Department Store Gear Club All things Silvertone, Airline, etc

[endzone]

How about a Department Store Gear Club? Let's see all your Silvertones, Airlines, JC Penny's, etc.

Here's my group: '61 Silvertone U1, '64 Silvertone 1482, Airline 62-9023, '64 Silvertone 1457 "amp in the case" guitar and amp.

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1955? Silvertone Kentucky Blue Archtop

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[endzone]

Well, I always wanted my own exclusive club...:

 

[fordfanjpn]

I love the old Silvertones and Airlines. The last guitar I gigged with before I left Vermont (on the last wagon train headed west) was a Silvertone Jupiter. I left it behind and my younger brother decided to trade it for something. I'd love to get another one but they sell for $1000 or so these days. Maybe when I win the lottery. I also had the single pickup version of the amp-in-the-case Silvertone. That was my first electric guitar. I don't know what ever happened to that one. And my very first guitar was a $16 acoustic from Sears that I still have! Ah, the good ol' days!

Bill

 

[tele salivas]

here is a picture of my Teisco Spectrum(I can't put it down)
and an ol' Kay Trutone Archtop( great for all sorts of thing, it can get that 'Gimme Shelter' rythm sound and do a good "hound dog"...great at high volumes, what aint>

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[twintwelve]

My 1963 Sears Silvertone 1484 Twin Twelve.....
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[gitold]

My 1950 Silvertone Acoustic. It's all original, the tuners still work and it sounds like a banjo on crack...It's actually very playable and bluesy sounding.
It was the cheapest guitar in the 1950 Sears catalog.

 

[Marshallfender]

Can I jump in with my KAY!! Don't know what model but love the graphics on this one! Think I paid 12$ at a Thrift store for this one!!Open G slide thang. Like to play this late at night. Gotta get a sound hole p/u for this,try it through my Marshall's!! Ha!

 

[LGOberean]

Back in April I had a chance to buy an Airline archtop jazz box for $175, which I considered to be a fair price. It was restored to good condition, and played well. I passed on it, though, for two reasons.

I was traveling, and didn't want to make a unilateral decision about that amount of money. My wife is great, and after I told her about it, she said "You should have bought it."

But that brings me to my other reason for passing on it: I wanted the name to be right on the headstock. The guitar I learned to play on was my dad's Harmony Archtone H1213. If I ever make such a purchase, I will want the brand and model I learned on.

 

[Marshallfender]

Dug out another one. 1960 Silvertone 1420.

 

[FenderGyrl]

Sears Catalog guitars

 

[newrider1969]

Nice collection FenderGyrl

 

[FenderGyrl]

Thanx newrider! Here is a trio of Jedsons, I believe they were sold in England.

 

[LGOberean]

That is a nice collection, FenderGyrl. Thanks for posting them. It's a treat to see them. Also, thanks for posting that catalog--or rather, "1972 Wish Book"--page. It's good to have that kind of detailed information available.

 

[TheRhythmGuitar]

My Silvertone 1448 with the original Amp-In-Case!
I traded my Yamaha YC-10 combo organ to a buddy of mine to get this duo. Needless to say, I don't regret it one bit!

 

[fenderfan]

Silvertone 1454, from 1963...all original, including the Bigsby. Shows wear, just like I do.

 

[soulman969]

If the far distant past count for anything this was my first bass guitar. A current photo thereof actually. This along with a little 5w Monkey-Wards guitar amp were what I spent six months practicing bass lines on in my bedroom just listening to tunes and memorizing the bass lines 'til I joined my first band.

Bought it used for $35 and now I wish I still had it since the originals sell for 20x that.

 

[LGOberean]

This past Friday I was commenting in the Harmony Guitars owners thread about my Dad's Stella by Harmony H929 parlor guitar. I know that it was of early '60s vintage, and I am all but 100% certain that it was a 1961. I won't post specifically about that guitar here, but I will share about the results of research done looking for that model in that year, because in the process I found information that definitely belongs here.

Wanting to know what the Stella H929 sold for in 1961, I looked for catalogs. I don't have access to the 1961 Harmony catalog, but searching the interwebs I came across pages of two catalogs that had equivalents of the Stella H929.

The first is page 275 of the 1961 Montgomery Ward Christmas Book. I'll post a cropped image showcasing the guitar in question (branded "Airline"?), but here too is a link to the whole page.

The second features the Silvertone counterpart to Harmony's Stella H929, found in the Sears 1961 Spring/Summer Catalog, page 1149.

So both the Montgomery Ward/Airline and the Sears/Silvertone models were $15 guitars in 1961. And I believe the Stella by Harmony H929 would have been comparably priced.

Oh, and $15 in 1961 according to an online inflation calculator is $148.63 in 2022.

 

[Dan German]

Here’s a closet queen Silvertone (presumably)! Online pics show similar guitars with either Silvertone script or the later disc logo, as well as no logo at all. Can’t see evidence of a logo having been there. Unknown year, sold in Canada by Simpsons-Sears. The Silvertone Model 1461 is identical, except that the controls are sliders. I can’t find any pics of another with regular knobs, but there’s no way this was modified. Hollow, not semi-hollow. Top and back are single pieces of ply. Grey shielded wiring inside. I saw an online listing calling this a Teisco, which it could be, since Kawai took them over in ‘67, and the pickups and body construction made me think Kawai right away. Either/or.

Here are the specs:

—24.75” scale length
—1 5/8” nut width
—laminated neck
—Zero fret
—Neck binding w/b/w
—Body binding w/b/w/b/w

Here are the problems:

—Break angle is non-existent. If I get an arm and fix the trem, I may have to devise a tension bar.
—Bridge rattle. The bridge is held by the adjustment screws, with nothing to steady it. Given the condition of the guitar, that was probably how it came originally. I put rubber tubing on the screws to give it some stability.
—frets (especially first 5-6) are quite worn, and weren’t that big to start with. Given the binding on the neck, I don’t think I want to go to refret land. Plays fine, though

 

[d barham]

I’ve shown these in other threads, but if posting them again means I get to join another club well then here goes…. Circa 1959 Silvertone wish book guitar and amp.