A Danelectro bass will always be a niche instrument. I've owned a couple over the years. Some have been good, some have been extremely poor. I always ended up selling them because I rarely used them but always regretted it and got another one within a couple of years.
So here we go again...
After owning several Danos over the years I thought I knew more or less what to expect quality wise but this one is actually surprisingly good. Probably the best Danelectro I've ever owned. But of course, it's a Danelectro so it has it's little quirks.
Pros:
-Really cool sound. It won't work for everything but when it does it's pure magic. Instant old school vibe.
-It looks great. I love the design, very cool, very 60s (although I believe this is actually a reissue of a model from the 80s). The finish is flawless.
-The Pao Ferro fretboard looks very nice. Some Pao Ferro fretboards look pale and bland but this one is quite dark with a beautiful pattern in the wood.
-The neck feels nice and the fretwork is surprisinly good, no high frets.
-The nut is cut correctly, which is often not the case on cheap basses.
-The pots work fine, no crackling.
-The bridge is a massive improvement over some of the older Danelectro series and all strings can be intonated individually.
- The truss rod worked like a charm and felt nice and smooth.
Cons:
-The guitar style tuners won't work with all strings. The strings need to be thin enough to fit into the holes. Not all bass strings are that thin. But as long as the strings fit into the holes it's really fast and easy to install them using the over/under guitar method.
-The fake tape "binding" around the body had already started to come loose when I unboxed the bass but that's more or less expected with Danelectros. Personally I think they look cooler without the tape anyway so I'll probably just get rid of it. Vintage Danos needed the tape to hide a seam in the body but these days it's no big deal (unless you REALLY dig that look).
-The tone section of the concentric pots feel very loose and don't exactly fill me with confidence.
-The stock strings were absolutely rubbish. They looked like very thin gauge D'Addario XLs. I'm not a huge fan of those and particularly not on a Danelectro. They sounded EXTREMELY nasty and clanky on this bass. But the main issue wasn't really the sound but the gauge. The strings were flapping everywhere, lots of string buzz with normal relief/action. Very poor choice of strings for this bass. I got rid of them and installed a set of Thomastik Jazz Flats. They sound absolutely PERFECT for this bass. A lot of people find the low tension of the Thomastik flats a bit too flabby but they actually feel tighter than the stock strings! No buzz anywhere and the mid bite from the Thomastik flats complement the somewhat scopped Danelectro sound very nicely.
-The fret edges are very sharp. Nothing that can't be fixed in a couple of minutes if you've got the right tools. There's not fret sprout though, just very sharp edges.
-The finish on the fingerboard is kinda sticky when bending notes.
-The setup was really bad which is kinda strange when they make a point of attaching a tag to the bass saying it has been set up in the USA. If this is the best they can do I'd rather just have it set up at the Korean factory and save the extra cost. I do my own setups anyway.
-Even though the bridge is a huge improvement over certain older Dano series it's still far from the best I've seen.
-No gigbag or case but that's to be expected in this price range. The cardboard box was surprisingly flimsy and not even taped close but luckily no damage from transport.
-No accessories except two allen wrenches for adjustment but again: That's to be expected in this price range.
Conclusion: Highly recommended if you need a cool, quirky second (or third, or fourth...) bass for some alternative, old school tones. I personally wouldn't want it as my ONLY bass though. At least make sure it delivers the sound you're looking for. Danelectros have a VERY ideosyncratic sound that either works GREAT or not at all.
Even with all it's little quirks I really like it. I might actually start using it a bit this time. I think it's a keeper! :)
