Guitar Envy, continued…

Last May, I described how I caved in to Guitar Envy and bought a cheap electro-acoustic nylon string job on eBay. Following that purchase, I had 60€ left on a PayPal account and thought I might buy myself a crappy electric guitar too, while I waited to treat myself to a decent instrument, some day.

Since then, I’d occasionally follow guitars on eBay, but nothing struck my fancy, or fit my budget.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I did something stupid. I went on a French guitar forum that I sometimes visit, and noticed they had a buy & sell forum.

So I foolishly stuck my nose in it, and came upon an ad for a guitar that immediately caught my eye and made me drool.

I had seen guitars from this make, but I didn’t know that particular model. It was a Danelectro Pro.

Danelectros have an interesting history. From The History of Danelectro (appropriately enough) :

The very first Danelectro guitars were built beginning in 1954. For many teen-agers, this was their first instrument. Brand new, the cheapest models cost as little as $69.00. Many were sold by Sears, under the label « Silvertone. » The most popular models came in a case with a built-in amplifier.

Today, that $69.00 guitar, unmodified, and in excellent condition could cost you $500.00 or more. Because they were so cheap, many Danelectros were thrown away, damaged or altered along the way.

Constructed simply of wood, vinyl, masonite and Formica, Danelectros used « lipstick tube » metal pick-ups that were literally purchased from a lipstick-tube manufacturer. The guitars were made simply, with no pearl adornments or expensive wood.

These guitars had and have quite a following, as evidenced by the celebrity pages form the same site.

[UPDATE! Howard Daniel left a note in the comments, pointing to « the most complete and accurate history of Danelectro and its pioneering founder, Nathan I. Daniel », his father! My sincere thanks.]

In recent years, reproductions of some of these early models have cropped up on the market. I had already noticed them, because I’m a sucker for the design of that era.

The guitar in the ad was one of those reproductions. At 150€, it was over twice my budget, but what the hell. I was still tempted. However, when I tried to post on the forum to say I was interested, I got a message saying my IP address was deemed « unknown » and as a spam-prevention measure, that meant I was unable to post to the forum!

I sent a message to the webmaster asking him to unblock my IP, and while I waited, went looking around the Web for more info on this guitar.

I found out more about the history and the current incarnations of these guitars, how they are really loved despite their humble hardware, and discovered that the model I coveted was a limited edition, out of stock in the US and only available in a couple of stores in Europe.

It also turned out that a new model could be had for 215€.

So after agonizing for a whole day, and watching countless bad YouTube videos of people using their Dano Pros, I caved and went ahead and bought it.

And it arrived…today… And I am NOT disappointed. I love the sound, the simple hardware controls, and the feel of the neck. Very playable. And I’m not into ejaculatory guitar solos at the top of the neck so the lack of real cutaway doesn’t bother me at all.

So if you’ve read this far, I will now reward your patience with a few pictures of this one-of a kind guitar (after the jump…)

Behold, my tangerine Danelectro Dano Pro! (Click on pics to enlarge…)