SILVERTONE GUITARS

Silvertone was the brand name used by Sears for their line of musical instruments and sound equipment from the 1930s to 1972. Replacing the Supertone brand, Silvertone had already been the brand on Sears' radios and phonographs since 1915. Probably best known for their line of well made and inexpensive guitars, the brand became popular with novice musicians. Rudy Sarzo,Chet Atkins, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Tom Fogerty, James Hetfield, Dave Grohl, Phil Keaggy, Mark Knopfler and countless others had a Silvertone for their first electric, bass,or acoustic guitar. The Canadian band Chad Allan and The Silvertones, which would go on to become The Guess Who, took its name from this line of instruments. Pete Townshend would employ them in live performance with The Who for the purposes of smashing them. Jack White of The White Stripes has been known to use vintage Silvertone amplifiers. Singer-songwriter Beck's main guitar is a Silvertone.[1]
The name was placed on guitars from more than a few different manufacturers over the years, including Danelectro, National, Harmony, Kay, and Teisco. The guitars - especially the 1960s models - are prized by collectors today. One of the more well-known models is the Danelectro Silvertone 1448, made in the early to mid 1960s. The guitar's case had a small built-in amplifier, which proved popular with beginners.
Today, Silvertone is a brand name used by a Chinese guitar manufacturer and was endorsed by Paul Stanley of KISS from 2003 to 2006.


Silvertone Jupiter Review:

Features : 8 Sparkle Black semi-hollowbody thin-line 24"scale 6 string electric guitar with two pickups, single cutaway, trapese tailpiece, block-markers, double-bound neck, ?blend'-control, 6 on a side open-backed tuners, and original case. Made in U.S.A. by Harmony
Sound : 8 Rowe/DeArmond pickups have a classic sound all unto themselves. It's more a factor of what STrINgS you have on it, and what aMp you play into. This one is NOT noisy. Pickups seem properly balanced, sound wise, but I noticed that the lead pup measures 9K while the rhythm pup measures about 3K....strange.
Action, Fit, & Finish : 8 The action was beautiful even when I first got the guitar - now, after my ultra-setup, it plays like 7th heaven. When I first acquired the guitar, the binding was coming away from the neck (it's double-bound!!!) so I glued them back...no problem. No real FLAWS to speak of...just cheap Harmony construction values, which doesn't bother me one bit. It's a plywood guitar, OK? But so are early 50's Epiphones worth thousands. The finish is, of course, BLACK SPARKLE, which is pretty slick. The 'S' shaped pickguard is an eye-catcher, fer shure.
Reliability/Durability : 8 Will this guitar withstand live playing? Yes, unless you are The Amazing HULK or something. I am a guitarist, not an acrobat or circus-performer, so I don't have issues like that. Yes, the strap buttons are silly plastic things. Will the finish last? Well, it's lasted since 1963 just fine (except for some checking that was caused by the previous owner storing it in his workshop). I don't ever worry about durability because I know how to handle and treat ANY instrument, on stage OR off.
Overall Rating : 8 Guitar came with original case, but missing neck-pickup. I substitued a Gibson mini-humbucker for a while, and then bought a correct 1963 'dead' Rowe/DeArmond Silvertone neck pickup for it. I rewound it with 43 gauge magnet wire and installed it. SO now, it's all back original. The previous owner was an Electric and pipe organ tech who evidently had attemped to 'fix' the neck pickup and he had the wiring harness all goofed up. Fortunately, I was able to deduce the correct arrangement and put it back proper. The Blend control is pretty nifty, but I haven't used it a lot. The MAIN thing about this guitar is it's looks and inCREDible action. The sound is good, but it's NOT a '55 Telecaster or a '59 ES-335, folks. Never-the-less, I LOVE this guitar and have no plans to part with it.

Silvertone Stratatone Review:

Features : 9 This is a COOL guitar. The serial number suggests it was made in 1963 in USA, sold from sears. I like the features, it has a short trapeze style tailpeice, an archtop style bridge with rosewood bottom, 2 weird chrome pickups, (ultra cheese, but cool). its a hollow body typa deal which makes it even better, it has white body binding, 2 volume 2 tones and one 3 way blade switch, the finish is black, its a single cutaway, (the black body, white pickguard and the overall fat shape of this guitar reminds me of a penguin!) Frets seam to be small and its 25 scale or somehting, one of the radder points of this guitar are the tuners, they are these plastic knobbed, 3 on a plate thing, although cheap, they stay in tune very well! This guitar was made a long time before i was born so its rAd!
Sound : 10 I mainly play hard rock, punk music and this guitar is PERFECT for that! I plugged it in and was amazed at how much bass and just the overall gigantic-ness of this axe! it dosent even come close to my les pauls or or SGs, on heavy distortion settings, it performed well, and since it has the 2 tone 2 volume controls, its pretty flexible. played through my old tube combo, the clean sound was amazing, full of bass and brights, after cranking that amp, the guitar distorted nicley, especially in the mid position. If you want a gigantic guitar sound, you have got to go out and find one of these! the best sounding guitar in my 6 guitar collection!
Action, Fit, & Finish : 9 Since it was made in 1963, it had the usuall crapdified finish, but still black. the pickups were at the perfect setting for getting a heavy sound, i dont think these guitars have truss rods but the neck was in suprisingly good shape. somehting is messed up with the output though, it crackles every 5 minutes, i'll hafta fix that. Reliability/Durability : 10 Its in pretty good shape for its age, there are no bare wood spots or anything, this guitar can take a beating! its been dropped a number of times and survived. It could do well as your main gigging guitar, or the one you bust out for the heavier songs, even though it can handle all ranges reaalllly well
Overall Rating : 10 This is a great guitar, i mean its a SILVERTONE!! how much cooler can ya get??? It love the cheesy look its got too! the sound is great, its light, affordable, comfortable to play, its just a cool guiar! If you go into a pawn shop or a used music dealer and see one, definatly pick one up, you'll be impressed by the sound! great guitar for any kind of music.