I can't really offer any hodad-saving tips for you but I just wanted to say I feel your pain. The guitar is a cool little thing but it really doesn't cut through the mix at all in a live setting. However... I was playing one at a jam a few months ago when I didn't have any of my own guitars around and I made some good music with it through a nice old Matchless, cranked. You have to play it fast and hard with the right punchiness in order to get it to sound any good at all. No sustain whatsoever, and messing with the controls will just suck your tone some more.
I remember after the jam, the other guitarist (who was playing through a real nice strat with much better technique than myself) came up to me and said "man, I don't know how you made that guitar sound that good. It would have sounded like crap if I'd played it" which is one of the favorite compliments I've received in a while.
Do you have a backup guitar for your gigs? If not, I would consider using the hodad for that. It is light as a feather! My buddy carries his around in a two-guitar gig bag and you can hardly even tell that its there.

Your analysis of the Hodad sound is right on. I have one and I use it as a second backup...not even a first one.
I suspect the main culprit are the pickups. Maybe better lipstick ones would improve it. There's also the issue of them being mounted as humbuckers, but I suspect that they are just two pistick singkes wired together.
Ferenc has experience with lipstick pickups, so maybe he can help you find a good brand (of course he told me that in the past, but I alreday forgot).
BTW, I was able to use the Hodad for recording - one a Spaghetti Western sounding intro, and another a more hollow sound with tape echo for a song that I wanted to sound more 50's than 60's.

I say the guitar is worth the $150 (new) that I paid for it, but not much more.

Ran

The Scimitars

I'm in the same boat with my Hodad. I'll use it as a boochy rhythm guitar, if I'm adding a track like that on a recording, but I think I've got five, maybe six guitars that I'd bring to a show ahead of this one.

I used to be pretty fond of mine, but after playing fenders and especially my Mosrite for a while, when I plugged the Hodad back in, there was just no punch there to cut through the mix. It still plays like buttah, but just doesn't cut the mustard. (sue me, it's ten minutes before my lunch break)

~B~

I vowed a long time ago not to sell anything (heard too many stories of people regretting selling stuff)...You can probably make good use of the guitar, but I doubt it's in a live combo, other than a trio, maybe. Low volume of the band would help.
How much do you think you'll get for it? Probably not enough to be worth the hassle.

Ran

The Scimitars

re: the Hodad played live and recording...

I have played the heck out of my hodad in both live and recording situations.

at live gigs, i typically play rhythm guitar...when playing the hodad, my Bassman tone is usually set at "6" for bass and "6-7" for treble...and I turn up the volume a bit. other than those settings, I just use the Fender reverb set to about 5-5-5...fairly mild reverberation. the jangle and chime of the danelectro shines through, but the beefy bass tones of the bassman helps support the volume and "cut through" factor a bit. I do not think i would ever depend upon the hodad to be a mean-screamin' out in your face lead machine...but as a vicious rhythm guitar it works great!

i have used the hodad for several recordings: on last year's comp, i recorded the "Bruce Lee" track with the hodad. I used a BlueTube 12AX7 driven preamp and reverb to "beef up" the typically thin danelectro signal.

and then i played all the lead lines backwards-track style...

sounded sweet: eerie, mysterious and "oriental"...

I do agree with others here re: having to "put the muscle" into the hodad in order to get any sort of lead tone out of it. whenever i play "lead" on the hodad i always end up playing like Neil Young or Pete Townshend...ultra-aggressive...but, the hodad takes it and really produces an admirable "YELP!" when you start spankin' it!

regards,
-dp

abdultom_
I was put off the Hodad by the fact that the p/us were set up as humbuckers, because I like the sound of the U2 etc...

The Hodad pickups are dual-coil humbuckers, BUT there is a coiltap push-pull switch that allows for the single coil tones your seek...

-dp

gramps,

I'd try to locate a big fat Bigsby spring on the EBAY...maybe one built for a Gretsch Bigsby setup...just be sure to check your Danelectro spring diametre as well as the original Danelectro spring height.

also, you could always try the hardware store solution...go down to the hardware drawers and find yourself some nice nylon washers of appropriate dimensions and try slipping those into the Danelectro Bigsby spring socket.

i used the nylon-washer-in-the-socket-trick on my Telecaster Bigsby...worked like a charm!

should cost you about $1.79 (including gasoline to get there and back).

regards,
-dp

What size strings are you using? I'm not sure the Dano necks are up to the task of 12's for an extended period of time, but I've used the light top/heavy bottom type strings on my Dano U2 and it sounds pretty good and has held up well.

DP, you may be onto something with the spring upgrade idea too. I was having trouble with my Mosrite sounding dead with poor output and sustain. I was also having tuning problems with the Moseley trem. I replaced the spring with a similar sized, but higher tensioned one I found at a hardware store and it solved the tuning problem, plus, made a considerable improvement in the sound quality.

I currently have a set of D'addario half-rounds on mine, I think they're 11s, but they do have a little more beef on the bottom than most sets I use.

Either way, it's handling them like a champ.

~B~

If I'm not mistaken, mine has D'addario 12-54 on it.

The Scimitars