Conference napalm::guitar

    
    Yep, I have one I bought for $10.  Also a bass for $65.  Same pickup!!!
    Who needs EMGs and a Floyd???  8^)  8^)  8^)  8^)
    
    Dealers usually sell them for $200-300 in good shape.  They used
    to be easy to find cheap until folks like Dan Forte ("Teisco Del
    Rey" of Guitar Player fame) started talking them up in the early
    80s.
    
    BTW, they were made by Danelectro for Sears, most Dan-o fans 
    are not too particular over the name on the headstock.
    
    Do dir/title="off the wall" for more on these beasts.

    
    BTW, I read in GP that Teisco Del Rey's column is being "discontinued
    for now". Apparently, there may be some interest, but no real money
    involved with off-the-wall guitars. I thought the articles were
    a nice departure from the (state-of-the-art_be_the_first_one_on_your
    block_with_a_zebra-graphic_floyd_rose_strat_clone_where_freddy_Tesdesco_
    played_last_month_and_how_much_he_got_payed) articles that you see
    in GP month after month.
    
    Mark 
                                                
    
      
                    
    

    
    
    Re: .-1
           
    Teisco has a new job with "Guitar World" magazine.
    He's doing the same old "Off The Wall" stuff, just a new name. 
    
    		I guess the "no real money" was at GP. 8-)

    The Silvertones were mean sounding blues guitars . . .
    
    Another notable player who used one from time to time was
    Randy California of Spirit.
    
    /Steve

    The name 'LIPSTICK PICKUP' comes from the fact that Danelectro wound
    their pickups using a magnet and some woven cloth tape, then took 2
    chrome lipstick covers, slit the bottom of one, so they could slide then
    together, drilled a hole on one end for the pickup wires, slipped the
    coil/magnet into one lipstic cover & slid the other one over the rest
    ofthe pickup. I guess chrome lipstick covers were easier to come by
    in the 50's and 60's.

    Yes, Randy California (of Spirit) used a guitar with these pickups on
    the original recording of 'I Got A Line On You'. Nice sound.

    Danelectro guitars were often made with pine sandwiched between two 1/8
    inch layers of tempered masonite. The Pine provided support for the
    neck and the edges. The guitars are hollow except where the bridge
    would be attached. Usually they are painted solid colors, since a
    natural finish on masonite is not much to look at.

    I used to own a guitar-o-lin, which was often called the long-horn
    model. Mine had 32 frets, and it was an unusual instrument to say the
    least. I won't say it was a good guitar, because Danelectro really
    wasn't shooting for a top of the line market position, but it wasn't
    bad either. Unique sound. This guitar was stolen from me back in 1978
    or so (when I lived in L.A.) - Sorry to lose it. The extra 10 or 12
    frets were pretty difficult to play & the intonation seemed to get
    worse as you reached the 32nd fret.

    Most of those wonderful old Silvertone amplifiers (that everyone seemed
    to have had as one of their first guitar amps) were made by Danelectro.
    
							Jens

    
    Chandler Industries is offering a copy of the Lipstick pickups.
    McDuffs has a Strat copy hangin' on the wall with a set of them.
    I haven't heard it, but I would imagine the simple design must
    be relatively easy to recreate. Chandler Industries is the same
    company that markets the Tube Driver, and sells inexpensive guitar
    components (bodies, necks, etc).
    
    I have seen Los Lobos' lead guitarist use a Strat with Lipstick
    pickups and they do sound punchy. 
    
    Mark

    
    	re .6
    
    	Does Chandler Industries offer a catalogue?
    
    ( I'm interested in necks and pickups, mostly )
    
    Jim
    

    Yes, they do.  I don't have the address handy, but there are regular
    ads in Guitar Player.  I know they have one this month.
    
    Greg

    
    
    
    If you ever get down to Houston, be sure and visit the home of the
    Hottest Blues Jam in Houston (every Wednesday night) at
    
    	DAN ELECTRO'S GUITAR BAR!
    
    Several of 'em (with 'customized' paint jobs)  hangin' on the walls...
    
    Tell 'em Anita sent you...
    
    

    Hey, looks like the Danelectro note needs some action.
    
    As mentioned previously, Randy California used one of these.  I always
    loved that rippin distortion tone he got (a la "Mechanical World"). 
    Well, the other night I was borrowing a friend's Dano/Silvertone,
    hadn't even seen one in years, and I cranked it up with some
    distortion, backed off a little on the tone knob, and there it
    was: the California sound.  I'd forgotten how much fun these
    things are to play; cheesy but nice.
    
    This particular model was the single pickup, vaguely Strat shaped,
    with amp-in-the-case.  For those who've never seen em, this is a
    real, plug into your wall, tube amp; not too loud, but it can get
    some rude sounds at bedroom volume when you crank it.  The deluxe
    double pickup model supposedly had tremelo on the amp, too!  The
    case-amps are really more of a novelty though; the guitars sound
    a lot better through a big amp.
    
    As stated, the Dano/Silvertones are actually pretty hollow and they're
    light as a feather.  The neck scale is 23.5", smaller than standard
    Gibson.  Materials are cheap; masonite, pine, shelf-paper, etc. but
    you'll find real rosewood on the boards, most of it better quality
    than what you typically see on new guitars these days,  The necks are
    well shaped and comfortable; I've yet to run across one of these that
    didn't play like butter.  The old lipstick tube pickups give a bright,
    loud, edgey tone.  People have been popping these into Strats lately,
    but I think they sound better in the original instruments.  Something
    about the combination of those pickups, short scale, featherlight body,
    etc, just works.
    
    These guitars also had some rather advanced features for their time and
    price range.  All but the very earliest Danos are actually very well
    shielded and quiet.  Company founder Nat Daniel was a Leo Fender type;
    not much of a player, but a talented engineer.  Another innovation was a
    neck-tilt adjust mechanism remarkably similar to the one Fender patented
    and used a good 9 years after Nat started doing it.  According to Nat,
    he never bothered to patent the idea because he thought it was too simple
    and obvious.
    
    While Brian's probably right on typical prices, note that the same friend
    who lent me the Silvertone just sold one of the two pickup versions with
    case-amp, mint condition, for $450.  I've seen similar high price tags
    on some of the higher end Danos, and the really rare stuff (like the
    Coral Sitar, also Dano built) gets into 4 figures!
    
    /rick

    >>just sold one of the two pickup versions with
        case-amp, mint condition, for $450.
    
    Oh Lord. I *gave* mine away back in '69. I had the double pickup model,
    and yes it did have tremolo. I seem to remember that it was an 8 watt
    amp inside the case, with a Jensen 8" speaker.  Mine didn't play like
    butter, but that's only cuz I didn't know any better and used flat
    wound strings. 
    
    From that set up, I went to a light blue Fender Mustang and dark blue
    Kustom amp, and thus began my suffering from GTS.
    
    "sakman" 

    Hey, rick, I just read that Randy California was with Jimmy James and the
    Blue Flames of Hendrix' Greenwich Village days.

    --Ron

    Sounds right; I seem to remember some sort of connection between Randy
    and Jimi.

Someone Jimmied the lock on my van once and stole my buddy's Guild Starfire.

    Yep, I luv them Dans.   My "fave-rave" is the "Convertiable" (sp?) 
    acoustic, with pickup.  Bought mine for $200, put gold strings on
    it, and it JUST falls short of sound next to my D-45.  NOT!
    
    BuT, it's one fun guitar.  I have 25 Dans/Corals/Silvertones, and
    for the $$$$, even now, very little out there is more fun to play.
    
    As far as the Pickups, I bought a few from Angela Insts for $75 ea
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yup, call be stupid, but I think they
    were the overall better PU ever made.  2 of them wired like a
    humbucking PU SCREAMS.   I potted them into a mold that makes 
    Dan Armstrong (Clear wonders) pickups, and NOTHING screams like that
    combo.
    
    If anyone needs reprinted catalogs from Dano, let me know, check
    my address under TUBES, TUBES, TUBES.
    
    I need Coral catalog, and a schematic (PLEASE!!!!) to fix my Coral
    "Killer-Watt" amp.  I got one set in MINT shape, including
    2 8-12" cabinets.  HELP ME PLEASE!!!!
    
    
    Jay Tashjian