High resolution pictures linked to further below.

Denny's notes about this Guitar and it's condition:

Here is one bad mammy-jammer waiting for some TLC;  And if it's still around when it's place in line reaches my bench, ...I will certainly resurrect it into geetar nirvana and probably never be able to let it go!  Please Mr. Fox, ...don't throw me in that briar patch............

Condition issues briefly:  Heavily checked and chipped finish.  I have come to the conclusion that the body's black laquer top-coat finish is non-original but was done well over original white early in the guitar's life;  The neck appears to have original black laquer over sealer.  Needs bridge, mounting screws and their mounting holes doweled.  The original bridge is of the common Danelectro fixed saddle mounted atop a chromed steel bridge / plate that also receives the strings' ball ends;  Bound on 3 wood screw legs by string tension.  String spacing is held by downpressure on the saddle created by the bridge plate tilt.  The malfunctioning tone pot acts like a master volume control (I haven't determine why and will not jump to a shorted-filter guess).  2 knobs are original ... 2 are not.  Everything else is sound, functional and in very good to excellent condition.

The original Danelectro company used as commonly available parts as they could.  The lipstick tube pickups really WERE made from lipstick tubes!  The original pots, capacitors and knobs were / are quite common with radio / electronic circles & sources, and not very difficult to find.  The hard to find parts are those that Danelectro fabricated or had fabricated;  And all of those parts on this guitar are in very good condition EXCEPT for the bridge that is widely available (even the 1998-2003 Reissues will fit and work just fine, and the reissue 12 string bridge is even "tunamatic").

DETAILS:

High resolution pictures are linked to further below.

The Dane was the top of the line for Danelectro at the time the Danelectro company was sold and became "Coral".  The Danelectro Dane models are a sculpted body evolution of the Hornet series.  In the Dane series the 6 string was also named Hornet, the 12 string named Scorpion, and the Bass was named Wasp. The sculpting makes the body look very thin, but IT ISN'T;  It is a VERY substantial chunk of wood!  Alpha characters in Dano model numbers indicate nominal step-ups in upgrades; A, B, C, D, and E ... with A the lowest and E the highest in their guitar lines.

This Scorpion's structural integrity is very sound and it's hardware is in Very Good to Excellent condition.  It's switches, pickups, pots and wiring harness work with the exception that the tone control acts like a master volume control (apparantly a broken tone pot said elsewhere herein).  It's bridge and saddle are missing, but All Parts has the Evets Danelectro 1998-2003 Reissue series tuneamatic 12 string bridges listed for $65 (enter "Danelectro" in their website's search engine).  A set non-adjustable Danelectro rosewood bridge saddle would also work as that is what the original saddle for this guitar was.  The standard bridge plate and set rosewood saddle is also available at All Parts.  The 3 bridge mounting screw holes need doweling and 3 new type-correct screws need to be obtained (stainless, phillips, flat-head / counter-sink wood screws).  THIS GUITAR COULD ALSO BE STRUNG OR NECKED AS A 6 STRING!  I have vintage Dano batwing, coke bottle and Coral fenderish headstock 6 string necks that will fit this guitar.  A Coral fenderish headstock neck would make this guitar a Dane series Hornet.

This Dane's body has been knocked around allot during it's life and the finish shows it.  The "Relic" Strat fad would kill for a body in this authentic "Relic'ed" but very good condition.  There are no chunks nor even heavy gouges ...just a banged-up, checked, chipped, and flaked finish along the areas you would expect it to be.  There is also some foreign white marks on it, obviously from being scuffed from another white surface.  Oh my, how I wish this Guitar could speak the stories it would surely have to tell;  (There's no doubt in my mind that it speaks prfoundly out it's jack!).  I believe that the top coat finish is not original.  Under the black laquer top coat appears to be thick Dano sealer coats with red-tinted last sealer proof coat, then covered with original white primer and finish coat.  The black laquer top coat is a good and very old job that has checked in step with the sub-surface coats and wood grain ageing.  ~~~~~~~  This Scorpion also has an abundance of a dark golden-tan tacky stain that I feel certain is nicotine tar (or possibly the tar from some other kind of drug smoke!) incidentally applied by heavy smoker's playing hands.  The tar is visible over most of the front of the body in the high resolution pics linked-to further below.  It is tar residue, not any kind of smoke damage.  It can be easily removed by a guitar tech, antique tech or a handy person who does some research and studies into the proper means to do it and takes same reasonably serious.  ~~~~~~~  I would not dare clean the "patina" from this guitar myself, in favor of keeping "patina" that many if not most collectors desire to have intact when they purchase;  ....unless / until a customer desires it to be cleaned, ...or until it makes it to my bench for my own refurb.  Remarkably, it doesn't appear to have been played very much, with it's frets in remarkbly good condition;  And the aluminum nut does not have string-cut migration into the nut.

The back of the neck is remarkably smooth even though it's finish is also moderately checked.  This indicates the guitar was played regular enough to moderate checking on the back of the neck.

I have now secured the guitar into special corrosion inhibiting packaging for safe-keeping.

For the tech type Folks: The wiring harness is all original, in excellent condition and shows the superb thinking and attention to detail toward the end of the original Danelectro manufacture, although the ground solder joints on the pots casings are assembly line and not "NASA".  The pickup lead wires are 3 conductor, with a woven ground shield sleeve, all enclosed in plastic insulation sleeve that carries right up to their solder points.  The signal conducting pickup lead wires are also insulated right up to their solder points.  Resistors are in the circuit for pot taper balance, one of them ceramic.  3 original Danelectro pickups read a proper 4.75K ohms static.  The volume pots are 100K and the tone pot 1meg, all original.  The slide switches operate smoothly and their indents not worn loosely.  There is an aluminum foil ground jumper that lays against the pots' cavity and makes contact with the pots mounting electronics cavity cover (the metal lower extension of the pickguard) when it screws down; BUT there is no shielding foil in the cavity.  I have an original Danelectro copper foil cavity shield should we determine that this guitar is missing one and is meaningful to a Buyer.  Even though this guitar will never be an all-original museum piece requiring an original shield, it is excellent for a correct restoration, ...and a foil shield is of course a piece of cake to make.  The tone pot operates like a master volume, and I haven't determined exactly why yet (not jumping to a conclusion of shorted filter).

See detailed high resolution pictures here.

YIKES
Danelectro Dane series 3p.u. 12 String Scorpion
Late 1960's (likely '67 or '68)
This is one bad mammy jammer waiting for some TLC un-corking

PREVIOUS OWNER REPORTS:  This is a Danelectro "Dane" series, model D3N12, Neck is in Good Condition, the tuner's seem to work fine. The finish has the age line's in it. There some nick's and some paint missing around the edge's. Two knob's are not org. and it need's a bridge. It's a fairly rare model because of the three pickups. You may want to keep an eye out for an appropriate 6-string neck from a six string model. It would be a simple matter of swapping necks without any modidfications and you could put it back to stock easily.

High resolution pictures linked to further below.

Denny's notes about this Guitar and it's condition:

Here is one bad mammy-jammer waiting for some TLC;  And if it's still around when it's place in line reaches my bench, ...I will certainly resurrect it into geetar nirvana and probably never be able to let it go!  Please Mr. Fox, ...don't throw me in that briar patch............

Condition issues briefly:  Heavily checked and chipped finish.  I have come to the conclusion that the body's black laquer top-coat finish is non-original but was done well over original white early in the guitar's life;  The neck appears to have original black laquer over sealer.  Needs bridge, mounting screws and their mounting holes doweled.  The original bridge is of the common Danelectro fixed saddle mounted atop a chromed steel bridge / plate that also receives the strings' ball ends;  Bound on 3 wood screw legs by string tension.  String spacing is held by downpressure on the saddle created by the bridge plate tilt.  The malfunctioning tone pot acts like a master volume control (I haven't determine why and will not jump to a shorted-filter guess).  2 knobs are original ... 2 are not.  Everything else is sound, functional and in very good to excellent condition.

The original Danelectro company used as commonly available parts as they could.  The lipstick tube pickups really WERE made from lipstick tubes!  The original pots, capacitors and knobs were / are quite common with radio / electronic circles & sources, and not very difficult to find.  The hard to find parts are those that Danelectro fabricated or had fabricated;  And all of those parts on this guitar are in very good condition EXCEPT for the bridge that is widely available (even the 1998-2003 Reissues will fit and work just fine, and the reissue 12 string bridge is even "tunamatic").

DETAILS:

High resolution pictures are linked to further below.

The Dane was the top of the line for Danelectro at the time the Danelectro company was sold and became "Coral".  The Danelectro Dane models are a sculpted body evolution of the Hornet series.  In the Dane series the 6 string was also named Hornet, the 12 string named Scorpion, and the Bass was named Wasp. The sculpting makes the body look very thin, but IT ISN'T;  It is a VERY substantial chunk of wood!  Alpha characters in Dano model numbers indicate nominal step-ups in upgrades; A, B, C, D, and E ... with A the lowest and E the highest in their guitar lines.

This Scorpion's structural integrity is very sound and it's hardware is in Very Good to Excellent condition.  It's switches, pickups, pots and wiring harness work with the exception that the tone control acts like a master volume control (apparantly a broken tone pot said elsewhere herein).  It's bridge and saddle are missing, but All Parts has the Evets Danelectro 1998-2003 Reissue series tuneamatic 12 string bridges listed for $65 (enter "Danelectro" in their website's search engine).  A set non-adjustable Danelectro rosewood bridge saddle would also work as that is what the original saddle for this guitar was.  The standard bridge plate and set rosewood saddle is also available at All Parts.  The 3 bridge mounting screw holes need doweling and 3 new type-correct screws need to be obtained (stainless, phillips, flat-head / counter-sink wood screws).  THIS GUITAR COULD ALSO BE STRUNG OR NECKED AS A 6 STRING!  I have vintage Dano batwing, coke bottle and Coral fenderish headstock 6 string necks that will fit this guitar.  A Coral fenderish headstock neck would make this guitar a Dane series Hornet.

This Dane's body has been knocked around allot during it's life and the finish shows it.  The "Relic" Strat fad would kill for a body in this authentic "Relic'ed" but very good condition.  There are no chunks nor even heavy gouges ...just a banged-up, checked, chipped, and flaked finish along the areas you would expect it to be.  There is also some foreign white marks on it, obviously from being scuffed from another white surface.  Oh my, how I wish this Guitar could speak the stories it would surely have to tell;  (There's no doubt in my mind that it speaks prfoundly out it's jack!).  I believe that the top coat finish is not original.  Under the black laquer top coat appears to be thick Dano sealer coats with red-tinted last sealer proof coat, then covered with original white primer and finish coat.  The black laquer top coat is a good and very old job that has checked in step with the sub-surface coats and wood grain ageing.  ~~~~~~~  This Scorpion also has an abundance of a dark golden-tan tacky stain that I feel certain is nicotine tar (or possibly the tar from some other kind of drug smoke!) incidentally applied by heavy smoker's playing hands.  The tar is visible over most of the front of the body in the high resolution pics linked-to further below.  It is tar residue, not any kind of smoke damage.  It can be easily removed by a guitar tech, antique tech or a handy person who does some research and studies into the proper means to do it and takes same reasonably serious.  ~~~~~~~  I would not dare clean the "patina" from this guitar myself, in favor of keeping "patina" that many if not most collectors desire to have intact when they purchase;  ....unless / until a customer desires it to be cleaned, ...or until it makes it to my bench for my own refurb.  Remarkably, it doesn't appear to have been played very much, with it's frets in remarkbly good condition;  And the aluminum nut does not have string-cut migration into the nut.

The back of the neck is remarkably smooth even though it's finish is also moderately checked.  This indicates the guitar was played regular enough to moderate checking on the back of the neck.

I have now secured the guitar into special corrosion inhibiting packaging for safe-keeping.

For the tech type Folks: The wiring harness is all original, in excellent condition and shows the superb thinking and attention to detail toward the end of the original Danelectro manufacture, although the ground solder joints on the pots casings are assembly line and not "NASA".  The pickup lead wires are 3 conductor, with a woven ground shield sleeve, all enclosed in plastic insulation sleeve that carries right up to their solder points.  The signal conducting pickup lead wires are also insulated right up to their solder points.  Resistors are in the circuit for pot taper balance, one of them ceramic.  3 original Danelectro pickups read a proper 4.75K ohms static.  The volume pots are 100K and the tone pot 1meg, all original.  The slide switches operate smoothly and their indents not worn loosely.  There is an aluminum foil ground jumper that lays against the pots' cavity and makes contact with the pots mounting electronics cavity cover (the metal lower extension of the pickguard) when it screws down; BUT there is no shielding foil in the cavity.  I have an original Danelectro copper foil cavity shield should we determine that this guitar is missing one and is meaningful to a Buyer.  Even though this guitar will never be an all-original museum piece requiring an original shield, it is excellent for a correct restoration, ...and a foil shield is of course a piece of cake to make.  The tone pot operates like a master volume, and I haven't determined exactly why yet (not jumping to a conclusion of shorted filter).

See detailed high resolution pictures here.

SOLD