1956 Danelectro U-2 Semihollow Electric Guitar

It's gold -- it's the first year of proper U-2 production -- it has the brown sides -- it has the plastic logo on the headstock -- and it sounds righteous. We win!

To me, a '56 U-2 is the Danelectro. It is the sound and feel these are supposed to have. The modern repros don't get it right but are still fun guitars in their own right. This gets the juice!

I've owned a number of U-2s through the last decade but the best one I owned was a '56 in jade green. The details are all right -- the extra rounded edge on the neck at the cutaway where it meets the neck joint, a little more attention to detail throughout the build -- I don't know what it is, but this-year Danos are the true-blue Danos to me.

Sound-wise it's hard to beat the old lipstick pickups and the Dano wiring arrangement. The 3-way switch allows for neck, both in series, and bridge flipping. That means that in the center the pickups give more output and help to drive an amp better. It's also the "best" sound you'll get out of a Dano, easily. When I was playing this same model a lot, I use the neck pickup for chordal backing, the bridge pickup for acoustic-ish strumming, and the center position as an automatic boost/lead setting as you get a bit more push out of the guitar simply switching to that position. It's a nice, no-frills setup and you don't need a pedal or a hopeful roll-up of the volume control. Am I the only one who likes my pickups on full-on all the time no matter what volume level I'm playing at?

This has the usual Dano construction recipe -- masonite top and back with pine and poplar blocking and centerblock. It's semihollow, lightweight, has a bit of an acoustic-y vibe to the way it plays, and it looks stellar. I always thought the brown vinyl edging was classier than the later white/cream.

Anyhow, after minor repairs, it's ready to go and playing spot-on. Someone else compensated the saddle before me (yip!) and I just had to adjust it a hair.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, minor repair to one knob, cleaning, and setup.

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

Bridge: rosewood saddle, steel base

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: poplar

Pickups: 2x original lipstick single-coils

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast)
String gauges: 46w-9

Neck shape: medium C/D

Board radius: ~14"

Truss rod: two non-adjustable steel bars

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-wider

Scale length: 25 1/8"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

Body width: 13 1/8"

Body depth: 1 5/8"

Weight: 6 lbs 1 oz

Condition notes: the jack-plate has been replaced with a homemade thing that I liked so I left it. It has two replacement strap buttons. The saddle has been modified to be compensated for 3-plain, 3-wound (modern) stringing. The jack is a replacement. Otherwise, this is all-original throughout. It's in a rare gold metallic color rather than a bronze/copper color that they're more-commonly seen in. It has all of the early-production '56 features that you'd want to see. There's some wear to the fretboard and definite wear to the finish on the back of the neck. There's minor scratching and scuffing throughout the body but overall it looks nice and wholesome. The back control cover may be a replacement. Also, in the pics the strap buttons are cream plastic replacements but I've since replaced those with relic'd Fender-style buttons for better grip/security. The plastic ones always fall-out at the least opportune times. I've stowed the buttons in case someone wants to use them instead.