LeftyBassist.com

How do you think the RH longhorns would play if turned around?
They look pretty much the same except of the pickup angle.
would it make much sound difference?

Why bother? Jerry Jones makes lefty Longhorns.


http://www.jerrysleftyguitars.com/jerry ... lefty.html

$997 US.

Im in Australia
righties here are going for $600

Austinleftybass has a righty flipped Dano, I believe, so hopefully he'll chime in. I would think a conversion would work fairly well, given the symmetrical body. Flip the nut and bridge saddles and you should be good to go. In fact, it may even sound better than stock because I'd imagine the overall sound would be more balanced from string to string since the pickups are angled, thus you'd get a slightly fatter sounding G and D string (and likewise a slightly thinner E and A string).

Howdy, I've been playing Longhorn basses of one kind or another since the mid 80s. Upside-down is not a problem for me. I play with the bass resting against my hip, I suppose if you played it lower the knobs would get in your way. The pointer knobs on the new "Dead-On" version do get turned accidently on ocassion as they are pretty tall, but the other versions with concentric pots have round knobs and they are not a problem, and the JJs don't have stacked pots so are definetely not a problem.
I'm gonna assume you would restring it lefty, most of the Longhorns have the rosewood bridge, and most of those are straight across, so it would be very simple to loosen its screw and rotate it to the proper angle. As for the nut, Dano nuts are aluminum and mount at the end of the fingerboard ala Gibsons, and are mounted with a single countersunk screw. My guess is if you swapped the existing nut around you'd need to drill out the hole a bit so the screw would sit flush. There is a Dano parts site online and last time I visited they stocked lefty bass nuts, so that might be an option.
IF you're thinking swapping the controls over, the two things that come to my mind are: There's a center "block" in the body that you'll need to work around, and access to the control cavity is thru the rear of the bass.
Cool thing is the body is symmetrical and the strap button is mounted at the heel.
Let me know if you have anymore questions, hope this helped, here's my 4 Longhorn basses:

I own both a righty Danelectro Longhorn Pro and a lefty Jerry Jones Longhorn. Never had any issue at all with conversion of either from lefty to righty or vice versa. Keep in mind they've reissued the Longhorn 4 times, each one slightly different. The Longhorn Pro is IMHO the best built and sounding of the 4 Dano Longhorn reissue versions. I will say however that if you're serious about getting a Longhorn as something you are going to play a lot, the Jerry Jones is a much superior sounding and constructed bass- so you are "getting what you pay for" to some degree.

Maybe you're just into the Longhorn for it's looks, but if it's tone you're after:

Of all the newer Dano stuff that has been offered over the past several years, I tell you right now, no question the best sounding of all the basses has been the Hodad (see bottom). It's one of those "best kept secrets" in the bass world. The Hodad has the same hollow body construction as the Longhorn, with a Bass/Treble switch, a stacked volume and tone knob and Select-O-Matic 6-way pickup switch. Of course it can do the Longhorn tone, but has more punch, a wider variety of sounds (can cover both your P bass and J bass requirements, plus some stuff that only the hodad seems capable of), and cuts through better than most anything else out there- and it's a long scale bass with fully intonatable bridge and heavy tuners- and it hangs perfectly upside down. I got one when they first came out- you can't really tell from the pic but it's a beautiful iridescent pearl metallic, I was lucky to get one in this rare color, just about all of them were black or blue metallic.. They didn't make Hodads for long, but they do turn up used and if you're patient you will catch one at a pretty affordable price because not that many people are aware.

But don't just take my word for it- check out the reviews:
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/revi ... +Bass/10/1

I have an dano 58 dead on longhorn bass and I play it upside down. (String from e to G (the nut is atachted with one screw and is easy to flip around)

My daughter has a new dc 63 a great bass for the price. She won't use any other bass.
But why don't they make them as lefties?

They did- I have a lovely lefty DC bought from PK's in Perth.

Not around any more but they are on ebay etc

Rob.

Ditto on the DC bass. I love mine, and lefties do pop up from time to time on ebay, etc. I also own a lefty Jerry Jones Longhorn (mine's a '92 I believe), and I agree they're great instruments. Always been curious about the Hodads, and the body looks symmetrical enough to not look dumb flipped. I really dig the look of the '63 long scale too.

I wish Dano would make lefties again. Not offering a lefty Longhorn has always puzzled me, since it's symmetrical, though they did make at least 1 for the Asian market, which was for sale at Taniguchi-Gakki:

http://shop.taniguchi-gakki.jp/products ... gory_id=10

They probably don't want to invest in the black paint required to finish the body of all budget lefty basses.

a good range there,
has anyone brought from there?

how true

I think leftieray was referring to the recent "Dano '63" model- which is not offered in lefty- not the older DC, which of course was offered in lefty.

I know you guys like your DCs. I've bought lefty DCs twice and I sold them both times-they just didn't sound near as good to me compared to the Longhorn Pro or the Hodad. I also bought both a "Dead on 58" and "Dano '63" when they came out, but sold those too- they're made in China and IMO the quality is nowhere near as good as the Korean made Danectro stuff from the late '90's. I guess I'm a sucker for anything new that Danelectro puts out, but I only kept the ones that felt and sounded the best, and IMO that would be the Longhorn Pro and Hodad... The tuners for the Longhorn Pro and Hodad are regular size so you can easily string and tune them, and they have fully adjustable chrome bridges which allow you to intonate very easily. The upgraded tuners and the bridge if bought separately will cost you around $100, so of the Longhorns the Pro version is the better choice if you can find one.

Oh crap- that reminds me- I also still have a righty Danelectro "Danoblaster" Rumour bass... these had the same "mosrite-ish" shape as the Hodad and were also long scale, but they were a budget line with solid basswood body, a conventional p bass pickup, vintage big keyed tuners and (believe it or not) stereo jacks and a built-in chorus effect of all things! They sold it new for only $199 - and the damn thing plays and sounds phenomenal. Crazy!

i've used my longhorn basses upside down. put the pots in fixed position and lowerd the minto the body.

Doing a conversion is dead easy.

Unsrew the one srew that holds the nut in place. Plip it over en screm it back in.
The body is ideal for making new holes in it. But since I never use pops on a bass for me the most easy thing to do was lower the post simply inside the body.

I vote also for a Jerry Jones. I had a 90's reissue Longhorn Dano and a lefty DC and neither came close to my JJ Longhorn and Shorthorn. Worth the extra $$ IMO. Pickups sound better , bass is much better made, everything is better. There's a righty Longhorn on Craigslist right now for about $500. Used lefty's I've never seen. Indoor Storm has good deals on new JJs and Jerry will make you a lefty.

Well I'm going to respectfully disagree with a couple of comments.

I own a '91 Jerry Jones Longhorn. I also own a '99 Dano DC shorthorn and I also used to own a JJ Coral Sitar. Yes, the JJs are better made, but I wouldn't say substantially better. It will still snap in two if you sit on it. They're certainly nowhere near the level of a custom made instrument, good 'ole US made notwithstanding. (My Coral had a very average feeling MIM-type neck/build). Granted, they're not $3000+ either, but $1200 is nothing to sneeze at for an instrument that was conceived as an affordable, cheaply made yet great sounding plywood instrument. And that's the whole point of a owning a Dano, IMO. They were basically great sounding junk. The binding is masking tape, for crying out loud! (Note: I love Danos, so please don't take that as a attack, but you get my point). If you can find a used JJ for under $600, I say go for it, but if you're going to spend $1200 on one you're really only buying a polished turd, IMO.

Sort of off topic but...I heard Carol Kaye played a Danelectro Bass on Glen Campbell's Witchita Lineman...would a modern Danelectro produce that same kind of deep tone? I absolutely love that sound.

I don't know the specifics of that particular song's recording, but don't be assume the bass tone on it is all Dano. It was often standard to cut the bass in the studio 3 times in the 50's and 60's, once with an upright bass, once with a Fender bass and once with a baritone or danelectro bass. If you ever see a musician credited with "tic-tac bass" on a record sleeve, that's baritone or Dano bass.

It could be that Carol did play a Dano on the recording and get a killer deep tone, could also be that it's a blend of 2 or 3 bass sources too.

Hey PJ- if you're saying you'd pay $600 for a polished turd...

But seriously, I think a used JJ at $600 is definitely a better instrument and worth the price in relative comparison to a Korean or Chinese Dano at $300. But $1200 for a Longhorn 4? Crazy. I had no idea his list price had gotten that high!