When I think back to the ’70s, the famously coined “Me” decade, it seems the only surefire way you could leave audiences awestruck was to strap on a doubleneck electric guitar.
You needed a doubleneck as the showstopper, the ultimate display of onstage one-upmanship. How else could Jimmy Page have handled The Song Remains the Same – or Don Felder executed Hotel California – without a doubleneck guitar in the picture?
But, lest I forget the obvious, this is not a guitar you sit on the couch with. It’s rather unwieldy, not to mention potentially too expensive for most of us. All that aside, I know, for many of you, your inner-rock star longs to own one or have the bragging rights to declare, “I play a doubleneck!”
Well, get ready, aspiring arena rockers; Danelectro delivers a doubleneck that’s not only reasonably priced but every bit as stunning in sound and function.
Danelectro’s patented short-horn, double-cutaway body style proves to be an advantageous contour for unencumbered playing in its redesign as a doubleneck. Furthermore, the guitar is surprisingly lightweight for a doubleneck, making it all the more appealing when you’re ready to break it out onstage. Plus, it looks timeless in its opulent, white pearl finish.
Danelectro doubles up on its time-tested recipe of semi-hollow construction, spruce body with hardboard top and back, feedback-resistant spruce center blocks, bolt-on maple necks and two aluminum nuts to invigorate this guitar’s lively response when strummed unplugged.
Even though I suggested it’s impractical, you can actually play it sitting down, thanks to its narrow 1 5/8-inch body depth that doesn’t make the doubleneck experience entirely awkward.
You’ll also need to get used to navigating between necks, manipulating controls and switches and playing deftly on the 6-string below the 12-string neck. But once you do, it’s quite exhilarating having two entirely different instruments at your disposal.
Setup out of the box becomes dead-on after a slight tweak of the truss rods to straighten the necks, and the uniformly slim neck profiles combined with the super-flat fretboard radii make chording and soloing an effortless journey on both necks.
Intonation is also spot-on by way of the fully adjustable diecast bridges where the strings are top-loaded for the 12-string, and string-through for the 6-string bridge for an extra snappy response.
The four Danelectro lipstick pickups with alnico V magnets (two pickups per side) sound phenomenal for their clear articulation and snappy snarl – especially in both bridge positions. The dual stacks of concentric volume (bottom) and tone (top) controls are wired to govern the bridge pickups for the first stack, while the second stack pilots only the rhythm pickups.
With that, you can set up different outputs and tonal shades between the 6- and 12-string sides, giving you colorful flexibility. Also, the three-way pickup selector is wired in series for the middle position, which adds low-end emphasis for a beefier sound, while scooping the mids and smoothing out the highs.
Here, the 12-string had the most “Ric-like” jangle. But for onstage, I set the 12-string for a softer chime and readying the 6-string side for full-gas output. Finally, a two-way switch activates either the 12-string or 6-string, but not both simultaneously (a minor bummer, but this can be modified).
Despite that, a doubleneck is a unicorn in the guitar world, and for its price, playability and tones, Danelectro’s Doubleneck is a magical beast to rein in. Be audacious and get one for yourself.
Specs
- PRICE: $899
- BODY: Shorthorn body style shape, spruce/plywood with hardboard top and back. Spruce center blocks
- BRIDGE: Fully adjustable 6- and 12-string bridges with intonatable saddles
- CONTROLS: 2 stacked volume/tone knobs, 3-way pickup selector switch and 2-way guitar selector switch
- FRETBOARD: Rosewood with dot inlays, 25” scale, 14” radius
- FRETS: 21 medium
- NUT: Two Aluminum with 1.65” nut width
- NECK: Maple bolt-on, C profile
- PICKUPS: Four 1950s vintage single-coils with Alnico V magnets and 70/30 brass/zinc alloy lipstick tubes
- FINISH: White Pearl
- CONTACT: Danelectro Guitars
