DANELECTRO 57

T
he Danelectro U2 was
just the second branded
model designed and
produced by company
founder Nathan Daniel
after making his name supplying
the American department stores
of the fi fties with musical
instruments. This new ’57 is
a faithful reproduction of that
landmark instrument, a model
that was only produced between
1956 and 1958 and, like the
majority of all Danos, it features
a semi-acoustic body composed
of a solid spruce framework with
a front and back of a type of
hardboard called masonite.
Also within is a spruce centre
block that supports a pair of
singlecoil lipstick pickups, designs
that can also be attributed to
Daniel. Back in the day he
sourced actual lipstick tubes
from cosmetics manufacturer
Max Factor and simply inserted
a magnet encased in copper wire
into the each one; he didn’t even
use a bobbin. Proceedings are
more sophisticated these days but
the concept is still the same, and
each uses an uncommon Alnico 6
magnet set within a chromed
brass/zinc tube.
The maple neck sports
a period-correct coke bottle
headstock and is a delight to play,
and both the pau ferro ’board and
the 21 medium frets have been
nicely fi nished too. Arguably the
best feature is that the pickups
are wired in series rather than in
parallel, meaning that, with the
toggle in the middle position, the
bridge pickup feeds into the neck
unit thus boosting the signal.
Compared to the sound the
isolated pickups provide, this gives
a gloriously fat tone that’s part
P-90, part Tele neck pickup; take
it from us, it’s a real treat to play
with. The ’57 reacts well to drive
settings, making it eminently
useable for blues styles, and
adding a gnarly fuzz really allows
you to go to town. Danos make for
excellent slide guitars and, with
some minor adjustments, that
goes for the ’57, too. Out of the box
the action is probably a little too
low, but if you were to string it
with a set of 12s, simply raise the
action via the saddles and carefully
straighten the resulting neck bow
with the truss rod.
The elephant in the room is
trumpeting far too loudly to be
ignored any further, so let’s
quickly address that price. We’d
concede that £799 is a hefty sum
for any new Dano, but our advice
would be to shop around as we’ve
spotted some pretty generous
online deals from a couple of
established retailers that would
make actually shelling out for
a new ’57 a far more palatable
proposition.
At the very least you should try
one; it sounds as good as it looks.
Simon Bradley
THE ’57 REACTS WELL TO DRIVE
SETTINGS; IDEAL FOR BLUES
DANELECTRO ’57
A ridiculously cool reissue of one of the
original American electric guitars
1
2
3
£799
AT A GLANCE
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
PLAYABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
Photography: Olly Cur tis
1
HEADSTOCK
The ’57 features
a coke bottle
headstock, so named
because of its shape.
Other headstocks
across the range
include the dolphin
nose and the
thermometer.
2
CONTROLS
The stacked
controls work really
nicely. The lower, larger
round regulates the
volume, leaving the
smaller upper pot for
the tone-shaping.
3
TOP
The perfectly-
named Limo black
finish is flawless.
How much more
black could it be?
The answer is none.
None more black...
BODY: Masonite front
and back with spruce
framework
NECK: Maple
SCALE: 635mm (25”)
FINGERBOARD: Pau
ferro, 14” radius
FRETS: 21
PICKUPS: 2x Alnico 6
Vintage 50s singlecoil
lipstick pickups
CONT ROLS: 2x
Dual-concentric
volume/tone pots
HARDWARE: Chrome
hardtail adjustable U3
bridge, vintage-style
Gotoh tuners
LEFT-HANDED: No
FINISH: Limo black
(reviewed), Jade
CASE: Not included
CONTACT: JHS,
www.jhs.co.uk/
danelectro
FEBRUARY 2021 TOTAL GUITAR
REVIEW
93
TGR341.gear_danelectro.indd 93 22/12/2020 12:03