2006 Danelectro “Pro” Lornhorn Bass

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The Longhorn, designed by Danelectro founder Nathan Daniel, is an iconic bass first produced in 1958. After Danelectro made the first six string electric basses in 1956, which also featured a short scale at 29-1/2-inch. Heard on countless recordings. Nice thumpy, round, and distinctive sound with a radical unique body style. These basses are hollow and made from some inexpensive woods and materials, but you be quite surprised how well that actually works out if you never played a Danelectro before. This 2006 Danelectro “Pro” Lornhorn Bass weighs in a slightly over 6-lbs so it is no back breaker that some basses can be.

While Fender, Gibson, Gretsch and Rickenbacker were making guitars from the highest quality tone woods in the late 60s and 60s – Nat Daniel went in another direction. He made cheaper guitars that anybody could afford. Cheap, but playable and with a great and unique sound. Great sound was certainly obtainable from Danelectros – as Jimmy Page proved with his Shorthorn six string and John Entwhistle demonstrated to a similar level of perfection with the Longhorn bass.

Features:

Radical Double Cutaway Body Style
Dual Lipstick pickups
Volume and Tone controls
3-way switch
Adjustable Bridge
Adjustable Truss Rod at the heel
Blue Burst Metallic Satin Finish
29.75″ short-scale neck
24 frets – Two Octives

These upgraded Danelectro Lornhorn Basses are a bit rare and hard to find. In 2006, Danelectro produced an upgraded Longhorn bass that also came in sone rare colors. This one has a Blue Burst Metallic finish. Nick-named the Longhorn “PRO” these short lived instruments had better Lipstick pickups, bridge that allowed for better intonation and a single volume and tone with a 3-way switch that replaced the concentric dual volume and tone controls that were not so popular with some players. This one also has strap locks.

Headstock is different shape the the original and reissue LongHorn Basses

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The build quality is excellent for a Danelectro and has no white “tape” on body edges. These instruments were not well publicized and were more expensive than the basic Longhorn Bass. Likely why you don’t see that many around. This one appears to be “all stock” except for the previous owner has flat-wound strings installed. The included tweed Dano case was optional. Unique to these basses is the head-stock has slightly different shape than other standard Longhorns. This Bass is virtually mint and only the tweed case does show some small signs of use. Costing a bit more than a new Dano Lornhorn, but with the upgrades I think it is worth it. The “Pro” Bass fixes most of the complains that players seem to have had with the earlier vintage model, while keeping the tone and classic looks.

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The bass in in mint condition, except the 3-way switch needed replacing. The truss rod also needed a bit of adjustment. Took care of both and it is playing nice now.

I am not really a bass player, but always liked the unique sound from these Dano Lornhorns. Danelectro makes a pretty nice playing instrument for low dollars. The Danelectro Lornhorn Bass was featured an countless classic recordings as it seemed some many commercial studios always had these available. Probably due to the low price as compared to Fender and other basses.

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The Who’s John Entwhistle was known for playing a Danelectro Longhorn Bass. Another notable Dano Longhorn player was Rinus Gerritsen the bass player for the rock band Golden Earring. They are best known in the US for their hit Radar Love that featured the sound of the Dano Longhorn Bass.