That One Guitar - Jenn Downs
Name: Jenn Downs
City: Atlanta, GA
Instrument: Danelectro Bass
In 2005 I was playing in my very first rock and roll band (the one show with the all girl industrial band doesn’t count) on a surprisingly sturdy, fire engine red Squire 2 bass. It sounded great, but it was decidedly NOT COOL. This became a problem when I wanted to join my next band, The Cogburns, who played Telecasters, custom Fender basses, Firebirds and Flying Vs.
One night before the bassist I ended up replacing moved out to LA, he played this Danelectro Bass on stage and I fell in love immediately. I think I remember begging him to sell it to me, even though it had a cat sticker and I do not like cats. He’d bought it from The Cogburns’ guitarist and epic storyteller who said it came from some pimp or heroin dealer who was a bluesman in the 70s. Who knows where it came from really, but I think it’s actually a 90s issue. It only cost me $200, my cheapest piece of gear and my most loved. Even my Thunderbird takes a backseat to my Dano.
This bass has traveled with me all over the Southeast and one tour of England, it’s been my comfort in band breakups and my joy on stage, and it survived an on stage guitar tossing collision at (old) Lenny’s - note the two holes on the bottom right side are covered with Hello Kitty Bandaids.
Band: Superpill, The Downs