Danelectro 57

reviewDANELECTRO ’57 GUITAR & ’59 DIVINE
97
OCTOBER 2020 GUITARIST
’59 Divine
Thanks to Jimmy Page, the double-cutaway
‘shorthorn’ design will be burned into
every guitarist’s psyche for evermore.
And judging by the number of shorthorn
models currently offered, it’s easily the most
popular. Modelled on the top-of-the line
1959 Deluxe (originally the model 6026),
construction here is identical to the ’57 –
shape aside, of course – although here the
gloss cream finish covers top, back and sides
and we have a brown binding to the top and
back edges. Another difference, certainly
on the other two ’59 Divine colour options
(Dark Walnut and Flame Maple), are wood
veneers on the top and back.
The same ‘Coke bottle’ headstock is
retained. The pickguard would originally
have been white or walnut-painted
Masonite that was glued to the top but here
it’s a rather sharp-edged brown opaque
plastic that’s screwed to the top.
Danelectro used a different number of
screws to secure the necks on its various
models back in the day and that’s reflected
here with five screws on the ’57 and four
UNDER THE HOOD
50s models for today’s musician
B
oth guitars have rear-mounted controls. The ’57’s are
accessed via a circular plastic plate held in place by a single
central bolt, screwing into a metal bracket that isn’t fixed to
anything: it’s a simple clamp that’s not easy to screw back in after
you’ve removed it. The ’59’s smaller cavity has a coverplate and three
screws – both follow the original designs.
Both also use dual concentric stacked pots that allow you to see
the unusual values when removed: the volume uses a linear taper
B100kohm pot; the tone is a log taper A1Meg (1,000kohms) with a
0.1microfarads tone cap. So the volume’s value is clearly designed
to tame some of the highs, and the tone allows a wide taper with
considerable roll-off. Although the plastic television-style knobs on the
’57 feel a little insubstantial they do work well – especially the tone.
However, the ’59 is wired in reverse: the larger outer control knob
affects the tone and the top pointer knob the volume. It’s not wired
incorrectly and the pots are stacked in the opposite manner. The
knobs here do seem even more flimsy and that pointer knob points
in towards the bridge; on all the original Dano brochures they mostly
pointed outwards. It’s easy to change, which we did.
Originally, you’d see these electronics wrapped in copper foil,
and by 1962 Danelectro promoted ‘Total Shielding’ “from static
and interference caused by neon, flashing lights, motors, other
nearby noise sources”, says Dano. Remember, Nat Daniel was a
skilled electronics engineer and during World War II he worked as
a civilian engineer. In the
Neptune Bound: The Ultimate Danelectro
Guitar Guide
book, his son Howard relates that “he found a simple,
economical way to equip military jeeps and motorcycles with
shielding to prevent the electronic ‘noise’ their engines generated
from interfering with the reception of critical battlefield radio
messages”. Perhaps deemed less important today, there’s no
shielding here with the exception of some foil on the ’59’s coverplate.
The ’59 Divine uses
the same circuit but
the stacked pots’
values are reversed
Inside the ’57 you can
see the stacked volume
and tone controls
These stacked controls are a
bit part of the Dano recipe. On
the ’57, the larger outer knob
controls volume; the smaller,
upper knob is for tone. The
stack closest to the three-way
toggle switch is for the neck
pickup; below that the second
stack is for the bridge pickup
VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
GIT464.rev_dano.indd 97 03/09/2020 17:09