Danelectro 57
101
OCTOBER 2020 GUITARIST
reviewDANELECTRO ’57 GUITAR & ’59 DIVINE
the mids a little but still with a punchy
clarity that reminds us of Supro’s Vistatone
single coil: sparkle, some balls and quite
a gnarly grind. For many, this is the Dano
sound and you can use the volume and tone
stacks to subtly shade what you’re hearing.
Obviously in the same camp, the ’59
sounds just a little spikier at the bridge,
the neck has more clarity (not surprisingly
bearing in mind its position) and the series
mix sounds marginally more focused.
Through a clean amp with lashings of
reverb and some tremolo, you’re in a David
Lynch film soundtrack with either model:
hugely evocative. Add a little hair and
the quite dynamic voice breaks up nicely.
Kicking in various overdrives and fuzzes
helps to beef up the sound but the general
bass-light character, as well as the bright
attack, is really quite distinct. While these
very 50s/60s sounds are probably the main
appeal, plug into a seemingly inappropriate
and gusty gained Marshall-y voice and the
sound is pretty spectacular: grimy, punky,
and Stooges garage-rock in spades.
The stacked volume/tone controls take
some getting used to and the ’59’s pointer
knobs especially feel a bit Toy Town; it’s
easy for that pointer knob to catch the
raised indicator of the lower tone knob so
both volume and tone move together. It’s
also plain confusing that the ’59’s functions
are reversed (see Under The Hood, page 97).
The ’57’s controls do feel better behaved.
Even if we could, we’re not sure we’d head
to a stage with the ’59 as is. Well, not unless
we had some gaffer tape handy. The actual
tapers are okay, though, especially the range
of the tone. As set, the neck pickups on both
are louder than the bridge but on the ’59
especially it gives three distinct levels as
well as sounds: bridge, neck, both.
Plug the ’59 into
a gusty gained
Marshall-y voice and
the sound is pretty
spectacular: grimy,
punky, garage-rock
5. These new Vintage 50s
single coils are unique
to the ’59 Divine and
’57 models. They switch
to an Alnico 6 magnet
and the famous lipstick
tube covers are thinner
and made of a slightly
different material
6. It’s always good to see
a proper metal jack plate
on any electric. Like so
many of the parts used
on these Danelectros
they are proprietary,
not the off-the-shelf
parts you’ll find on many
lower-end guitars
5
6
VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
GIT464.rev_dano.indd 101 03/09/2020 17:10