Danelectro

Danelectro — the name coined from "Daniel electric" — was founded by Nathan "Nat" Daniel in 1947 in Red Bank, New Jersey. Daniel had previously designed amplifiers for Epiphone before starting his own company, which initially supplied amplifiers to Sears (sold as Silvertone) and Montgomery Ward (sold as Airline). Guitar production began in 1954.

The construction approach was deliberate: Masonite tops and backs over lightweight frames, necks reinforced with steel bars rather than an adjustable truss rod, and pickups housed in war-surplus chrome lipstick tubes — the origin of the "lipstick tube" name. These weren't compromises made reluctantly; Daniel started with what musicians needed sonically and worked backward to find the cheapest way to deliver it. The result was a line of instruments with a genuinely distinctive jangly tone that no amount of expensive wood would have produced the same way.

The innovations accumulated quickly. The six-string electric bass arrived in 1956 — predating Fender's Bass VI by several years — and found a permanent home in Nashville as the instrument behind the "tic-tac" bass lines on countless country records. The 31-fret Guitarlin followed in 1958, and the Bellzouki — the first 12-string electric guitar, developed with session guitarist Vinnie Bell — in 1961. Sears also sold a Silvertone amp-in-case set with a Danelectro guitar for under $50, through which players including Jimi Hendrix got their start.

Daniel sold the company to MCA in 1966; the plant closed in 1969 after MCA's shift away from the catalog-retail model that had driven Danelectro's volume. The brand was acquired by the Evets Corporation in the late 1990s — guitar reissues debuted at the 1998 NAMM show to an overwhelming response — and has continued under various ownership since, with the current line including reissues of the U-series, Shorthorn, and baritone models alongside modern variants.