Electric Guitars

Currently, it is the budget electric guitar market that is fought out fiercely in all of the guitar industry. Most manufacturers have managed to move their manufacturing base to places such as China, Korea and Vietnam, which gives them an opportunity to offer ultra low manufacturing costs. When this is mixed with a well trained workforce using very accurate CNC machines, and you have got the perfect recipe for budget priced quality instruments. As you can imagine, Encore is one such manufacturer who has invested years in building a solid reputation in the beginner’s market. In the following review, we will see about the E6 from the Blaster series. Its design is a familiar favourite, so the real question at stake here is that, if they really play and sound anything like the legends that they seek to emulate.

The Encore Blaster EBP-E6 Electric Guitar might not please you much in the name stakes, as it sounds just like an android from a 70′s science fiction flick; but rest assured that the guitar itself has a lot more charm to it.

Body and finishing:

There are no prizes for guessing which classic guitar has provided the muse here. At a distance, it has a strong resemblance to another illustrious instrument, but its axe has plenty of character that has very little to do with its shapes. The Encore Blaster EBP-E6 Electric Guitar has quite a light weight body weighing just 6lbs, as it is made out of Solid Wutong, which is naturally a soft and light weight wood. The Blue model, which Encore decided to call just “Blue” has a pleasant hint of green too, giving it an elegant vintage look. The E6 series guitar is available in a range of finishes such as Gloss Black, Sunburst, Red, Vintage White, Blue and Pink. The Gloss Black finishing is also available in a left hand version.

Neck, Fingerboard and Frets:

The bolt-on Maple neck has been snugly attached to the body of the guitar with the usual four screws. It is of medium depth with slightly rounded carve. The rosewood fingerboard is quite comfortable and has lots of real estate, thanks to its 10 inch radius. Few of the 22 nickel silver frets are little sharp around the edges; and we found the 13th fret to be covered in glue, which is not great quality control, even at this budget level. Overall, the fretwork is OK, and while it is far from being luxurious, it feels positive and comfortable to play with, particularly with the satin finishing. In fact, it feels more like the ones on the Vintage Advance Series Axes; that is no mystery here. The Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster inspired E6 have very snug and tight neck pockets.

Hardware:

The hardware part of the Encore EBPE6 Electric Guitar is not disappointing either. The hardware includes a six in a line enclosed machine heads, a string tree for E and B, and also a Vibrato bridge with six separate saddles. This vibrato actually works well, with a fair deal of abuse being metered out before the tuning starts suffering. It is also quite soft and hence, making it easy to get expressive with; a great surprise on a guitar that is so cheap. The electronics are pretty standard, having a three GuitarTech Single coil pickups that is controlled through a five way switch, two tone knobs and one volume. The controls work quite smoothly and have a positive feel and the jack sockets leave you quite confident that your cable is securely connected. This Encore EBP-E6 Electric Guitar is fitted with JHS’s own Guitar Tech pickups, which have apparently seen upgrades to the quality of both the magnets and the wire. Even better, the bridges and tuners are reassuringly stable and solid. Well, it might not be the best and most sophisticated hardware that you will see, but it is all a well made and functional stuff. It is a doodle to make all the necessary action and intonation adjustments on the bridge, and the guitar tunes up easily and stay that way without any hassles.

Sound and Action:

The Encore Blaster EBP E6 is charged with snappy and zingy, making it heaps of fun to play; thank the five-way pickup selector setup. The tones are clean and solid, if not a little thin, but certainly adds gain and really opens up the voice of the guitar. The neck pickup is full, with a good deal of bite, keeping the note separation even while playing with heavy gain. The Start style vibrato bridge the E6 works better than some equivalents we have seen on some of the considerably more expensive electric guitars. On the disappointing side, it suffers from indistinct low-end characteristics and there is also a disappointing over emphasis on the mid range. But, a healthy output level from the humbuckers means that it is possible to achieve a respectable over driven tone as long as you trim the woolly bass frequencies. As long as you do not get too energetic, you will be able to use the vibrato arm and return to pitch without going out of tune. The overall feel and tone of the guitar is very authentic; it is surprisingly a likable guitar.

Verdict:

The Encore Blaster EBP E6 is not the kind of guitar that will see you much beyond your first band and early gigs, but this one has a lot more to offer than the vast majority in this ultra low price bracket. If you are on the look for more cut and glassy edge to your tone, then, the E6 is the right choice. The guitar also covers a lot of ground in terms of genres, though it will not stretch as far as metal or jazz. Taking the price tag into consideration, it feels remarkably good to play with and the upgraded hardware makes a massive difference in the way that they ultimately perform. There are quite a few pricy guitars that do not play or look half as good as this one. There is very little doubt that Trev Wilkinson has struck gold again. The Encore Blaster EBP E6 Electric Guitar has our recommendations.

Encore Blaster EBP-E6 Electric Guitar – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Encore
Series	Blaster
Model Number	EBP-E6
Model Name	Encore Blaster EBP-E6 Electric Guitar
Guitar Type	Electric Guitar
Finishes available	Gloss Black, Sunburst, Red, Vintage White, Blue and Pink
Left hand version available	Yes
Body	Solid Wutong
Finger board	Rosewood
Bridge	Fulcrum style Vibrato, Chrome
Neck	Bolt-on Maple
Frets	22 medium
String spacing at nut	34mm
Scale	25.5 inches
Cast	No
Nut Width	43mm
Pickups	3 x Guitar Tech Single coils
Machine heads	Generic chrome
Controls	1 x Volume 2 x Tone 5 way selector
Weight	2.72 Kgs

Vintage has its own set of fans in the UK Market for its range of replicas, knock offs, copies and call them what you want to; the word is yours. One of the most innovative and leading guitar designers, Trev Wilkinson have been working with Vintage for the past couple of years, and not only has the quality and specifications seen a admirable enhancement, he has also given life to the range, for instance, with the icon range of quite affordable aged replicas.

However, with the introduction of the Advanced Series, the job of copy cloning has been put on the shelves to favour the addition of a few more original designs such as the AV6 Series AV6PLB Laguna Blue Electric Guitar we have reviewed here.

Body:

The AV6PLB Vintage AV6 Series Electric Guitar has a lovely ‘select’ American alder body that possesses all of the luxury contouring that you would want from a strat type. Not to mention, the Laguna Blue is nothing less than drop dead gorgeous. It is a new take on the classic double cutaway guitar most of us are familiar with, but take a closer look and you will be able to notice how much Vintage has improved the concept. The tiny strap buttons sit in the usual place and the lower edge in a shallow Telecaster style bucket. The overall finishing is excellent. AV6PFR, an electric guitar with the same set of specifications of the AV6 series with Firenza Red finishing and Boulevard Black finishing is also available.

Controls:

When it comes to controls, Trev Wilkinson has placed a master volume and a master tone control. The lower knob is a progressive coil tap taking any pickup combination from humbucker to single coil and all points in between. And finally, the five way pickup selector finishes off quite a versatile sonic package. So is the AV6P really two brilliant guitars in one? Trev Wilkinson thinks it is, the “Roll Control” takes each pickup from stacked humbucking mode to classic single coil P90 territory.

Neck:

The Vintage AV6PLB neck is bolt on maple that has been stained with the golden aged maple tone that can be usually found only with a decade of aging or so. This neck is very playable and sits quite well in hands since is has a very thin profile. The heel has been provided with a block of bubinga finishing, which is placed over the neck slot of the alder body. This set up also enhances the coupling between neck and body.

Bridge:

The bridge is a Wilkinson branded version of a standard Strat vibrato that is supported along its leading edge with the help of six screws which sports strings that feed up through the vibrato block from the back. The tuning held well in use and the shimmer of traditional vibrato technique really works well with P-90′s.

Fretboard and Pickguard:

The Vintage AV6PLB Laguna Blue Electric Guitar Fretboard is a dark rosewood one that scarcely has any visible grain. You will also find some traditional white dot fret markers that have been repeated on the players side of the unbound fretboard. The well polished medium round profile offers an easy playing experience. The pickguard is a minty green three-ply scratch plate that possesses a convex upper edge as opposed to a more traditional concave curve.

Tuners, Headstock and Humbuckers:

As you can expect from a Vintage guitar developed by the designer Wilkinson, the tuners are Wilkinson branded mini tuners with tiny knobs that work in a fine way and even feel quite solid. The capstans have been staggered at a height, which in turn offers a good string tension over the nut. Talking about the nut, it is an ivory net that is quite tidy and cut accurately. The headstock is a six on a single side Strat variant that sports much of a rounded profile. Under the oblong cream covers sit the three Wilkinson-branded stacked P-90 humbuckers.

Sound and Action:

The action is lovely and straight out of the box. Being stacked with P-90′s on full humbucker, this electric guitar offers a joyful vintage rock and roll sound that is filled with a gorgeous plumy bottom end. The distinctive voice of the pickups are fascinating and we assure that you will spend quite a deal of time flipping through the selector switch just comparing the tones. Superior tone is guaranteed due to its select quality, American alder body and slick, satin finished hard maple neck. Just add jangle with the progressive coil tap and tighten up the bass end and you will be able to get a Rickenbacker style shimmer on the top register. The Vintage AV6 Series AV6PLB electric guitar is an extraordinary guitar that supplies a good deal of voices for blues, jazz, rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll.

Warranty:

Vintage offers its AV6 Series AV6PLB Laguna Blue Electric Guitar one year limited warranty for parts and labour.

Verdict:

The Vintage AV6 Series AV6PLB Laguna Blue Electric Guitar is one of the best sounding and clean guitars we have reviewed. In this world of crazy shredding, it is a joy and even a great deal of relief to have been offered with a guitar that has been built of pure Rock and Roll. This is also a word of caution for you as this guitar has a fundamental vintage voice, so be cent percent sure that this is exactly what you intend to play. Overall, it is a comfortable and well balanced guitar that out specs virtually any guitar in or above its respective class. If you can afford this piece, it seems to reward you with quite a staggering range of sonic variations within that framework. It has our heartily recommendations.

Vintage AV6PLB Laguna Blue Electric Guitar – Product Specification Table

Manufacturer	Vintage
Series	AV6 Series
Model Number	AV6PLB
Model Name	Vintage AV6 Series AV6PLB Electric Guitar
Guitar Type	Electric Guitar
Finishes available	Laguna Blue, Firenza Red and Boulevard Black
Body	American Alder
Finger board	Dark Rosewood
Bridge	Wilkinson WV6SB (Steel Block)
Neck	Maple/Bubinga – Bolt On
Frets	22 Medium Jumbo
Scale	25.5″/648mm
Tuners	Wilkinson WJ05 E-Z-Lok
Top nut	Ivory/Graphite
Pickups	Wilkinson P90 Stacked Humbucker x 3 (N) W90SKN (M) W90SKM (B) W90SKB
Hardware	Nickel
Controls	1 x Volume 1 x Tone 1 x “Roll Control” (Humbucker to Single Coil) 5-Way Selector
Warranty	One year

The RGA line of guitars have been of unchallenged standard in the line of hard and heavy rock guitars. In the following review, we will see about the Ibanez RGA 121H Electric Guitar which sports a 24- fret thin flat and fast Wizard Prestige neck, Ibanez pickups, and a Gibraltar Plus bridge. Read on, as we discuss each of these features in detail.

Body and Finishing:

The Ibanez RGA121H 24-fret Electric Guitar has super strat style body that provides it a reassuring weight on the strap as it is made from quite a thick slab of mahogany. The rear of the guitar is quite flat apart from some contouring; however, the top has been carved away from the middle, taking away the width of the mahogany from 45mm to about 35mm. you will find that the lower horn is sharp, but the upper horn had been blunted enough in order to accommodate the strap buttons in its traditional location for this kind of a body shape. Even better, you get to access the back loaded components from the rear where you will find one removable plate that is covering the jack socket. The finishing, as you can see in the image is a purpleish pink with a very sparkly finishing and the guitar is also available in olive green sparkly finish. The RGA121H is manufactured in Japan by Team J.Craft and is been consecutively given an excellent finishing throughout.

Controls, Strap and Accessories:

On the front of controls, Ibanez has provided us with a master tone control; master volume control and each of these controls have been topped with a knurled knob finishing in gun metal grey. In front of all of these, you will find a five way selector that provides the combinations of Bridge humbucker; Bridge humbucker tapped to single-coil; Both humbuckers tapped to single-coil; Neck humbucker tapped to single-coil; and Neck humbucker. The Ibanez RGA121H guitar has been fitted with a two large gun metal strap buttons, with one on the base of the body and other on one end of the upper horn. The output jack has been inset in the bottom edge of the body without mouting the plate. As far as accessories are concerned, the RGA121H comes with its own fitted oblong hardshell guitar casing.

Neck:

The wizard neck of Ibanez has been specified as a five piece neck sculpted from Walnut and Maple. In fact, you will find that the Walnut forms two very thin decorative brown strips in between the three pieces of maple that makes up for the major real estate of the neck. Yet another astonishingly thin profile that Ibanez has managed to create is the Bolt-on Wizard. This creation gives the guitar’s fretboard the feeling of additional width caused by the slimness of the depth. Once you play it in for a while, you will get used to it and even offers you with quite a comfortable experience of playing. Additionally, the whole experience is accentuated by the clean and clear satin finishing.

Headstock:

Headstock is one part of the guitar that adds to the aesthetic beauties of a guitar next to the main body itself. The headstock on the RGA121H posses Ibanez’s trademark six in one side scalpel shaped faced in black and has the mandatory Ibanez logo along with the Prestige legend in subtle abalone inlay.

Tuners:

Tuners, without any doubts are one of the most important parts of an electric guitar. The sealed mini tuners have been given gun metal finishing and the tuning knobs are small and cute. The tuners can be said to possess smooth and accurate operation.

Fretboard:

The black plastic nuts that abut the fretboard have a very tidy finishing. As we had mentioned in the introduction, the frets are 24 jumbo ones that possess a full rounded profile and are well polished too. Moving on to the fretboard itself, it sports an even mid-brown coloured finishing and a tight grain. We found the fret markers to be tiny inlaid dots mirrored down to the player’s side of the neck. You must also keep in mind the fact that the guitar has no binding.

Pickups:

Moving to the all important pickups, this electric guitar possesses an Ibanez V8 humbucker in the bridge position and an Ibanez V7 humbucker in the neck position. Both of these humbuckers are found to be of the open coil type and sit in their routing sans any mounting plates.

Sound and Action:

The action on the Ibanez RGA121H Prestige Electric Guitar is very low, which in turn gives the instrument a great deal of playability right up to the high registers. Sound wise, the guitar is given a great degree of flexibility by the coil-tapping selector switch. If you are classic and heavy rocker, opt the bridge humbucker on its own and for metal and darker tones run the neck ‘bucker alone. On the other side, if you adore lighter, funkier and cleaner tones experiment with the three available single-coil options.

Warranty:

The Ibanez RGA121H Electric Guitar comes with one year manufacturer’s warranty for parts and labour.

Verdict:

Not only does the Ibanez RGA121H Electric Guitar have the curves, but has the all important playability too. It is an extremely easy guitar to play and its neck is a shredder’s paradise. The pickups and their placement offer this electric guitar the hard edged cutting tone that is required for heavy rocking. When it comes to live performance, it provides the performer more freedom to move on stage and its arched top also allows the players to knock down the heavy riffs and power chords without having to hit the guitar body. You will have to live without the ability to play both humbuckers together, but we believe the additional single-coil options more than make up for this. Curved beauty and fantastic performance have been carefully combined in the RGA. Overall, it is a simple but versatile super start package with a glamorous sparkling finishing.

Ibanez RGA121H Electric Guitar – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Ibanez
Series	RGA
Model Name	Ibanez RGA121H
Finish	Purplish pink and Olive Green
Body	Ibanez RGA121H
Fingerboard	Rosewood
Controls	master tone control master volume control
Inlay	Pearl Dot Inlay
Bridge	Gibraltar Plus
Tuners	Sealed mini tuners
Neck	Five piece neck sculpted from Walnut and Maple
Strings	Six
Frets	24/Jumbo frets
Pickup switching	5 Position Blade Bridge/Bridge and Middle/Middle/Middle and Neck / Neck
Hardware	Chrome
Warranty	1 year

PRS Electric Guitars founded by Reed Smith in1985 is based in Stevensville, Maryland. Paul Reed Smith guitars seem to honour the heritage of guitars, while still using new technologies to equip the guitars with uncompromising tone, playability and beauty. Paul Reed Smith Guitars now manufactures a spectrum of electric guitars and take pride on several famous endorsees like Carlos Santana and Al Di Meola. The attention paid to quality and craftmanship of every PRS guitar is the same now as it was when Paul Reed Smith was hand building guitars and tested them himself while gigging.

In the following review, we will see about PRS’s SE Singlecut Korina Hardtail Electric Guitar. The new SE Singlecut Korina is a versatile, light weight guitar with a musical tone, and is the first solid Korina SE model offered by PRS Guitars. PRS SE Business Unit Manger Doug Shive said, Musicians looking for all Korina guitars now have a new option within the PRS family that is unmatched in the market in terms of price, aesthetics and quality.

Body:

PRS Singlecut guitars have enjoyed incredibly popularity since rockers like Mark Tremonti picked them up. It is hard to not be moved by the SE Singlecut’s beautiful bodylines. Fortunately, since the recent resolution of Gibson’s lawsuit against the design, Singlecut production is back on track, we can now enjoy the new SE version of the PRS Singlecut guitar. PRS singlecut body’s simplicity really well suits the golden glow of the korina that has been used to build it. PRS Korina Electric Guitar has the advantage of excellent tonal properties without the heavy weight associated with such tonewoods like mahogany. The result is a fairly light instrument that is comfortable to wear and play for extended periods. There is a hardly traceable carving to the front and rear of the guitar that contributes a delicate grace to the simple body design. This is enhanced by a shallow comfort contour on the back and the “scooping out” of the body at the cutaway.

The maple tops they use are not heavily carved; the SE Custom’s top is totally flat; the flame effect on the maple caps is achieved through a seamless veneer application, and the famous PRS bird inlays are not on offer. But these are mere cosmetic differences. Vintage Amber is currently the SE Singlecut Korina’s exclusive colour offering. This Korean made instrument is finished extremely well throughout.

Controls:

There is a master volume and a master tone that are topped with copper coloured speed knobs that compliment the colour of the Korina quite well. Behind these is a 3 way pickup selector switch. The two large strap buttons are attached, one on the base of the body and one on the edge of the upper bout and the output is on the lower edge of the body in a chrome oval mounting plate.

Bridge:

The bridge is quite a simple wrap around design. It is a single lump of metal that hooks onto two large bolts that are set into the body. The strings are fed through holes in the front of the bridge, the side closest the pickups and wrap around over the top of the bridge. Here they rest on a fixed moulded saddle which is staggered to compensate the intonation. This means that intonation is not that adjustable although action can be adjusted using the bolts at each end of the bridge.

The PRS SE Singlecut Korina Guitar is loaded with two in-house PRS humbuckers, a “Treble” at the bridge and a “Bass” at the neck. These are black open-coil pickups that sit in cream surrounds. The SE’s specially wound humbuckers are designed to please a wide range of players, and they mate equally well with everything from clean to heavily over driven amps.

Neck:

Moving on to the neck, it is a fixed one that is made from three pieces of korina, which is the same wood that is used for the body. The profile of the neck is described by PRS as “wide-fat” and it has a nice substantial feel about. It is not wide or fat enough to cause any inconvenience to any but the smallest of hands, but if you are used to the ultra skinny necks, then it will take a few minutes playing time to get used to it, but note that it is really worth the effort.

Fretboard:

The rosewood fretboard is not bound but the edge of the board has been taken in with the gloss lacquer of the neck and this gives the visual impression of black binding. The rosewood of the board is medium brown with a slight stripe to the grain. The fret markers are crescent moons. Essentially the marker is a dot marker inlaid with two materials, the crescent moon is white pearloid and the rest of the dot is grey pearloid that represents the night sky. The medium fat frets have a rounded profile and are well polished.

Tuners, Headstock and Nut:

The sealed PRS branded mini-tuners have chrome finishing with medium to large tuning knobs. They are quite smooth and accurate in operation. Headstock is the reverse scalpel PRS trademark three a side headstock is faced in gloss black and carries the legend “SE Singlecut” and the truss. rod cover bears the PRS logo.

The nut is a chunky black plastic, which abuts the fretboard and has quite a tidy finishing.

Action and Sound Quality:

The PRS SE Singlecut Korina Hardtail Electric Guitar arrives with a decent action but there is still scope for tweaking it down a tad. In use, the SE instruments are no less playable or beautiful sounding than the legendary guitars built in Stevensville, Maryland.

There seems to be a real quality of strutting brashness about the bridge Treble humbucker that almost has a punk persona about it, glassy without being brittle, airy without being weak. Knock over to the neck Bass humbucker and the sound darkens considerably. We found this selection works best running on a clean amp channel rather than overdriven. Running both pickups together produced a beautifully balanced voice with the two characteristically different pickups complimenting each other perfectly. We found that the bridge humbucker was set closer to the strings than the neck humbucker, illustrating the value of experimenting with these setting when seeking to balance your sound for optimum sonic results.

Warranty:

PRS SE Singlecut Korina Hardtail Electric Guitar comes with one year warranty for parts and labour.

Verdict:

PRS SE Singlecut Korina Hardtail Electric Guitar is a very simple yet beautiful guitar. Playing on clean settings, it has a lovely airy tonality that wound suit jazz, blues or even country and rock’n'roll. But it can also punk it up or rock with the best of them. The neck profile is really comfortable once you get used to it and the looks of the korina are to die for. The PRS Korina comes with tough-looking padded PRS gig bag. We would happily buy one of these.

Check other Latest Electric Guitars in this website.

PRS SE Singlecut Korina Electric Guitar – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	PRS
Series	SE
Model Name	PRS SE Singlecut Korina Hardtail Electric Guitar
Finish	Vintage Amber
Body	Korina
Fretboard	Rosewood
Controls	Volume and Tone Control with 3-Way Toggle Pickup Selector
Inlay	Moons
Bridge	PRS Designed Stoptail
Tuners	PRS Designed Tuners
Neck	Korina
Neck Shape	Wide Fat
Scale	25″
Frets	22
Treble Pickup	PRS Designed Treble Humbucker
Bass Pickup	PRS Designed Bass Humbucker
Hardware	Nickel
Warranty	1 year

Danelectro began manufacturing electric guitars and amplifiers in early 50s. Focusing on the entry level instruments, the US based manufacturer became famous for their budget built guitars that were often branded with the Silvertone and Airline names. The latest Dano ’63 is based on the 1963 Silvertone 1457 guitar, which at the time did not make the transition to the bass world, mainly because of the ongoing success of Danelectro’s Longhorn model. Apart from the long scale bass that we have discussed in this review, the Dano ’63 is also available as a short-scale bass with a 29.5″ neck guitar and baritone guitar. Though it might not be quite as distinctive as the aforementioned Longhorn design, but the Dano ’63 bass remains refreshingly retro in today’s market. So, let us see if this blast from the past has what it takes to cut it in the modern stage.

Body:

Danelectro Dano 63′ Electric Guitar (Aqua, Black, Burgundy) has paired a plywood frame with a pressed wood front and back. Though the body is mostly hollow, it feels surprisingly durable and, despite lacking any contouring, it is remarkably comfortable on the strap. The smooth body surface is just the perfect match for the range of finishings available. The finishing has been neatly applied, but we were not really keen on the vinyl strips that runs around the edge of the body. The vinyl strips intends to give the guitar more of a vintage look, but the rougher surface is prone to collecting dirt and can get even a little grubby in use. The guitar is available in a range of finishings including aqua blue, black, burgundy, gold, keen green, peach, red burst and tangerine. This Chinese-made instrument is finished well.

Neck:

With the deep double cut away design, it means that the heel joint is totally clear of the body, with the neck meeting the body at the 21st fret on the bass side. This gives a great deal of access to the higher register. The neck itself is bolted onto the body of the guitar through four large screws. You will not be finding any metal plates or collets supporting the join, but it certainly feels reassuringly tight and secure nonetheless. Its mapel neck has a narrow C shaped profile that makes the guitar instantly playble. The profile is slightly chunky giving the Dano 63 a proper vintage feel.

Frets and Fretboard:

The dark rosewood fretboard is close grained and smooth and the Fret markers are large traditional dots in abalone. The medium-large frets are nicely rounded and well-polished.

Pickguard:

The thick single-ply scratchplate has a very idiosyncratic shape which adds much to the visual appeal of the instrument. I particularly like the oval hole cut for the neck pickup. The surface of the pickguard has been aged with nicotine-style yellow staining.

Hardware:

To maintain the vintage feel, the Dano ’63′s chrome hardware has been provided with an aged look which retains the aesthetic of the company’s original silverstone guitar. However, there are two important updates that are worth mentioning. A steel plate bridge design, with induvidual saddles can be used to adjust both the height of the string and, its intonnation has replaced the saddle bridges that are found on the original Danelectro instruments. To adjust the intonation, you have to first remove the strings, as the screws lie directly beneath then at the base of each saddle.

Tuners:

The second noticeable upgrade is the improved tuning pegs. Though this is a re-issue of an old Danelectro design, the tuners have been upgraded to sealed mini-tuners. This makes sense, there is simply no point in slavishly following vintage specs when hardware upgrades will produce a better performing instrument. They are still essentially guitar sized tuners, but their grover style design makes them reassuringly sturdy and durable in use. The finish is flat nickel.

Controls:

In the 1960s, Danelectro’s lipstick tube pickups were literally made from spare lipstick tubes that would house the entire pickup mechanism. The single coil pickups in this model are keeping with the original design and are wired to a three way pickup selector switch with single volume and tone controls, each of the pickups is anchored in place with a “cup-cake” style vintage knobs that enter through the rear of the body. The electronics can also be accessed on the rear side of the body, beneath a circular cavity cover fastened by a single screw in its center.

Sound and Action:

Coming to the part of the all important sound, the lightweight hollow body of the guitar lends the Dano ’63 a defenite acsoustic edge, and there are heaps of tonal variation on offer from altrenating your playing position. There is an impressive degree of clarity to be had across all four strings, with a well-rounded low end, a slightly thinner mid range and almost jangly highs. The fundamental bass sound is well suited to the traditional fingerstyles, but the core tone remains versatile enough to cope with more diverse generes too. The rounded lipstick pickups may take a little gettig used to for those more used to a flat surface to rest your thumb, but there is still plenty of room to manoevere your musical hands.

With the selection of neck pickup, the bass has a much fuller mid range and more rounded tone that will lend itself well to a range of mordern rock rock and pop styles. Soloing, the bridge pickup produces a thinner bass sound that lacks presence in the mid range, but this serves to add extra punch to the low and high end frequencies. Blending both of the pickups together really brings the Dano 63 to life and produces a range of suitabe retro tones that respond well while playing with a pick, or palm muting the strings for some authentic tic tac style basslines. There is also a slight increase in output with both pickups selected together. Furthur variations can be had through the single tone control, which lends the Dano ’63 much more of an articulate edge while turned clockwise fully.

The quiality factory pickup when paired up with a slender neck profile and lightweight body, makes the Dano ’63 great fun to play and you will be able to really dig in with some low register bass lines. There are no buzzes to be had from the neck, or any unwanted fret noise, even while picking hard or playing with a pelctrum.

Verdict:

A big thanks to its quirky looks and sturdy design, the Danelectro Dano ’63 is immediately likable from the moment it is taken out of the box. Retro styles are well in fashion at the moment and the do not come more retro than this. Everything from the range of fashionabel finishing to the chick body styling and lipstick pickup oozes retro cool. Keeping the looks aside, the Dano 63 remains a very playable instrument that is capable of producing a range of responsive and workable bass sounds to back up its charecterful looks. And, at under 300 pounds, Danelectro has once again succeeded in their quest to produce both affordable and quality instruments.

Check other Danelectro Electric Guitar Reviews in this website.

Danelectro ’63 Electric Guitar – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Danelectro
Model Name	Danelectro Dano ’63 Bass Guitar
Guitar Type	Bass Guitar
Finishes Available	Aqua blue, Black, Burgundy, Gold, Keen green, Peach, Red burst and Tangerine
Cut away	Yes
Body	Masonite with plywood core. Solid plywood block from neck pocket to bridge. Chambered sides and behind bridge
Bolt-on Neck	Yes
Finger board	Rosewood
Bridge	Adjustable saddles zero gloss nickel
Neck	Maple with double acting truss rod
Neck shape	C
Frets	19
Fretboard	Rosewood with pearloid inlays
Fretboard Radius	14″
Pickup	2 x Alnico Lipstick Single-Coils
Scale	25″
Tuners	High ratio with sealed gears
Jack Location	Rim
Hardware	Matte Nickel
Controls	Single volume and tone w/ 3-way toggle pickup selector, Vinyl side binding tape. Stained for aged appearance.