New Dano longhorn @ Adirondack

[AustinLeftyBass]

Mine arrived in Texas a few minutes ago, should make it to me by early evening tomorrow.

[danomite64]

Got mine! And on my birthday, too!!!

[AustinLeftyBass]

On FedEx vehicle for delivery

AUSTIN, TX

[Basshappi]

Awesome!

[Matt R.]

Seeing pix here and fb, but nobody's talking about how these basses are. Verdict?

[danomite64]

Damn, I didn't want to be first, but here goes:

It's well built (made in Korea) and looks great. The neck pocket is tight, the rosewood board is nice and dark; not the least bit dry, the frets feel level (no buzzing) and there's no fret sprout. My dealer set it up for me because he thought it was a tiny bit high; I think he set it up just right; it's a very easy to play bass. It has D'Addario strings on it, which my dealer may have done, or that's what they are shipped with; I won't know until someone else chimes in. Mine weighs 6.0 lbs, which is nice. My only issue is the pickups don't have much output (compared to my other basses, which all have Quarter Pounders), so I might look into finding a beefier lipstick set (I only know of Kent Armstrong and Seymour Duncan making lipsticks, and I don't think anybody makes bass versions). The pots are full sized, but I didn't see a capacitor, so it's possible to put better electronics in. I'll likely go the tried-and-true CTS-Orange drop route.

The case is a black tolex rectangular thingie (for some reason I was expecting tweed) that has nice hardware and a decent sized compartment for strap and strings, but the the center bar with the neck notch is all foam, and the bass does shift a bit when the case is closed, so I'll probably put a towel in the bottom to keep it snug.

Anyway, I feel I definitely got my money's worth; Now I'm tempted to get a used DC!




Heh, there's a guy on Ebay selling one for $599, no mention of a case.

[AustinLeftyBass]

To add to Danomite's review, After playing Danelectros and Jerry Jones for decades it is awesome to finally have a lefty. The build quality is high considering the price and whats involved(not just a slab of wood). I was hoping it would be the shiny finish I'd seen on new righties and not the satin finish(as on the previous Dead On 58) as Adirondack states. And yes, its very shiny.
Output was normal on mine but there was room to raise the pickups if needed. I play with the E string on bottom and had the easiest time EVER swapping the nut. I had a righty and simply unscrewed the lefty and screwed on the righty. Nice. After all these years with these basses I eyeballed the bridge placement and it was right on. A tweak of the truss rod and the bass was set.
I know Danelectro used to produce tweed cases but don't think they do anymore, my assumption is the Adirondack case is a generic. I didn't purchase a case as I own two really nice Jerry Jones cases.
Yeah, the knobs are kind of a pain if you're someone who twiddles a lot.
The tone is, of course, killer. It can sit in the mix but picking a bit harder causes the bass to leap out front. Awesome. That's part of what I've always loved about these basses.
Super twangy to nice, smooth low-end. Palm muting sounds great.
And extremely light, weighs slightly more than my Hofner.

[Matt R.]

Cool, thanks for the reviews guys. Still on the fence though, but who knows..

[AustinLeftyBass]

[Matt R.]

They definitely are cool looking.

[AustinLeftyBass]

And yes, the D'Addarios came stock.

[stillcenter]

Picking mine up tonight!

Can anyone confirm whether the hard case from Adirondack is a generic or Danelectro-branded case? I didn't order a case with mine but if Danelectro is making official cases I might want to look into getting one.

[danomite64]

The case is not Danelectro (I think it is Rocktight or something like that), but it does fit the bass very well. I'll try to take pics of it tonight.

[fivebass52]

Just noticed those Groovy pointed things that are obviously the tone and volume knobs... way cool!

[rdavidson]

I just got mine last night! So far I agree with the reviews above... my action is a bit high, but easily fixable. I didn't notice any issues with the output... after playing for 20 minutes or so, seems like the pick-up height is well placed and well balanced (but I only have one bass with a quarter pounder level output!). I'm overall impressed with the bass given the price point. And I like the pressed pattern on the binding... I didn't expect that (I'm not an expert on the details of the model so didn't realize it would be there). I always wanted one, so excited to give it a run! Also, did you notice there's a little notch on the volume knob so you can 'lock' the two switches together as you rotate them? It sorta works, but it is a nice feature to keep them aligned as they move.

[AustinLeftyBass]

That's a new pattern on the binding tape, never seen that pattern before.

[stillcenter]

Dano finally arrived last night!

Didn't order a hardcase but it shipped in a sturdy, multi-layered cardboard box. Overall, for such a cheap bass, it looks and plays great. I think Dano necks are superb and this one is no different. The setup wasn't perfect out of the box, though. The action is a bit high at the upper frets and the open A string buzzes (it's fine fretted at the first fret though). These should be easily fixable. The finish is a nice copper metallic color. Classic, unique Dano sound and shape

A great, affordable addition to any collection!

http://imgur.com/AN3FlP1
http://imgur.com/wlAnsfv

If I were to be really picky (and I am), there were some fit and finish issues. These are admittedly minor and don't affect the usability of the instrument:

The pickguard edge is quite sharp.

Neck pocket was a little rough and there was a bump in the binding tape.
http://imgur.com/6SgTBYf

The bridge and neck volume knobs have little bumps that 'lock' with the tone knobs. I assume this is intentional but on mine, only the bridge tone knob locks with the bridge volume knob. Not sure if this is adjustable in any way. It seems the little bump on the bridge volume knob is higher than the one on the neck volume knob...
http://i.imgur.com/gdIwvDT

The screws on the bridge don't seem to line up with the holes in the bridge that well. Not sure this is intentional and doesn't seem to be affecting the bridge's effectiveness but not sure.
http://i.imgur.com/5EiSMf0

A minor finish blemish on the back of the neck near the 2nd fret. Couldn't buff it out.
http://i.imgur.com/4kEMAoS

[J-meister]

It looks like two bridge-screws are UNDER the hole??

[rdavidson]

@stillcenter - sorry to hear there were blemishes in yours. I looked mine over very carefully, knowing it's a relatively inexpensive bass, and sorta expected to see some minor issues in the build/finish... but I didn't see any issues. There's a slight 'imperfection' in the fretboard around the 20th fret or so, but it's really nothing to, um, fret about

@J-meister - I'm no dano expert, but I think it's the same on my DC bass... I recall my guitar tech guy saying it's characteristic of the dano bridge, but it was a while ago so my memory could be completely wrong...

[danomite64]

The case:





It's a Crossrock case.

BTW, the more I play the Dano, the more comfortable I get with it, which means I can dig in better, and I do love to dig in. So now it's sounding better to me, and the volume is better, too.