Danelectro Dano

Danelectro Dano pro 1959 reissue

Danelectro (Dano), built some extraordinary guitars. All these Danelectro Dano guitars have been put in the market at affordable, budget prices. That doesn't mean Danelectro Dano guitars are cheap, crappy guitars; the Dano's are well built, and often reviewed "well worth the money". I was surprised to see that, despite the fact Danelectro Dano isn't a "grand" guitar brand, the Danelectro's have a large number of fans.
It's obvious, Danelectro surprised the world with some great guitars, each with unique looks, some with humbuckers, but almost all with the eyecatching lipstick pickups. One of my favourite Danelectra Dano models is the Dano Pro 1959.

danelectro dano

Danelectro, Dano, some history 

Danelectro was founded in 1947 by Nathan Daniel, who started in 1934 building amplifiers for Epiphone, which lasted till 1946. At that time, Epiphone was pushing Nathan Daniel to only build amplifiers for them. To stay independent, he started Danelectro. Danelectro, continued building amplifiers, and in 1954 Dano also started building guitars. In the years after, Danelectro build guitars under their own name, but they also produced guitars on request for sellers like Sears, who sold the Danelectro Dano guitar under the Silvertone brand.

In 1960 Danelectro was sold to MCA (Music Corporation of America), and in 1969 the Dano plant was closed as a result of mismanagement.
For some period in the late 90's till 2001, Evets Corporation sold copies of the early Danelectro Dano and silvertone guitars. From 2006, the Evets Corporation focuses on building effect pedals for guitars, but, in limited numbers, they market some guitar models, based on the old Danelectro "vintage" models.
The 2007 Danelectro Dano Pro 1959 reissue is one of them.

danelectro dano

The original Danelectro Dano Pro 1959

The Danelectro Dano 1959 Pro was introduced in 1959, and has been produced until 1963. The original Dano 1959 Pro is a relative small guitar, 3/4 scale, with only 17 frets, and due to the shape of the body, the higher frets are hard to reach. The shape of the guitar and the pickguard are fairly unique, it's difficult to describe, but the pictures (from the 2007 Danelectro Dano Pro reissue) tell it all. Like most unusual guitars, you either love them or hate them. In the case of the Danelectro Dano 1559 Pro, I think it's an icon of it's time.

In 1959, the Danelectro Dano Pro came with just a single lipstick pickup. This unique lipstick pickup is a single coil pickup, with all electronics packed in a chrome metal tube. Originally, this tube came from the cosmetics, lipstick industry. Danelectro became famous with it. The lipstick tube fits the Danelectro Dano 1959, and all Danelectro Dano's from that period very well, and makes the Danelectro Dano's easy recognizable. The lipstick pickups have a kind of "twang" in the sound, and are very suitable for creating the "surf" and rockabilly" sound.

danelectro dano 

One other part of the Danelectro Dano 1959 Pro which makes the guitar easy recognizable is the "coke bottle headstock". This type of headstock was also used on other Danelectro Dano's. As much as I dislike the headstock from another "vintage" guitar, the (Danelectro) Silvertone 1448, amp in a case, pictured in my previous post, I sure like the coke bottle headstock on the Danelectro Dano 1959 Pro.

danelectro dano 

The 2007 Danelectro Dano Pro 1959 reissue

In 2007 the Danelectro Dano Pro 1959 reissue was presented. The Dano reissue shares the same body shape as the original Danelectro Dano Pro, but some major improvements have been made to "modernize" the guitar. The Danelectro Dano reissue has a full scale, 19 frets neck, instead of the 3/4 scale of the original. 

Furthermore the Danelectro Dano reissue is equipped with 2 lipstick pickups, for more difference in tones, and last but not least, the old fixed bridge of the original Danelectro Dano1959 Pro has been replaced by a modern fully adjustable bridge on the Dano 1959 reissue. The Danelectro Dano 1959 Pro reissue has the vintage looks of the original, but has grown to a modern mature guitar.

danelectro dano 

Silvertone 1448, amp in case

Silvertone 1448, amp in case, by Danelectro

silvertone 1448 guitar and amp in case

Sometimes I wonder why some original ideas have not been followed by others. One example is the concept of the changable pickups of the Ampeg Dan Armstrong in my previous post; in my opinion a brilliant idea, but it's not on a large scale embraced by other guitar builders, probably to expensive. Another example is the "amp in the guitar case", in this "case", the Silvertone 1448 amp in a case". One guitar, one amp, all in one case, brilliant!

The Silvertone 1448 is not the only guitar which came with the amp in the guitar case, for example Airline also produced guitars with the amp in the case in the same period, but the Silvertone models like the 1448, pictured in this article, are most known.

Sears and the Silvertone 1448 amp in case

Like the other Silvertone guitars, the Silvertone 1448 amp in case was sold by Sears (Sears-Roebuck, a chain of department stores) in the USA. Silvertone was, since the 1930's, the Sears house brand for electronics, and the Silvertone name became famous with the Silvertone radio and the Silvertone (1448) guitar. The Silvertone guitars were popular among beginners and young guitarists as they were, compared to major brands, "low cost" guitars. Especially the short scaled 3/4 sized Silvertone 1448 amp in case with 18 frets, model sold in 1962, which came with an instructional vinyl record, was young beginners material. Everything you need to start playing guitar, in one package.

In the 40's and 50's, Silvertone guitars were played by blues guitarists like Muddy Waters and Arthur Crudup. In the Silvertone 1448 era, Chet Atkins, Bob Dylan and James Hetfield were among the guitar players who's first guitar was a Silverstone.
On stage, the Silverstone was played by Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones), Melissa Ethridge and Pete Townsend (The Who), who smashed the Silvertone on stage.

silvertone 1448 body and neck

silvertone 1448 body with lipstick pickup

Silvertone 1448 and 1449 amp in case by Danelectro

The Silvertone 1448 and 1449 amp in case, sold by Sears, were produced by guitar and amp builder Danelectro. In 1954 Danelectro started building solid body guitars under the Silvertone name for Sears. They also build the same guitars under other names for other sellers. The Silvertone 1448 amp in case, pictured in this article is the Silvertone / Danelectro 1962 model.

The Silvertone / Danelectro 1448 only has one "lipstick" pickup, and the amp in the case of the Silverstone 1448 is a 3 watt amp with 3 tubes, 5 inch speaker and a gain control.

The more "mature" Silvertone / Danelectro 1449 - 1963 model has 21 frets and 2 lipstick pickups. Also the amp in the case of the 1449 is more mature: 5 watt, 3 tubes, 8 inch speaker, and more controls.

The concept of the Silvertone / Danelectro 1448 / 1449 amp in case in combination with the age of the guitar makes it very vintage and collectable! I really like the combination of the tube amp in the guitar case and the vintage body with the sleek lipstick pickup, but I can't remember ever having seen a guitar headstock as ugly as the one from the Silvertone 1448 amp in case!

silvertone 1448 headstock

silvertone 1448 headstock tuners