LOTW- Hybrid Picking in G with Keith Amyx

The Danelectro name is derived from Nate Daniel’s first business as an amplifier builder, Daniel Electrical Laboratories. It was the era of the Great Depression and his bread and butter at that time was supplying amps to Epiphone. 

WWII interrupted that relationship and his technical knowledge was applied in the war effort as a civilian designer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. 

After the war Daniel went back to building amplifiers and inked contracts with Sears and Montgomery Ward under the Silvertone and Airline brands. That was 1946 and marks the beginning of Danelectro as we know it.    

Budget guitars were added to the mix in 1954 for Silvertone and the first one was a single cutaway “Model C”. 

The same bodystyle with a slightly different “coke bottle” headstock labeled for Danelectro came out the next year.  Those were the U1, U2, and U3 with the number progression referring to the number of lipstick pickups. 

Based on the same “U” body style, Danelectro introduced the world’s first 6-string bass in 1956.

Then in 1958 two new unforgettable shapes appeared. One was the company’s most recognized, the Shorthorn. The other was Dano’s most unforgettable, the Longhorn. 

The Longhorn was also available as a 4-string or 6-string bass. And there was the incredible (or ridiculous) 31 fret Guitarlin Longhorn in which the upper frets extend into the higher mandolin range. 

The bass turned out to be quite popular, although not seen as much in live performances, it was a reliable session machine. 

The deep set neck, short-scale length of 29.5”, and bridge near the bottom of the guitar make this one sit much like a 6-string guitar.

And like the 6-string guitar version the wiring gets a little funky. The pots are concentric with an on/off switch on the tall end, volume on the lower dial. Tones are pre-set, but can be adjusted by mixing the volume levels of the two pickups.     

This one remained in the Dano line-up until Nate Daniel sold to MCA in 1966.

WA & Co. Bethlehem Pedal & Amp

In this Guitar Gavel podcast we go in depth with Wyatt Abrachinsky and Dan Strohl of WA & Co. Bethlehem Pedal & Amp, a boutique pedal builder (and eventually amps).

Episode details: Wyatt shares his full story of learning the trade and becoming a guitar/amp technician. Spoiler, it's in his DNA! Passion and obsession- from working 14 hours a day perfecting pedal sounds to waking up at night dreaming about equations.

Wyatt and Dan take us on a tour of the shop and explain the entire journey from pedal concept to paper to breadboard to the actual build. They talk about the vision of the company and where they plan to be in the next several years. The conversation screams LOVE and oozes with the mystique they are likely building a legendary brand.