Danelectro Dan O. Cool review: is this the most polarising Dano ever?
$599/£599, danelectro.com
Danelectro’s place in the history of electric guitars is as unique as it is impactful. When Nathan Daniel started producing no-frills, low-cost guitars made of Masonite and tape in the late 1940s, you wouldn’t have imagined he expected his creations would end up in the hands of some of the most influential musicians of the next seven decades.
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But whether it’s Jimmy Page and Bob Dylan or Phoebe Bridgers and Mac DeMarco, the unique sound and vibe of a Danelectro guitar (or very similar examples sold under the Silvertone brand) has remained captivating for guitarists of every stripe.
The original US Danelectro brand disappeared in 1969, but since the late 90s, the brand has been reborn (now made in China) and has set about producing a steady stream of instruments mainly based on the company’s early designs.
Now though, the brand has changed the recipe somewhat – introducing a new model that pulls together various parts of Dano history and makes something a bit different…
Image: Press
Danelectro Dan O. Cool – what is it?
Everything about the Dan O. Cool has a touchstone with the company’s 1950s heyday. So, that distinctive ‘full bell’ headstock shape is from 1954, the ‘skate key’ tuners are from 1958, while the rosewood-saddle bridge is from 1958. The body shape is of course Dano’s classic ’59 design, while the pickguard is a rare textured type from a 1955 U3.
The five colours – including this very fetching shade of Aqua – are also pulled from Danelectro’s 50s locker, and of course you get that most impactful and unique Nathan Daniel innovation from this decade, the lipstick pickup.
In this case, the lipstick pickups are hotter than ones seen on previous models – offering around 20 per cent more volume in the neck and 30 more from the bridge pickup. Construction is also very classic Dano – a solid spruce frame with Masonite (aka hardboard) panels for the top and back.
So why then, are Dano purists up in arms about it? Well, in part it’s because of that headstock – compared to the elegance of the classic ‘Coke bottle’, most of the other pegheads in the Dano range are something of an acquired taste, to say the least.
But mainly, it’s not the shape but what’s on it that has gotten the Dano faithful worked up – because instead of the classic Danelectro box logo, we have a new and rather stark “DANO” word mark.
On the one hand, it should be no big deal – after all, most musicians will call the guitar a Dano anyway – but there is something a little off about the execution. In a guitar that tries so hard to signal its 1950s credentials, it’s hard to imagine a 1950s guitar leaving any factory with such a modern minimalist logo on the headstock.
Image: Press
Danelectro Dan O. Cool – build quality and playability
There’s a weird tension whenever you pick up a Danelectro guitar – and I should know as I own both an original US-made model and a modern Chinese reproduction. The fundamental truth is that these are not made like other electric guitars, and there’s a certain level of inherent jankiness about them that you have to be willing to embrace as part of its unique charm.
You might argue that this is a polite way of saying that Danelectro guitars are not made as well as other Asian guitars at this price point, but again, to compare this to a solidbody guitar made in more traditional fashion is somewhat missing the point.
This is for all intents and purposes a guitar made of board held together by tolex tape – that doesn’t make it flimsy, but it does mean you have to approach it differently than you would a normal instrument.
And by the standards of Danelectro guitars old and new, the Dan O. Cool is a pretty solid example – the finishing of the body and neck is decent, the body tape is evenly and neatly applied.
The frets are a little duller than I’d like, but they are perfectly smooth in operation, and so are the new tuners, with a rosewood bridge providing solid resonance and decent tuning stability. Personally, I can take or leave the rosewood bridge and its intonation compromises – Danelectro also produces an adjustable six-saddle bridge that drops in, and I’d swap it out in a heartbeat.
The C-shaped neck isn’t going to win any awards for character, but it’s plenty comfortable – a nice palmful that remains an easy player all the way up the fingerboard.
Image: Press
Danelectro Guitars Dan O. Cool – sounds
The lipstick pickup sound is the primary reason why generations of musicians have been drawn to Danelectro guitars, and they are wonderfully unique. Nathan Daniel’s decision to wrap a crude bar magnet in wire and shove it inside a lipstick tube might have been done mainly for cost, but it gives the pickups a jangly, chiming, clear, and detailed sound that is unlike anything else.
This type of pickup on vintage guitars can be somewhat anaemic and brittle in use, however – you often need a pedal or a cranked amp to boost them enough to really make them usable. The Dan O. Cool has none of these drawbacks – the extra output offered from these new pickups makes this a much more muscular experience than I’m used to. It’s plenty loud in all positions, while the middle position – with both pickups engaged – is the real cream of the crop, offering an almost mini-humbucker-like tonality.
Danelectro Guitars Dan O. Cool – should I buy one?
I understand a little of why the purists are freaking out about this Dan O. Cool, but I think the reservations about that new headstock logo have distracted from what is a very Dano-coded instrument that retains much of the vintage mojo we know and love, just put together slightly differently.
The Dan O. Cool looks like a good time before you even pick it up, but with its comfortable playing experience, improved tuning stability and most of all, those upscaled pickups, it takes that mojo and makes it more usable in the real world.
The lack of a gigbag is a drawback given the guitar’s unique shape, but otherwise it takes much of the temperamental nature and fragility of vintage Danos and banishes them without losing the unique sonic and visual qualities that make the brand’s guitars so iconic. It’s two thumbs up from me, Daddy-O.
Danelectro Guitars Dan O. Cool – alternatives
There’s nothing really like a Dano out there, but if you want something that’s more of a faithful recreation of a classic model, the 59M ($569) is a wonderfully fun instrument. The reborn Silvertone offers a bunch of the brand’s classic guitars, including the Dano-in-another-name 1303 ($399). For more esoteric catalogue-style recreations, Airline’s Jetsons Jr 2P ($799) offers the classic Res-O-Glass look with more normal construction, while if you want a US-made alternative, Harmony’s Juno ($1,499) is a compact, US-made single-cut with gold foil humbuckers.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
