Danelectro 57

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OCTOBER 2020 GUITARIST
reviewDANELECTRO ’57 GUITAR & ’59 DIVINE
W
hile there are probably
enough tomes written on the
big brands from the 50s and
60s to fill a small library, Danelectro and
the guitars and amps that the company
made – also under both the Silvertone
and Airline brand names – are far less
documented. Thankfully, Doug Tulloch’s
Neptune Bound: The Ultimate Danelectro
Guitar Guide, originally published in 2008
by Centerstream Publications, is the bible
for anyone interested in the unique story of
Danelectro, ourselves included. And as we
paraphrase elsewhere in this feature, it’s
quite a story. While repros of many original
models have been in circulation since
1998 – a far longer period than Danelectro
originally made guitars – it seems we still
can’t get enough of these unique designs.
Every year, the Dano owners release a
trickle of new designs and it’s about time
someone started to document these!
Our review duo was launched back at
the start of 2020, along with the more
Mosrite-inspired ’66 12 String, some left-
handed models and that latest incarnation
of the ‘Page’ ’59M NOS+ with an expanded
choice of colours. But both of our new
guitars here look rather familiar, don’t
they? Let’s take a closer look.
’57 Guitar
Nat Daniel’s take on the affordable
production electric guitar was not a million
miles away from what Leo Fender was
creating on the other side of the continent:
a single-cutaway, slab-bodied electric with
a 21-fret bolt-on neck and two single-coil
pickups. The ‘peanut’ shape we see here is
slightly larger than the Telecaster: 457mm
(18 inches) long, 367mm (13.25 inches)
wide and 41mm (1.6 inches) deep compared
with the Telecaster (whose measurements
are closer to 400mm/15.75 inches long,
324mm/12.77 inches wide and 45mm/1.8
inches deep). The design went through a
couple of incarnations, beginning in 1954,
before it found its stride as the U series of
1955 introducing the famous Masonite-
topped, semi-solid body construction.
Our ’57 is effectively based on the 1957
U-2 (there was a single-pickup U-1 and
triple-pickup U-3 plus a U-2 six-string bass
that was introduced in 1956) and in basic
style isn’t very different from numerous
contemporary models we’ve seen over the
past two decades. As per the original we
have the distinct ‘Coke bottle’ headstock
and the clear plastic ‘D’ logo’d pickguard.
Exactly what body materials Danelectro
uses today isn’t offered up on the
company’s website, although the top
and back are definitely some kind of
compressed wood, approximately 3.5mm
thick, which looks more like MDF than
hardboard or the original Masonite.
“Masonite is, of course, a brand name
for pressed wood,” says Evets’ Steve
Ridinger. “I think today many people call
that material MDF. For our guitars we
use a much more dense type of pressed
wood than what might be commonly
called MDF. The benefit of the hardboard
material is it increases body resonance.
DANELECTRO ’57 GUITAR & ’59 DIVINE £799 & £899
CONTACT JHS PHONE [phone] WEB www.danelectro.com
What You Need To Know
Are Danos still made from plywood
and hardboard?
Back in the 50s, Danelectro pioneered
a very different construction using
a wood frame (poplar and/or pine)
topped front and back with Masonite,
better known in the UK as hardboard.
These new models use a “semi-hollow
body with centre block…[with] a
composite/solid wood construction”.
These don’t seem particularly
cheap, do they?
Agreed. Since owners the Evets
Corporation started making reissues
of the originals back in 1998, prices
have slowly crept up. The guitars
are made in Korea, not China, and
with the exception of the tuners use
virtually zero ‘off the shelf’ parts.
Our models also feature upgraded
Vintage 50s pickups.
Do they still offer the ‘Page’ model?
Yes, currently it’s the ’59M NOS+
(from £599) based on Jimmy Page’s
original Danelectro 3021, first
introduced in ’58. Page’s guitar is built
from two originals and was modded
with Grover open-back tuners and a
Leo Quan Badass bridge. If you’re in
any doubt about what a Danelectro
can do, find Led Zepp at Knebworth on
YouTube: Kashmir is Dano-powered!
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VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
GIT464.rev_dano.indd 95 03/09/2020 17:09