Danelectro '56 Baritone

FIRST
popularised in the
mid-1950s, the baritone
muscles in on the bassist’s tonal fiefdom,
and as a result has a reputation as a
specialist’s instrument. In truth, it’s as
versatile as any of its six-stringed kin. In
country, the ‘tic-tac’ baritone bassline fast
became a means of exorcising post-divorce
angst. The baritone was a regular feature on
Spaghetti Western scores, while saltwater
surf-rock wouldn’t be the same without its
post-pubescent baritone twang, and in more
recent years, the baritone has become a
familiar weapon for metallers looking for
new frontiers of heavy. Typically tuned a
fourth below standard tuning, BEADF#B, or
a perfect fifth, ADGCE, the baritone has a
longer scale length, while added bulk in the
body’s bracing helps keep it in tune.
The launch of the PRS SE 277 Semi-
Hollow Soapbar – with chambered back,
f-hole and P-90 pickups – inspired us to look
at two other baritones that also imbue a
sense of classicism. Hagstrom’s Viking
Deluxe is a semi-hollow double-cut with a
P-90, while a vintage-voiced humbucker in
the bridge promises some snarl. The
Danelectro, meanwhile… well, the
Danelectro takes us right back to 1956 with
lipstick pickups and a masonite body,
tapping into our most bass-ic instincts.
80 february 2016
RETRO BARITONE ROUNDUP
RoUnD-UP
D A N E L E C T R O
’56 BARITONE
£499
Bass ’venturer
THE
Danelectro ’56 has a
wonderful homemade
feel. Its minimalist construction boasts
two single-coil lipstick pickups, a
three-way selector, a master volume, a
tone knob that’s arguably superfluous,
and a Masonite front and back, braced
with poplar frames. Masonite is more
commonly used to make the tables in
your local diner and will never be the
most sought-after tone wood, but it adds
a Happy Days vibe to the Dano’s voice.
The ’56 is all attitude and all neck. At
756mm (29.75 inches), its scale is the
longest of the group – it’s almost a bass –
and has a clubby C-profile neck. Nobody
sets up camp in the bass’s frequencies to
map out solo ideas, but think of the ’56
as a guitar for lead rhythm playing.
Tonally, it has three distinct voices,
all of which are a lot of fun. In the neck
pickup, the cleans are all wooden
rumble and feel instinctively ‘bass’. With
the gain cracked up, the neck pickup
rolls out a gutsy, crude tone, not as nasal
as you’d get from a standard guitar
but more of an elephantine, Serengeti
mating call. Full-blown fuzz and hyper-
gain bring out something truly bestial in
the ’56 that its creator, Nathan Daniel,
could never have dreamed of.
Switching to the neck pickup is a
paradigm shifter; this is where the
twang is kept, all rockabilly bite and
clarity, just begging for a little slapback
echo or tremolo to bring out the best
in what could be considered the Dano’s
Arthur Fonzarelli mode. Or you could
take the nuclear option and engage
both pickups for raucous, unruly gain,
unleashing the rebel spirit that the ’56
Baritone epitomises.
A baritone muscles
in on the bassist’s
tonal fiefdom
TGR276.gear_round.indd 80 21/12/2015 16:25