Danelectro Longhorn, bridge replacement and adding additional pickup?

[NoiseNinja]

As I am not all too happy about the rather limited adjustments the stock bridge offers in the Danelectro Dead on '58 bass that I plan to acquire at some point, I just wanted to know if it would be any big deal to replace the stock bridge with a standard Fender bridge type clone?

Like in the style of this bridge:

Edit: I now seem to recall that the Longhorns doesn't utilize standard fender 19 mm string spacing. So which cheap replacement bridge would I be looking at instead, and would it still be a simple operation to swap it?

The reason I am pondering on investing in a Dano Longhorn at some point is having owned a Jerry Jones Longhorn once that I loved, but was stupid enough to sell.

The Jerry Jones actually being like a high end clone of the original relatively cheap Danelectro Longhorn.

Also going to wire the pickups in series, since that is the default pickup setting I always used on the Jerry Jones I owned, maybe even adding a Seymour Duncan Rickenbacker neck pickup to that in the midlle position.

So would I run into trouble with mounting an additional pickup to the Longhorn giving it's a hollow body?

If anyone is interested how i actually plan to wire the pickups I plan on bypassing all controls and caps, wire the stock pickups in series as said and in case I eventually chose to add the Rickenbacker neck pickup, here functioning a mid position pickup, that will be in parallel with the two series connected lipsticks and just added an on/off switch.

I guess it goes without saying that I don't really care if it wont look like a traditional Longhorn anymore, or even if it gets some eventual cosmetic scars under the surgery.

 

[rllefebv]

I have my pickups wired in series, like a big humbucker, utilizing a single volume and tone... While I did like the versatility of adjusting the individual tone of each pickup, I always ran both volumes full (essentially a series setting anyway)... Actually hardwiring them this way opened them up a little and added girth. Probably not a huge appreciable change, but pronounced enough the I could definitely hear the difference between my two longhorns in a band setting (they were very much interchangeable prior to rewiring the one)... Wish I would have kept them both, but I gave the stock one to a budding bassist...

Can't help you much on the bridge replacement... I'm a fan of the "popsicle stick"

-robert

 

[NoiseNinja]

I have my pickups wired in series, like a big humbucker, utilizing a single volume and tone... While I did like the versatility of adjusting the individual tone of each pickup, I always ran both volumes full (essentially a series setting anyway)... Actually hardwiring them this way opened them up a little and added girth. Probably not a huge appreciable change, but pronounced enough the I could definitely hear the difference between my two longhorns in a band setting (they were very much interchangeable prior to rewiring the one)... Wish I would have kept them both, but I gave the stock one to a budding bassist...

Can't help you much on the bridge replacement... I'm a fan of the "popsicle stick"

-robert

Yeah, know exactly what you mean about the tone of the two lip stick pickups in series, I can still vaguely remember the difference between the two pickups full on in parallel and then in series on my Jerry Jones.

As far as I remember the Jerry Jones just had a volume knob and a pickup selector on which you could chose between, neck, bridge, both in parallel and both in series, at least that is how I remember it.

And I remember thinking the series sounded a bit more present and punchy, fuller in a way, and with just a ever so slightly touch of an actual edge, the only true viable tone setting that bass really had for using it in a rock band context, but what a great tone.

Especially pared with the Ampeg B-15S (the '69 model) 60W tube amp I also was stupid enough to part with.

Those were a perfect pair.

Even if I say rock tone, it still had this unmistakable hollow body tone, something woody or an almost slightly double bass like acoustic character.

I guess that is why the rhythm guitarist and vocalist of the band I played in at that point obviously jokingly, but also meant as a great compliment I am quite sure, called me Niels Henning Ørsted Petersen after having a bass solo in one of the songs we did, that admittedly did have a bit jazzy character to it as well.

Also I remember how much I actually loved playing it, how well it felt in my hands.

If I don't remember all wrong a very close second to my Mikro in terms of playabillity, even with it's just slightly longer scale, as a regular 30" short scale bass.

Remembering feeling that way about it's playabillity could be for the fact though, that I just not long before I finally acquired it, as my first short scale ever, after being on the look out for a bass with a shorter scale length for quite some time actually by then and had fallen in love with this particular demo model reduced heavily in price for that reason, even if there was nothing whatsoever wrong with it, had quit the hardcore/math/noise rock band I was a part of back then where I had played my regular 34" scale with a heavy set of 110's on in drop D tuning, and was used to do a lot of chord work as well as pretty fast runs hammering away all I could on the strings that by the way in addition to that had way too high action.

Also at that point I was beginning to actually have finger and wrist problems, something that has disappeared again since though, luckily, which was one of the reasons I quiet pared with the fact that I simply lost the spark and rehearsals was beginning to become a drag and a heavy chore for me (it was quite demanding music actually with a lot of complicated rhythm shifts and use of odd meters, paired with the fact that we at that point actually was signed with a minor independent record label, had released a 2 track single, and was in the process of making what should have been an album, but became a 4 track EP thanks to my less than perfectly timed cowardly retreat) .

I mean I still like the music we made back then, and what they did after they got someone to replace me, awesome guys as well, and used to sometime regret that I quiet, but on the other hand I didn't feel like I could justify neither to myself or my band mates not being able to give my self fully to the music we played and eventual end up being some half ass jerk hanging on just because it would be easier than taking the right decision at that point and quit.

Anyway, must really have felt pretty relieving to get down to a 30" scale bass after being used to that and start using the 95-40 gauged string set I stuck with ever since (well the gauge, not the actual strings naturally).

Pretty stupid to sell it, but oh, well, I can't keep dwelling on old regrets.

 

[Jazz Ad]

On a Danelectro, pickups are bolted onto a bracket that attaches with wood screws onto the back of the instrument.
They simply protrude through the top.

Danelectro also make an adjustable metal bridge that works quite well and is a sit-in replacement for the stock wooden fix bridge.

 

[howlin]

I recently got a Dano Longhorn with the above mentioned bridge and would highly recommend looking for something better.

I just checked the bridge width and it's exactly 50mm string to string! The Schaller 3D-4 that I was going to suggest only gets down to ~53mm and their 2D version [half the $] ~57mm. FWIW - on my Dano it looks like with the 3D-4 as there is ~5mm to the edge of the neck at the 24th fret on the E-string and ~4.5mm on the G-string. With that kind of margin you might get away with the Schaller 2D bridge.

FYI - The Dano bridge measures ~45mm front to back and the Schaller measures 57.4mm. There's more than enough room to the back edge of the body to accommodate the extra bridge length.

Good luck!