66-12 3 Tone Sunburst : Lush 12-String Jangle

I spent a lot of time online looking into 12 string electrics, I was really after the 60's chimey sound. I looked at the usual suspects by Rickenbacker and Gretsch, and more modern items by Reverend and Rivolta, but nothing impressed me more, soundwise, than this.

Of course, a YouTube sound demo isn't everything, but this guitar has really lived up to those demos and more. It has a single coil and humbucker pickup, which can be coil split (this makes next to no difference in the sound to my ears). But I tend to leave it on the single coil anyway for max chime and jangle, the humbucker could be useful for a warmer tone though.

It's a little neck heavy as is common with 12 strings, but nothing serious (I tend to play sitting down anyway). The look and feel of the guitar is gorgeous and the quality seems very good (I have the sunburst model). The knobs are a bit plasticky but look nice, though I wouldn't change them.

On the downside, the tone knob is pretty useless, it only seems to kick in at the very last part of travel, but I tend to keep it on max anyway. I was thinking of returning the guitar because of this but I then found out that this seems to be a common issue with certain Danelectros and apparently can be fixed with a 500K pot replacement. I haven't bothered with this though since I haven't wanted to roll off the tone.

Also the guitar comes with very little, other than a couple of leaflets of other products, I think an allen key, but no manual or other niceties. I think manufacturers miss a trick here when they just plonk their product on you with no sense of occasion or specialness. A manual would have helped to explain about the split coil which I only discovered by chance online (not that I use it!), and it would have been nice to be welcomed to Danelectro to register the guitar or something to feel part of something, this would have benefits both ways I'm sure, but no. Fender seem to be better in this regard. And Danelectro support is next to useless, trying to get any info from them is like drawing teeth.

Having said that, I will forgive all because the sound of this guitar sends me to a heavenly place and gives me inspiration. It was intended as an occasional use instrument to compliment my Stratocaster and acoustic, but has become my primary guitar!