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• Review

The freshly tweaked '56 series Danelectro guitars mark the third reissue of Nathan Daniel's original 1956 U2 model.

While the first reissue, launched back in 1998, closely followed the specs and aesthetics of the original guitar ('Coke bottle' headstock, rosewood bridge saddle, vinyl body tape and the like), the 2006 56 Pro was what might be described as 'pimped'.

"The great tonal secret with Dano guitars is the moddile position... A stonking slab of musical beef."

The Coke bottle headstock had a notch cut into it (a diet version, if you will), the bridge came loaded with individual saddles to allow better intonation and the classic white vinyl body tape had gone. The 56 Pro was a great guitar, but losing the quirky features did dent its vintage vibe a bit.

Fast-forward to the new '56 Series and the unintonatable rosewood bridge and body tape - in old spec 'Ostrich Pattern' no less - are back where they belong. There's also some curious stuff going on at the headstock end of some of these new models.

The launch of these new models coincides with a streamlining of the Danelectro guitar and bass range. Now, only the new single-cutaway '56 models, the existing double- cutaway '59 guitars and the 'Dead On 58' Longhorn bass will be available.

'The Wild Thing', an eye-popping reissue of a one-off prototype swept wing guitar uncovered a few years ago is also due to hit these shores later this year. But that's your lot, Dano-wise.

Build

The first thing you'll notice about this '56 model is the non-vintage humbucker at the bridge.

This isn't the first time that Danelectro has flirted with a double-Lipstick tube humbucker; the short-lived Hodad and Mod (six- and seven-string) guitars that hung around between 1998-2001 had humbuckers onboard.

That those guitars didn't take off quite as Danelectro would have hoped is possibly down to the fact that they weren't based on original '50s or '60s models (although they've since gained something of a cult status). The new '56 addresses that issue by mounting the humbucker in the bridge position of a classic U2-style model.