T H E GA S STATION 100 Words Jonathan Horsley / Photography Olly Curtis DANELECTRO ROUND-UP They are kinda weird, vintage rock ’n’ rollers, with Lipstick singlecoils and Masonite builds, but don’t underestimate the Dano’s magic… TOTAL GUITAR MARCH 2020 TGR329.gear_test.
THE TG TEST 101 O l’ Bill Shakespeare once famously wrote, “To thine own self be true.” The meaning of this quote, as first spoken by Polonius to Laertes, has been debated endlessly, but perhaps someone at the Danelectro woodshop has fathomed it. Take a look at the Danelectro lineup of this or any other year and you would be hard pushed to find a manufacturer with a better sense of what it is all about, what its guitars should look like, how they should sound.
T H E GA S STATION DANELECTRO DC59M NOS+ £529 Fun on the outside, serious on the inside with stage-ready tone and studio chops alike Honk if you’re shorthorny AT A GLANCE BODY: Masonite with poplar frame NECK: Maple, bolt-on FINGERBOARD: 102 T he 60th Anniversary DC59M comes in a choice of silver or blue MetalFlake finishes, which might be too disco for some, even for birthday celebrations.
THE TG TEST DANELECTRO 59X12 Lose yourself in the psychedelic 12-string trip and that’s before the pedals take effect Jangle all the way £649 AT A GLANCE 103 BODY: Chambered T ransplanting the 64XT’s pickup and switching configuration to the Shorthorn doublecut body of the 59 models, the 59X12 has a reassuringly familiar setup, all the better for investigating its octaveforward 12-string voice. An electric 12-string is by its very nature a strange beast.
DANELECTRO ’64XT £729 Kick back and experiment with the wide range of tone on offer ‘Rite out of left field AT A GLANCE BODY: Chambered 104 W hen it is time for something completely different, it might well be time for Danelectro’s ’64XT. Rocking a sort of reverse doublecut Mosrite body shape, with a big oversized singlecoil offset at an angle in the neck position, and a double Lipstick humbucker in the bridge, the ’64XT exists way outside the Strat/Tele/offset continuum.
T H E GA S STATION FINAL VERDICT Which Dano will you be grabbing by the shorthorns? number-one guitar. We love having an electric 12-string with both singlecoil and humbucker voicings in the bridge; allied to the neck pickup, there is a lot of room to play with. This setup suits the ‘64XT well, too. And this is the one if you are looking to cover all bases, if you’re searching for a sound and need the thicker growl from humbucking pickups, and of course a tremolo.
