1965 Silvertone 1457 (Danelectro-made) Electric Guitar & Amp-in-Case

Above: the guitar played through a Quilter amp & Barefaced cab

Above: the guitar played through the original 5w amp-in-case tube amp

Update 2022: this guitar and its amp are back in the shop for resale and so I've updated this blog post a bit. Soon I will have a video of the amp in action as well, but for now please enjoy the guitar being played through my Quilter (above). Now back to the description...

By hook or by crook, the owner of this instrument and its case began collecting Danelectros via the temptations of my blog. As in: "Ooh, that looks pretty, I'll find one!"

I can't disagree with the habit -- I love Danos. They're lightweight, tend to have nice necks and bigger frets, stable, and look amazing. They're all the cheese you could want cooked in the right way.

This model, which comes as a guitar-plus-amp-in-case combination, is basically the same idea as a Dano U2 model, though with wilder-looking body and headstock shapes. The pickup placement is the same and the control layout (neck/series-both/bridge switching and stacked vol/tone knobs) is as well. The body has poplar/pine blocking for the outer edges and bridge center block, but is mostly hollow under its masonite top and back.

It's completely original, too, though if you look carefully you can see that I've compensated the rosewood saddle so it plays in tune with modern 3-wound, 3-plain stringing (it's got 10s on it). Other work included adding a ground wire from the bridge to the harness, cleaning, and a fret level/dress and setup.

On the amp-in-case -- I just sprayed it out and cleaned it up. It's actually a surprisingly-fun little tube amp. With the low output of the Dano pickups, it doesn't get pushed into distortion much and it's definitely loud enough to use with your buddies in a relaxed jam. The tremolo circuit sounds crazy and wonderful, too. It can stutter like some half-diseased effect or can be subtle and help to "carry" the tone with a pleasant warble. If desired, I could fit a 3-prong cable to this, no problem. I've done it on three others of the same type.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress and glorified setup.

Body wood: semihollow, pine/poplar blocking and masonite top/back

Bridge: steel base with rosewood saddle

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: poplar

Pickups: 2x original Danelectro lipstick single coils

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast)
String gauges: 46w-10

Neck shape: medium C

Board radius: 16"

Truss rod: 2x non-adjustable steel bars

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-wider

Scale length: 25"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

Body width: 13"

Body depth: 1 7/8"

Weight: 6 lbs 1 oz

Condition notes: it's very clean with only the lightest wear via scratching, discoloration, etc. to the finish and side trim throughout. It's old, of course, so yes it shows some handling -- see some rubbing to the headstock edges, for instance -- but it's quite clean for its age. Everything is 100% original on it, too, save an added ground wire to the bridge.

It comes with: an original hard case with amp-in-case tube amp. It's clean, works, and sounds great.