- Danelectro Shorthorn
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Danelectro Shorthorn Manufacturer Danelectro Period Original: 1959 to 1969, Reissued in the Late-1990s, 2007 and 2009-10. Construction Body type Hardboard (Masonite) top and bottom with plywood frame;hollow body. Neck joint Bolt-on Scale 25" Woods Body Original models: Masonite Neck Original models: Poplar Fretboard Rosewood, 21 frets. Hardware Bridge Chrome-Plated steel with adjustable rosewood saddle Pickup(s) Lipstick pickups. (Original style brass tube with chrome plating.) Colors available black, Burgundy, Keen green, Blue, copper, psychedelic The Danelectro Shorthorn line of guitars are a dual cutaway hollow bodied design, made of Masonite and poplar. The original models were introduced in 1959 to replace the U model guitars, and were in production until the closure of the Danelectro company in 1969.
There have been multiple re-issues of this line of guitars, the first two being the 59DC with two pickups and DC-3 with three pickups, sold between 1998 and 2001. The 59 Dano followed in 2007 and the 59-DC in 2009.
The Shorthorn range comes in one, two and three pickup models, and has the "Coke Bottle Style" classic headstock, hollowed body cavity, and a seal shaped pick guard with two concentric "stacked" tone/volume knobs (non-stacked on some reissues).
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Danelectro Convertible
The Danelectro Convertible was a hollow-bodied thinline acoustic/electric guitar based on the Shorthorn. It had a conventional round sound hole with a lipstick pickup mounted diagonally across the hole. The Convertible name comes from the ability to play it unplugged as an acoustic guitar or plugged in as an electric guitar. The jack to accommodate the cable is located inside the guitar's strap holder on the bottom of the guitar body. The Convertible has the double cutaway shape used on Danelectro's DC series of guitars.
The Convertible was originally produced in the 1960s. It was offered as a re-issue between 1998 and 2001. The guitar is currently not being produced.
The Convertible had a fixed bridge and a separate tailpiece. On the Convertible, the tailpiece was used to hold the strings equally apart while the metal riser on the bridge was not notched, with the undesirable result that the strings slid back & forth on the bridge when the guitarist bent strings while playing.
Manny's demonstration guitar
One noteworthy Danelectro 59 DC resides at the famed Manny's Music Store in New York City; the guitar had been painted a light yellow, along with other brightly painted instruments, for a promotional photo; afterwards the guitar served as the official demo model for which to try out an amplifier or effect pedal. Consequently, the yellow Danelectro has been played by dozens of well-known and notable guitarists - including Bob Dylan, John Lennon,Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, and others - who enjoyed the sound of the guitar to the point that some attempted to buy the not-for-sale guitar. The guitar, which eventually broke in half at the neck, is displayed in a glass case at Manny's, together with the unverifiable claim that it may have been played by more musicians than any other electric guitar.[citation needed]
Notable players
Syd Barrett from the early Pink Floyd usually played this guitar before switching to a Fender Esquire, and also Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin used this model of guitar on live performances of "Kashmir", "In My Time of Dying", "Black Mountain Side", and "White Summer". When Eric Clapton was with Blind Faith he used this model with a psychedelic paint job. More recently Christopher Wolstenholme, bassist of Muse, has used one live when he occasionally plays guitar, most notablly on Unintended. In 1960, Jimi Hendrix's father bought Hendrix a copper single-pickup Silvertone Danelectro, who named it "Betty Jean" after his high school girlfriend.
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