i feel like i've been starting too many new threads lately, but this is important, and i promise it'll be my last one for a while.

i have played the same guitar--a Danelectro 56-U2 in discontinued "Daddy-O Yellow" finish and with the discontinued painted neck/headstock--for about five years now. i love it to death: it sounds, feels, and puts up with abuse completely unlike any guitar i've ever played.

the problem is, it's got a design flaw. there's no way to keep the input jack nut from coming loose, so every time i screw it back up, it twists the wires going to the tone pot until they snap and i have to go get it re-soldered. i've had this done at least a half a dozen times in the life of the guitar, and i've tried everything to get that damn nut to stay in place--lock washers, star washers, flat washers, double-nutting it...just about everything but glue.

so i've decided that, while i am eventually going to get the Dano fixed and keep it, it's just too electrically unreliable to be toting it to gigs. i mean, how much would it suck to plug the thing in at a gig and have it not make any sound? i think i'd have a small stroke.

so what kind of guitar should i buy as my new main axe? i bought a Gibson V a couple years back, but i really couldn't get into it (partially because i couldn't play the thing sitting down). a few criteria i have include:

*it has to be tough. i really beat the shit out of the guitars i play. they often suffer impact with PA speakers, guitar amplifiers, and lead singers (either intentionally or unintentionally).
*it has to be able to be strung with .011-guage strings. i've found i can pretty readily break anything thinner than those with about thirty seconds of good strumming.
*it has to be lightweight. one of my big problems with solid-body gibsons is that they're so damn heavy. i'm a relatively small person, and so heavy guitars hurt my shoulders pretty easily.
*i'd prefer a Fender-style bridge-to-body angle (that is, a parallel one) as opposed to the Gibson-style bridge, where the strings are at a sharp angle relative to the body. this is just because my Dano was more in the Fender style, and i'm used to it.
*i'd prefer to spend $500 or less on it, simply because a) i don't want to have to be really careful with a really expensive guitar, and b) i'm in college. i'm poor.

...beyond that, it's pretty much up in the air as far as the guitar's look and sound. i suppose the more unique the better... i don't want an exact tonal clone of the Dano, though. i definitely want something different. i'm thinking of getting an archtop guitar. i play through either an Orange Crush-series combo or a Laney 50-watt and use an EH Double Muff pedal, if that makes any difference.

i think that's about it. thanks.

i would recommend a fender, even the jap/mexican built ones are pretty sturdy. how about a telecaster?
i would say try out a few guitars before you decide anyway

instant_zen wrote:the problem is, it's got a design flaw. there's no way to keep the input jack nut from coming loose, so every time i screw it back up, it twists the wires going to the tone pot until they snap and i have to go get it re-soldered. i've had this done at least a half a dozen times in the life of the guitar, and i've tried everything to get that damn nut to stay in place--lock washers, star washers, flat washers, double-nutting it...just about everything but glue.

Threadlock?

Anyway, I'd maybe try a Gibson (or copy) Les Paul Junior or a USA Telecaster. I'm not huge on the Mex and Jap copies - some are ok.

If you've got the cash (or a bargain), I'd recommend trying a Gibson 335 style guitar. Forget about the looks - they tend to sound great. I've got a 70's Yamaha copy and it suits most genres very well

Put the nut on by hand, and then hold the input jack from the outside of the body with a pair of needlenose. Hold it firmly but not so hard that you smash the shit out of the threads on the jack. Then turn the nut by hand until it's finger-tight, and then crank it down a bit more with another pair of needlenose. Crank it down real tight-like. Have somebody stronger than you do it if you can't crank it down tight enough that it stays in place and it's a major pain to get it off even when you're trying.

Worst-case scenario, which would be where the body is so thick that the jack is mounted recessed and flush with the body...you can still put both points of the needlenose through the hole in the nut, and then poke the pliers into the hole of the jack and pull apart to hold it in place from the inside. That's worst case. But I can't picture a case where there's absolutely no way to hold the jack in place with pliers while you crank the nut with another set of pliers.

Your wires should stay fine. You shouldn't need to get them re-soldered again.

I woulda recommended you buy my '78 Ibanez Musician, as it's probably just about as indestructable an all-wood instrument as you'll come across, and then you could put a tele-style bridge on it, which would be great since it has a wonderbar on it right now that I don't really want to get rid of... but it's probably too damn heavy for you. Other than the weight aspect, I think it would meet your needs nicely. And if you want more "unique"... I've only ever seen one other person playing the same instrument: Wiggins. He does great things with it, too.

When I think of maximizing the "can take abuse" factor, for me, bolt-on necks are immediately eliminated, and set-necks become maybe questionable. I've seen so many fenders with a crack in the body at the neck pocket...

Here are some I like:

Fender Strat-o-sonic



The mexi reissues are very nice, some of the only mexis I'd buy.

Mexi Tele '72 Custom


Mexi '69 Thinline


Some sort of customized Tele



This is my old Nighthawk and Blueshawk. Very versitile guitars.



You probably won't find one for $500 (I did, but got lucky), but the old EB Axis guitars with P-90s are killer. I've been kicking myself lately for selling last year.


Hopefully this will give you some ideas.

scott wrote:When I think of maximizing the "can take abuse" factor, for me, bolt-on necks are immediately eliminated, and set-necks become maybe questionable. I've seen so many fenders with a crack in the body at the neck pocket...

I would tend to disagree. Bolt-ons are some of the most stable neck joints you will find. It will take a lot to crack the neck pocket of a good bolt-on. Teles are built like freaking tanks. Set necks are the most fragile.

scott wrote:Put the nut on by hand, and then hold the input jack from the outside of the body with a pair of needlenose. Hold it firmly but not so hard that you smash the shit out of the threads on the jack. Then turn the nut by hand until it's finger-tight, and then crank it down a bit more with another pair of needlenose. Crank it down real tight-like. Have somebody stronger than you do it if you can't crank it down tight enough that it stays in place and it's a major pain to get it off even when you're trying.

i have done this. once, it worked for a while, then loosened up and the wires broke again; the other time, i broke the nut.

Rodabod wrote:Threadlock?

i have a lot of reservations about threadlock... even the blue stuff (medium, "semi-permanent") grade is still pretty frickin' permanent. i used it once to mount some boom directional pulleys on a sailboat once. those pulleys haven't been and won't be going anywhere.

that makes me a little nervous about putting it on my guitar.

thanks, though for all the input. i'll definitely check out the Stratosonic and a few Telecasters (obviously those would be the closest to my Danelectro, so they'll be pretty comfortable), and probably a Les Paul Jr as well.

sunset_gun wrote:I would tend to disagree. Bolt-ons are some of the most stable neck joints you will find. It will take a lot to crack the neck pocket of a good bolt-on. Teles are built like freaking tanks. Set necks are the most fragile.

Well, maybe we only disagree somewhat. I've not come across a set-neck instrument with a break other than a headstock snapped off from it being dropped. But I've played a legit Fender-brand strat, and also own a strat copy, both of which have breaks at the neck pocket that resulted in loss of ability to stay in tune. So I'm only going on limited personal experience.

But can we at least agree that the most durable construction is gonna be aluminum neck-through, and second after that is wood neck-through? Whether bolt-ons and set-neck are 3rd or 4th most durable doesn't really matter so much to me. Do you feel like bolt-on necks are more durable than neck-through?

instead of thread lock maybe try tightening it up and using fingernail polish. it keeps everything together really well and if you do need it apart you just use some remover and you are good to go.

scott wrote:

sunset_gun wrote:But can we at least agree that the most durable construction is gonna be aluminum neck-through, and second after that is wood neck-through? Whether bolt-ons and set-neck are 3rd or 4th most durable doesn't really matter so much to me. Do you feel like bolt-on necks are more durable than neck-through?

Of course a neck-through will be the strongest joint, but I don't think that should be this guys main concern. Any neck joint style should hold up under normal conditions fine...for a life time. Your Fenders must have been abuse pretty hardcore, I have never seen what you described with out extreme abuse being applied. I think the primary concern here should be what he wants to sound like. Neck joint style, bridge style, body woods, pickups all have a profound affect on how an instrument sounds and feels. I think it would be helpful if Zen could give us an idea of what he wants to sound like, we can go from there. Otherwise we will just be listing off guitars and names until the end of time.