Dan electro is a renowned company widely known for its affordable resonator guitars and accessories. So their resonator guitar will be a classic hit by default. Resonator guitars contribute a unique and distinctive sonic flair a musician’s equipment kit. Popularly used by bluegrass, blues and country professionals for the ease they bring in the sliding functionality.
Features of Danelectro Acoustic-Electric Resonator Guitar
Look and build:
The double-cut body, rendered from sheets of Masonite ( engineered hardboard that is steam and pressure moulded wood fibers) over a hard wood frame, is partnered with a slim 635mm scale bolt-on maple neck and a rosewood board.
The fretboard is made of Pau Ferro wood whose warm tone is tempered by its snappy attack, creating a crisp, clear sound ideal for fingerboards. It has a clear satin maple neck with, polished aluminium nut and vintage styled tuner
Size and dimensions:
Danelectro ’59 Acoustic-Electric Resonator Guitar weighs around 5.78 pounds making it one of the best lightweight guitar. The total length of the guitar is 42.32 inches consisting of a body length of 16.93 inches and a depth of 3.74 inches while the length of the scale of 25 inches
Sound and feel:
’59 Resonator’s spot-on setup and easy playability are easily some of the guitar’s prominent features. The action (distance between strings and fretboard) is set at a comfortable height to seamlessly switch between playing slide and fingerpicking, and the polished fretwork is quite unlike its adversaries. The slim neck profile combined with its bouncy string tension makes playing very convenient
Acoustically, the guitar is bright and raw sounding but when plugged into an amp it gives out a raspy sparkle, especially when setting the blend control dead center. The higher output resonator pickup can easily mimic some electric banjo tones but needs the balance of its lipstick pickup that adds warmth and body in order to achieve its steel-cut resonator sound.
The neck feels good and smooth. No sharp frets are observed and more importantly, no dead frets. It has a nice weight balance making it comfortable to play on
Technicality:
It combines a special built in design piezo-electric pickup covered underneath the cover plate and in the single cone along with a 56 Lipstick pickup. These two pickups allow you to dial in just about any sound when the resonator is plugged in, which makes this guitar very versatile and able to cover anything from blues to bluegrass
The first two knobs are independent pickup volumes and the third knob is a blender pot. You can dial up nearly infinite tone combinations with the piezo and the lipstick blend
Electronics include volume, tone, and pickup blend controls. It also features a diamond plate cover for enhanced tone and a much higher piezo output than most other piezo systems. Built with a round neck style that is set up for regular fretting and slide-playing and has a Single Cone with a Piezo Pickup for its Resonator Style. The ’59 features a spun cone biscuit resonator favoured by players for its loud metallic tone along with a perforated diamond plate cover.
Accessories:
The package comes with no additional accessories. All necessary equipment including a case to be bought separately.
Danelectro Resonator Guitar Pros and Cons
Pros
- Strong and sturdy build
- Perfect for people who play in front of a large live audience
- Suitable if you prefer changing styles because it can cover all styles
- Sounds good both electrically and acoustically
- Has a large tonal range
Cons
- Not ideal for a slide setup
- Tuners could be better, in this case, most likely will need replacing
- Upper frets accessing is difficult due to shallow cutaway
- Rather expensive compared to its competitors
Final review:
Overall it is a great guitar. It sounds great, it plays decent and might need a few minor upgrades and some tweaks to perform as well as the more expensive contemporaries. The guitar is very versatile tonally. It takes all the qualities of a good acoustic resonator and streamlines them. It would be hard pressing to buy a better resonator guitar at the same price range. If you gig in front of a large audience, this guitar will prove a great bet