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Does anyone know where these danelectro 12 string guitars are made?


Danoman

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If given a guess, I'd guess Indonesia. I recently bought a couple Silvertone guitars (which were originally Dano's made for Sears) that were made by a Samick plant in Indonesia. No complaints about the build of either of those (except one wonky pot in the U2 model). I also have a Yamaha SA503 TVL that was probably made in the same factory.

 

Point being, Samick Korea is outsourcing a fair amount of the budget models to Indonesia these days, but they seem to be enforcing pretty good QC.

 

P.S. I've been looking at that Dano-12 myself. The only thing holding me back is that I already own 3 other 12s that I neglect, so I'm trying not to repeat that particular aspect of the syndrome.

 

I'd be curious to hear what folks are saying about the origins on these newest productions.

 

Taking a quick glance at my records, my last Dano I bought in late 2010 (a 1959 DC RI) was made in China. They probably still are.

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The first reissues in the late 90's were Korea with Kent Armstrong Alnico lipsticks; identifiable by natural maple necks. They moved to China, the necks are painted and lipsticks use ceramic magnets. NAMM a few years back Evets said they moved back to Korea and they finally started doing cutouts for truss-rod adjustment.

 

Since we're talking CNC'ed plywood, masonite and maple there's not much difference between them, other than what I note above. I like the Alnico lipsticks better because they have that vintage chime, plus you can flip the polarity on one and rewire it to get a humbucking setup happening. You can't flip polarity on the ceramics but they are a bit hotter if you're into a crunchier tone. Some of the first reissues came with really junky machines, but that changed when moved to China.

 

That particular 12-string is probably China. Those are a special run just for the Guitar Center family, not available to other retailers, and there is quite likely a residual stock in their warehouse.

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