality time with one, I think you'll really like what you feel and hear. These things get a huge 10 in my book for their uniquness and unequalled tone.

By far my favorite guitar in my harem of axes. I picked up this Copper/Bronze 1961 Silvertone for a song at a pawnshop just based on an a quick acoustic test, and a look down the neck for warpage. This guitar was made in the ole Neptune NJ Factory(Garage?). The body is Masonite, with what probably is pine or poplar wood inside this otherwise hollowbody guitar. The neck is very thin, and soem of the finish has worn off. The Brazilian Rosewood neck is lightly radiused like newer pro-guitars. The body testifies to a life of hardrocking and utilitarian servitude. The orginal tuners actually hold the tuning. The neck intonates perfectly, and this I can't play a bad note on this guitar, no style is exempt from this guitars massive scope.

I have a few other guitars. My Jaguar works for a lot of stuff. Oddly enough it's great for 40's/50's style Bebop, as well as surf/metal/punk/no-wave, but this guitar can do anything, except provide enough juice to properly operate an envelope filter of any kind (won't do it, no sir, no how. I've used this guitar on countless projects ranging from Street Punk (oi oi), thrash punk, dub/rocksteady, classic rock, cuntry, and wild experimental stuff.
The selector is odd, in that; in the middle position the tone knob is bypassed and the pickup is controlled only by the Volume knob, In the down position the tone knob works and in the up position it doesn't seem to do anything. Maybe they were made like that?

I think those cats in Neptune got it right the first time with this design. the Dolphin headstock provides a straight breaking angle off the aluminum nut, and therefore it stays in tune, quite well, even in the future world of 2005.

LAst year I dropped this guitar on the headstock and while it did gain an extra mark of charactor, it didn't go out of tune. I take really good care of my guitars and I can personally tech them if anything goes wrong, so yeah this girls gonna scream as long as I'm around.

I also use it without a backup all the tiem because I know it's infuckingdestructable.

um, what?

I've been playing since the dawn of time. I own 15 (or so?) guitars, most are trash, but I make them work. I like that this is the greatest guitar ever made, but I'm bummed out that the prices are going up.

technically, it is a 1416 from 1960, most would call it a U-1. it is a rebadged danelectro, made in neptune, new jersey. you know the story....basic, but it's supposed to be that way!!!

this sounds like no other guitar out there. amazing guitar for the blues. i'll never part with it.

it had been repainted, but was originally black. factory set up? are you kidding? it's 44 years old!!!

all danelectros have amazing necks that will never go out of true. this one's frets are perfect too. plays super easy, yet you can totally play it hard.

it's lasted this long. i see no reason why it won't be here when jesus returns.

danelectro went out of business in 1969. the new company only has it's name.

anyone who spends money on a danelectro reissue is an idiot in my opinion. you can still find real ones. and sometimes pay less!!! killer bang for the buck guitar.

i want to thank everyone who would rather have a vintage gibson of fender for leaving dano's and dano/silvertones alone.

if you find one, get it!!!

Mine is a bronze (copper) Danelectro U1 styled Silvertone 1417, single lipstick tube pickup, full scale, volume, tone, tone phase switch (use it like a kill switch to go from mellow tone to brighter without having to turn the knob). Has the dolphin nose styled headstock versus the 3 on a side 50's U1's, as well as the curved heel in the cutaway versus the angled earlier ones. Serial Number places it in mid '61. The usual Danelectro specs concerning non-adjustable truss rod, masonite top & pine frame, rosewood fingerboard etc..I like keeping it simple and this guitar is definitely that.

WOW! I play blues, bottleneck slide style. I have a Dano Shorthorn Standard (The J. Page style with 1 pickup), and loved the way that sounds. I like this one even better, probably due to the single cutaway, larger body, has a deeper, fuller tone than the doule cutaways. The volume was a little scratchy when going direct into the amp, which is a Gibson scout (the guitar came without the aluminum backplate, which probably let dust in I'm sure, so I had to blow it out with computer air, and make a new backplate from sheet metal. Doesn't do it anymore. This guitar is great for blues, reggae, country, surf, slide, probably anything depending on your style and preferences.

Had to shim the neck due to a slight warp around the 12th fret. The action waas able to go low enough, but the bridge had to be as low as it could go. I keep my action a little high, enough for slide, but try to keep it low enough for conventional fingering. I love the fat & flat radius on the neck. The body finish has held up pretty well over the last 43 years (love that aged bronze!) no hum, fret are well seated, cheapo tuning keys stay in tune but can be a drag getting new strings in tune.

I would definitely gig this one without a backup, so long as I got to the tech to double check the wiring etc... this pup was under $40 when it was new, and has lasted and then some (got way better tone now!) No plastic strap buttons on this one, they used the real bell shaped metal ones on this model. I'm sure this guitar has been played alot, but also cared for, not like some you see out there.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I've been playing for about 18 years, and had some of the best guitars, this one has totally become my favorite. If it was lost I would be heart broken, this particular model is my favorite of the U1 styled Dano's, due to the better hardware, curved cutaway, dolphin nose headstock etc...they are getting rarer so I'm glad I got mine

Bought (used!) on Dec. 30 1998

From what I was able to scrounge up on the web:
Model 1419, made in fall of 1959.
Masonite body, poplar bolt-on neck, brazilian rosewood fingerboard, non-adjustable steel truss rod. PUP: alnico bar magnet with copper wire wrapped in brown tape, mounted in surplus chrome-plated lipstick tube (aka. lipstick pickup!). Stainless steel bridge with rosewood saddle. White plastic button tuners. 1 volume, 1 tone, 3 way toggle. And of course the body is all hollow inside :)

Mine came with an -old- "hard" shell case. Pretty wimpy case, so I bought the modern Danelectro gig bag, which seems more protective! Also, this was refretted prior to purchase, so the frets were all nice, but the paint is worn off along the back of the neck and front of the body (where your forearm rests).

All the needed features, but the tuners aren't all that smooth, but still tune fine. It has a thin neck and fairly flat fret radius (both of which I like). And light as a feather :)

I really dig the sound of this... can get a fairly warm sound up to a really crisp one. You can get *really* funky with this thing! I use a very basic setup: guitar to Danelectro overdrive (daddy-o) to Dean Markley K75 amp. I don't feel this guitar works well for dirty grungy heavily distorted music, but is great for blues to jazz to funk and "cleaner" rock.

One thing I noticed though is that the tone knob does has very little noticeable effect for the upper half (like 5 sounds the same as 10 if there were numbers). So I replaced that pot with a lower value (30K IIRC) so as to have more control over the tone... there is pretty much just one tone setting I keep in at anyways (and just use the toggle). There's sort of a cross-over point from too muddy to clear on the dial, and just as soon as it stops being muddy is where I like it at. Pure funk :D

The Acoustic Music Shop is fabulous! When they acquired it (from a pawn shop), they cleaned it up, refretted it, and set it up perfectly, ready to sell to me :) Mine is a solid black paintjob, with it heavily work away on the neck and a bit where my forearm rests (I doubt any of the wear is from me though). The varnish (or whatever the clear finish is called) seems pretty think/hard and isn't going anywhere. This is not your "oh-so-sexy PRS" type of guitar... I see it more as the old beater you can wail on and get awesome tone from... its age just adds to its charm and looks perfect for that purpose!

Will it last?!? Well it's lasted 40+ year of who knows what kind of abuse, so I think that pretty much speaks for itself! Oh, I had one strap button replaced early on where I bought it from (free of charge), I think because the original one was loose and making me edgy. I've only used this for about 10-15 gigs, but with no problems at all, and without a backup. I may joke around about this falling apart at any moment, but I have totaly faith in this guitar.

LOL

The Acoustic Music Shop is great though, takes care of anything I need. Very friendly and helpful. But this section's for the manufacturer, which I doubt exists anymore!

I've been playing guitar for about 8 years now, and this is my 4th and latest guitar. The only other guitar of note is the Epiphone Les Paul, which is a great guitar, but not as versatile, and not so much the sound I like, plus the LP weighs about 3x as much! I'm currently looking at getting a hollowbody to add on, but if this one suddenly vanished, I'd be heartbroken, and would definitely try and find another same model to replace it with. This is a great guitar to have overall, and if I were to stick in "for the money", it's got to be one of the best available!

This is a 1958 Silvertone U1, single lipstick pickup (in the neck position) LP shaped guitar. It has one volume, one tone, and a little pickup selector style switch that bypasses the tone control when switched to the "middle" position. Nice feature.

It sounds very different than your average single coil guitar.
It is very good at all styles of music, except metal (it wasn't made for metal anyway). I use it to play blues, jazz, and funk (very good for funk). I can get any sound out of this one lipstick tube pickup that I want, from a deep jazz tone, to a "Jangly" rockabilly sort of tone.
I can actually get a very convincing humbucker tone out of this pickup also. Very versatile.

This guitar is worn, and I have no fears of wearing it out even more.
The quality is amazing, much better than the "reissue" (I prefer to call them "cheap imitation") models. Everything on this guitar is rock solid, and I know it can stand up to any live playing I can dish out. Anybody out there looking to buy a new reissue should look at an original, they blow away the reissues in every possible way.

The real Danelectro/Silvertone company is long out of buisness.

I've been playing for 6 yrs, and I have 7 guitars. This guitar is my "number 2", with my Strat being "number 1". I love this guitar, and if it was ever stolen, I would try to find who took it and I would ---insert most manly man testosterone filled response here---, and then I would try to replace as best as I could, although it could never be truly "replaced" as all old Silvertones are different.

If you ever have the chance to buy a late 1950s Silvertone U1, do it! These guitars are VERY underrated in the vintage guitar community, and can still be had for very low prices.