Danelectro 12 string

hobbio

I've hankered over a Danelectro ever since I saw a Wild Thing in candy apple blue. I didn't buy it and I've been looking ever since but never dropped on one. Loads of red and black ones, and blue basses are out there but no blue 6 strings.

I keep seeing the 12 strings too. Are they any good? Anyone got any experience with them?

JayGee

I’v got a DC59 and it’s great, and I used to gig it regular with my covers band to add a bit of a twist to a few songs. 

All the jangle you could ask for at a reasonable price with added Dano quirkiness/coolness. It even stays in tune reasonably well. The only thing I don’t like about it is the coaxial control knobs.

Currently looking for an excuse to drag it out of retirement with the original material project I’ve fallen into because nobody else is gigging an electric 12 locally and it’s just such a wonderful noise...

hobbio

Yeah, think I'm gonna look for a used one

Offset

I've got a Dano DC59 12-string.  I paid £313 for it new around 5 years ago.  It's superb.  Frets, action, sound and finish are unbelievable for the money.  Built in Korea but I believe they're sent to the US for final finishing and setup (they certainly were when I bought mine).  The only change I made to it was to swap out the control knobs for some Tele-style chrome domes as I hated the look & feel of the original placcy jobbies.  I can really recommend.

Henrytwang

I’ve got a DC59 which I’ve owned for around 10 years. It cost me just over £300 new and was amazing value for money, it has a nice range of jangley tones and is very easy to play with a nice low action. The bridge is a brilliant design which allows you to intonate each string individually.

more

The original factory was started by Nat Daniels in Neptune City New Jersey, you can see where the name comes from.    The   history is a sequence of collapse and revival. The original American made one are still about if you have deep pockets 
    The first revival was made in Korea. There was a period of Chines and Korean made instruments. but manufacturing is back in Korea. I believe there are four different 12 strings to chose from. I really like them, the distinctive looks and not bad quality at a reasonable price. There is currently a production problem in Korea, and some suppliers are out of stock,  I don't know if the Korean are any better than the Chinese, but it is something to be aware of 

hessodreamy

Yeah I've got one and it's great. 

I was considering dipping my toe into 12 strings so bought some no-name kit guitar thing for £100 and it was a DOG. Baseball bat neck, super-high action, not individually-adjustable intonation. Bleugh.

Then I got the Dano DC59 for about £250 - so not much more than the kit guitar - and it just plays so nice. Really low action, easy on the fingers. Sounds great. Danelectro have their middle position wired in series rather than parallel - so it sounds a bit thicker - so I was considering wiring it in parallel for a bit more jangle.

If you fancied giving 12 string for not much coin a go I can heartily recommend the dano.

Actually I lent it to a friend a couple of years ago and covid has prevented me from getting it back, but soon. Soon...