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Danelectro 58 Longhorn Reissue Reviews  3 / 5 based on 1 reviewsI bought it before I knew any
better. It cost about $275
from a now-forgotten online
peddler of guitars and basses.
It's very light and the narrow
short scale neck allows some
fast playing that can be more
tiring on full size basses.
It fits in a guitar gigbag.
It's very stylish and sometimes
that can be a positive.
The hollow body can have a good
hollow sound with the right
choice of strings and proper EQ
settings to emphasize that sound.
The hardware is miserable and I
upgraded both the tuners and the
bridge. There is a terrible hum
problem under many circumstances
due to lack of any shielding and
no grounding to the bridge. The
much-promoted "easy access" to
upper frets that is supposed to
derive from the deep cutaways is
defeated by one of the clunkiest
neck joint designs ever foisted
upon bass players.
Worst feature: to reset the neck
bow, you must remove the neck.
Much as I complain about the poor
original hardware and other cost
cutting, the main structure seems
sturdy enough [or I would never
done the upgrades]. The top and
back are the hard dense version
masonite and the frame between is
laminated. The lipstick pickups
do have a nice "oldies" tone.
It's a fun bass, but if you need
one good electric bass to launch
your budding career, $275 buys
a really fine used "real" bass or
if you add another $75 or so you
can get a new bass. Such basses
are heavier and less stylish and
require a bit more reach due to
full length necks, but are really
what most players need to start
out playing gigs. The Dano is a
great second bass, no extra burden
in size or weight. With upgrades
it seems like a fine main bass for
players with smaller hands and who
don't want a heavy instrument. It
gets a lot of casual playing time
just because it's small and light
and so is often with me. Golem rated this unit on 2003-01-23.
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