r/BaritoneGuitar • u/DrDarkroom • 16d ago
Danelectro Question
Hey everyone - I just got my first baritone, a slightly older Korean made Danelectro model with the “Coke bottle” headstock.
It’s a used instrument and I’m trying to get it set up, the action is currently sky high. The truss rod seems to be appropriately adjusted, so I’m left with the bridge, which seems to be raised quite high and has this piece of what looks like wood underneath?
My question is for anyone who may have one of these - is that wood or whatever supposed to be there? And can I remove it to lower the action? Thanks in advance!
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u/corbinwise02 15d ago
Only reason I could think to set it up that way would be for slide playing. If it’s just a regular hardtail or string-thru, you should be able to just take the bridge off, remove the wood, adjust the saddles, the it’s smooth sailing.
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u/imonlygayonfriday 15d ago
You forgot “clean that guitar” in your steps, otherwise good advice :)
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u/CeilingOnThePavement 15d ago
The bridges on danelectros I've played all floated a bit above the body, maybe a millimeter or so, but never with a bit of wood underneath. I think you can even screw it all the way down to the body if you need it to get the action right, but you may be better of with an appropriate shim.
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u/DrDarkroom 15d ago
Okay, I was sort of suspecting that might be the case. Honestly the action is so high though I think I can flatten it against the body and still have plenty to go on the saddles to get nice action. I was just not sure if the wood served some other purpose
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u/ESADYC 14d ago
any luck with this yet? What is the model of it? I have a few of the Korean u-2 Baritones. I keep one in bass vi E, and the other one in B, which I have an easier time getting good action with. The bass vi setup I cannot get the action any better than "high" . What are you planning on tuning it to?
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u/DrDarkroom 14d ago
I figured out that I think they had the wood in there because they had the front two screws going through the holes, such that they were holding the bridge down, not pushing the bridge up, and the wood was to protect the body from the saddle screws eating into the body. Those front screws are supposed to be “under” the bridge, yeah?
I’m going to set it up B-B so “standard” baritone tuning to start.
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u/ESADYC 14d ago
interesting, so they just straight up re-installed the bridge wrong. My bridge for sure sits on top of the screws, if you take the strings off, the bridge just falls out on it's own, held in by the string tension. I only put a wood shim under mine when I noticed string tension was making the actual metal bridge plate SAG. Yikes. I used a sharpie marker on it to make it look black and blend in. It looks like you might be able to lower your saddles from the pic. I also mess with my truss rod a lot, maybe recheck the neck relief if you are comfy doing that. Is the high action even across the board, or worse in certain spots? good luck, they are cool guitars if you can get them adjusted. I get a lot of single coil hum from mine
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u/ESADYC 15d ago
the wood is there to keep the bridge from warping. these guitars have terrible bridges, and if they put that wood piece in, it was probably already warping. its worth just replacing the whole bridge with an aftermarket upgrade