Welcome to Winterwind’s Danelectro Red Hot Longhorn review. The “Red Hot” is the new 2024 take on the classic ’58 Danelectro Longhorn bass. I ordered mine a few months ago and it arrived in the store in May (when I wrote the first draft of this review – then things got busy). It’s my second time trying a Longhorn bass. The first didn’t work out as I’d hoped but this one is a keeper. It needs a little work but I really think this new Longhorn may actually become my main bass. At the risk of sounding emotional… I LOVE this bass!
(Note #1 – For some reason, despite being announced back in January, 2024 at NAMM and being available now, as of this writing, Danelectro has yet to list this new Longhorn model on their own site.)
(Note #2 – For some other reason, as of this writing, Long & McQuade has the wrong picture on their website. If you’re in Canada and you want this bass, and you should, don’t worry. They have the right bass. They just have the wrong picture.)
(Note #3 – This bass is really difficult to photograph and get the red to show properly. I’ve tried different lighting, playing with various filters, balancing this and adjusting the exposure of that. It’s a gorgeous dark red that turns out a bright red in most pictures.)
The Specs
Danelectro has really upped the ante with their new bass. While it has much in common with the standard Longhorn that was first introduced in 1958, they’ve made quite a few changes.
The bass still uses an aluminum nut. It also has the standard 24 fret, 14″ radius, bolt-on neck you find on normal Longhorns but now we get into the differences. And they’re nice.
Danelectro typically uses masonite and hardboard/plywood in their bodies. They were, after all, a budget guitar back in the day. But the new Red Hot Longhorn is a little different. While they’re still using hardboard for the top, the body is made of spruce. It’s a semi-hollow with a classic, stylish f-hole.
They’ve also used a rosewood fretboard instead of pau ferro. The specs say the bridge is pau ferro although, if it is, it’s quite dark and matches the rosewood neck.
As for the electronics, the pickups are their standard “lipstick” single coils but, unlike the regular Longhorn models, the Red Hot model has a three-way pickup selector for extra tonal options. With the two control knobs, they’re the usual 1x volume and 1x tone but they’ve changed those too.
Gone are the “chicken head” knobs and they’ve been replaced with more of a “top hat” knob. It’s not a hard plastic, more of a hard rubber, but it’s easy to grip “on the fly”.
I’m actually really impressed that someone at the company decided to try something different. Kudos to whoever it was.
Fit and Finish
For some, the Longhorn’s look is quirky and an acquired taste. Personally, I love the look. And with the variations introduced with Red Hot model, I think it’s a sexy instrument.
Gone is the “vinyl tape” side binding found on most Danelectro models. Instead, what you get with this spruce body is a black back and sides, an aged white/cream binding on the body and the f-hole and that gorgeous red top. With the rosewood neck, this bass really is a looker.
Cosmetically, there’s one teeny tiny flaw – a spot where the red bleeds a bit into the binding near the neck. But it’s the size of a pin prick and you’d have to look for it to notice it.
The build quality is pretty impressive. I have no issues with the bass at all. It’s far superior to the previous Longhorn bass I had.
The factory setup is better but… it needs a little tlc from my new luthier.
It’s perfectly intonated (considering there’s really no such thing with any instrument). My last Longhorn was really off at the 12th fret but this one is spot-on with all four strings. (I use a Boss TU-3 tuner on my pedal board.)
Where it needs some work are the frets. It has a few high frets that cause some buzz. Honestly, most players probably wouldn’t even notice because the high frets are the 12th, 14th, 16th and 19th. I noticed because I play up the neck a lot on bass.
I’m not going to complain too much. Quite honestly, I’ve come to accept that most instruments, regardless of brand, will require some fret and nut work out of the box now. I wish it were otherwise but it is what it is and I’ve bought more expensive instruments that needed far more work.
Tone and Playability
I’m a flatwound player when it comes to bass. Typically, the first thing I do with any bass I buy is order a set of LaBella flats and take off the rounds the second I get the instrument home. I did order a set of flats for this but I haven’t put them on yet. I’m enjoying this bass right now “as is” tonewise. Plus, you can make rounds sound like flats but you can’t make flats sound like rounds.
I might actually keep rounds on this. The pickups are nice and quiet and I love the tone. I prefer the tone of the middle position and on my particular bass, there’s a bit of a volume drop either just the neck or just the bridge.
As for its playability, I have my action set to 2.75mm on the E and 2mm on the G and I find this bass very easy and comfortable to play.
It’s a short scale bass (my preference as I’m predominantly a guitarist). It’s a lightweight, semi-hollow instrument so it’s easy to play standing. I don’t have any ergonomic issues with it when sitting either.
The neck and fretboard width are quite comfortable for me too. The nut width measures 42mm, the width at the 12 fret measures 52mm and the fretboard radius is 14″. (Aren’t guitar specs funny by the way. They’re the only thing I can think of off-hand where measurements jump back and forth between imperial and metric.)
Danelectro Red Hot Longhorn Review – Summary – 9.5/10
I always thought a Hofner, with its neck measurements, would be my main bass and anything else would be my backup bass. This new “Red Hot” take on the Danelectro Longhorn bass has me rethinking that. This may very well become my main bass. Despite being less expensive than Hofner’s HCT line, this Longhorn is a better built, better out of the box instrument than the Hofners my last two reviews covered.
I have fun when I play this bass. With new guitars, my “honeymoon” phase usually lasts a week or so then it’s business as usual and I play my other instruments in song dependent rotation. With this new Danelectro, it’s been the bass I reach for 99% of the time.
I really need to settle on a style guide for my reviews. Grading this bass with a numeric value it only loses points having a few high frets. And that may just be the particular one I ordered.
Honestly, if Danelectro decides to make the Red Hot’s specs a permanent part of their lineup and do other colours, I’ll probably ditch my Hofner and buy another Longhorn, keeping one with rounds and one with flats.
Hmmm… what other colours could they do and what name would they use since it couldn’t be “Red Hot”?
How about a nice blue and call it “Blue Cold”… er… that doesn’t work. Maybe “Ice Blue”?
Ooooh! Or purple! A nice, deep royal purple. And since the Danelectro Longhorn is often referred to as “squawky” they could call it the “Squawk King”.
Hey Danelectro folks, if you read this… I really, really want my deep royal purple “Squawk King”.
I blame Star Trek for that.
(Star Trek 1966-2005 RIP)
- Danelectro Red Hot Longhorn Review - August 22, 2024
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