September 2010

9/4

Looks like TODAY is my 'Labor Day.' Wow, quite a haul over the holiday weekend, and especially since we're back to 'every Silvertone, every day,' things are gonna be full up 'round these here parts. Let's lead off the day with a rocket red 1460 whose price took a pretty good trip into orbit.

1460 Teisco MIJ HBEG w/ OC VG $500 Very clean, light wear, newer Bigsby added (original trem base incl.), seldom-seen neck plate w/ brown imprint, logo strong, bridge cover present and look at that shine!



Here's a little something I've never seen before; it's the Silvertone Reverberation Chamber, Model #9614. Dunno who made it, when they made it or when they sold this odd little puppy, but here it is. Two leads stringing out the back, there is a speaker in the unit, and what looks like one lonely control. I'm guessing the brown lead is the AC, and the white lead is either a line or speaker-level input. It consumes 50 watts according to the back label, so I'm reckoning there's a low-power mono audio tube amp behind that Masonite panel, hooked up to a reverb tank and then into a 6-inch or so speaker. I guess you used this unit to give your mono records a little 'ambience.' The unit is untested, and I'd absolutely love to hear what it sounds like.

9614 Silvertone Reverb Chamber G $123 Grille has some snags, some edge wear, logo plate and control knob look good, unit untested


1354 Kay HBEG MOD $332 Clean, light wear, replacement DiMarzio humbucker with NS single/double coil selector switch, trim on logo laminate and pickguard look great,  NS strap button mounted in heel, some surface damage where the top was cut to receive the pickup


1455 Teisco MIJ HBEG w/ OC VG $560 Clean, minimal wear, logo strong, includes original 'how to care for' manual, truss adjustment tool, and the end of the box it was shipped in (originally sold in Hollywood, Florida)


1446 Harmony HBEG w/ OC  VG $1000 Clean, Bigsby present, logo strong, repro pickguard


1320 Harmony HBEG F $295 Wear all over, 'P' series pickup and bezel intact, pickguard present, some binding missing, knobs missing, crack on back treble upper bout, stamped H54, F-52

1415 Dano SSEG VG $393 Clean, minimal wear, logo broken at 'S,' playing wear to upper neck and on bass lower bout, 29-bid skirmish for this one!


1482 Dano tube amp VG $379 Square speaker cutout, tremolo functional, some corner covering rubs


1483 Dano tube amp only VG $150 Found in the 'junk pile,' re-capped, 3-prong AC mod, light wear, channel one is the 'red channel,' needs a good cleaning


605 Harmony FTAC VG $95 Clean estate sale find, hardware bright, looks like a 'deco' logo from the sole photo provided, "Guitar for Dummies" book incl.


603 Harmony FTAC $45 Clean, logo not pictured, seller says has two cracks on front, original box incl.; box panel stamped 57-603


660 Kay Classical G $80 Wear all over, 'Steel string' warning scratched out on label.


805 UNK Banjo $80 Some wear to the headstock, hardware looks good, logo strong. Hey, anyone know who made these?


604 Harmony FTAC VG $74  Clean, light wear, hardware bright, logo not pictured, stamped S-63

604 Harmony FTAC VG $88  Clean, some wear, hardware bright, stamped F-66 GM


853 Harmony Ukulele $14 Sold as 'project,' side cracked, wear all over, heel pulling away


600 series Harmony FTAC G $50 Split/damage on backside, otherwise clean, replacement bone nut and original incl. (loose)



Two 1436 guitars in pretty much the same shape. What's the diff?  Description? Probably.  Attitude? Definitely.

1436 Teisco MIJ SBEG G $81 Whammy present, looks good enough from the single photo provided. Seller sez: "I will not play this guitar and I am not particularly a Silvertone fan."


1436 Teisco MIJ SBEG G $216 Whammy present, logo missing, edge wear. Seller sez: "In terms of funkadelic 60s Japanese psycho guitars, if the K-2L is a sleek surf/punk guitar that landed in a space ship with George Jetson, then by comparison this is a burning blues rock mojocaster that was spewed up from the depths of the Marianas trench by Godzilla." Seller also gives a full rundown of what is and ain't about the guitar. Yeah, he wins.


1310 Valco Lap Steel w/ OC VG $270 Clean, minimal wear, light rust to tuner plates, serial #X76075


615 Harmony FTAC G $48 Edge wear all over, back near neck beginning to separate, logo strong


1240 Kay FHAC $16 Busted, disgusted, can't be trusted... 1240s were odd birds, there were at least three different styles of this 'borderline' guitar. I call it that because some had cursive Silvertone logos, some had the block style, and some were 'Space Dots.'


UNK Harmony FHAC G $115 Clean, wear to fretboard and painted-on fret markers, logo strong, probably a 612 or 623



9/3

Just a handful of Silvertonium today, but after you check them out, head over to the Buck Owens American model page and view some new pictures and new info about the original Mosrite-designed red, white and blue guitar.

1413 Teisco MIJ SBEG VG $114 Clean, light wear, whammy present,  'Space Dot' sticker looks good, cool original box incl.


1209 Harmony FTAC G $31 Light wear, some buckle rash/paint on back, 'Space Dot' logo strong, unusual pickguard and fret markers


856 Harmony Baritone Ukulele w/ OC VG $139 Clean, minimal wear, binding and tuners tight, logo strong


615 Harmony FTAC w/ OC G $71 Clean, light wear, case missing handle, new strings


1484 Dano tube amp and speaker cabinet G $360 Amp head looks OK, 'crackling' noise comes from both channels, footswitch incl., but seller indicates rev/trem non-functional


9/2

We're gonna start today with an official ISTTDS™ (Interesting Silvertone Thing That Didn't Sell). We see these odd mods from time to time, and the first 'electric' guitar that Sears sold wasn't really any fancier than this cobbled-together Frankentone.

604 Harmony FTAC MOD DNS The guitar is in reasonable shape, and has had its broken bridge modded, a dobro tailpiece added, some wiring, 'Tele' style and chickenhead knobs added and a Fralin-rewound 'P' series pickup (complete with original mounting bezel). The seller had named this guitar "Gutbucket Hank."


1448 Dano  SSEG guitar only G $225 Light wear, oxidation to tuner post tips, rust to screws and jack nut,  logo strong. This is a transitional setup; strip tuners, triangle knob inserts, 3-bolt neck. Is that glitter/sparkles on the pickguard, or overspray?


1432 Dano tube amp G $205 Clean, light wear on top back corners, logo beautiful, speaker 'shadow' to grille, loud hum at all volume levels


2574 Oscar Schmidt Autoharp w/ OC VG $86 Clean, light water staining on bottom, spider cracks at tailpiece cover, tuning wrench incl.


615 Harmony FTAC P $15 No tuners, no tailpiece, no nut, no bridge, worn, dirty, pickguard broken at tip, screws rusty, back and front edge splits, logo strong, neck looks tight
 

1304 Dano SSEB $104 Body, neck, bridge and nut. Oh, and a can of red spray paint. *sigh*



9/1

Rockin' start to September! Some of the most distinctive Silvertones in the lineup begin our ninth month and our re-entry into every Silvertone, every day review and pricing of eBay auctioned items. Let's get going!

1381 Kay  HBEG E $1300 This 'Thin Twin' is one of the best examples of this terrific guitar I've ever come across. A couple of very small dings, and super clean. This guitar has aged well, the finish looks great, the hardware is bright, and the pickguard and headstock colors are strong.


658 Kay FHAC w/ C  VG $199 Clean, light wear, striping looks good, pickguard present, some fretboard grunge, small logo, block markers indicate pre-'66 model.
One of the most distinctive Silvertone archtops... we need to come up with a nickname for it!



Oh, Chris, where art thou? Looks like he just finished up his world tour (though he didn't quite make it to my neck of the woods), and he's got a well-reviewed new live album out. Don't know about his talk show; you can still visit the page for his Biography Channel Show, but there is the unhappy message that there are no upcoming airings scheduled for the show. When you go to try and log on to any of the discussion boards, you get a 'not found' error. ChrisIsaak.com still works! I said all that to intro this auction for the guitar that has inherited Chris' name as its own:

1446 Harmony HBEG  G $547 Clean, NS bridge, Bigsby paint has worn off, pickguard missing, logo missing, NS selector switch surround


853 Harmony Ukulele w/ C E $85 Clean all over, includes Arthur Godfrey 'Uke Player' device with documentation


1495 Teisco HBEG Bass F $208 Knobs and logo missing, NS stop type bridge/tailpiece, chrome flaking off pickups, some loose binding. There's no number stamped into the neck plate, so this might not even have been a Silvertone-branded instruemt. This guitar matches the later decal-logo's (cursive and block) configuration 1495, but it's possible this was never branded with 'Silvertone' or a 'Space Dot.'


1448 Dano  SSEG guitar with tube amp in case F $280 Guitar has plenty of wear/scratches, amp lights but otherwise non-functional, NS knob on amp, ampcase structurally sound / looks OK. Early setup; strip tuners, triangle knob inserts, 2-bolt neck, narrow attach 'pier'



Tony the Tiger special on this 604. Check those grain faux stripes; they're Grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

604 Harmony FTAC w/ OC VG $103 Clean, minimal wear, pickguard shiny, logo strong, stamped F 63 H


752 Kay mandolin P $16 Rough; frets oxidized, tuner buttons shrunken, back cracked and separating, 'wind chime' logo nearly blown away



Here's our first UNKnown of the season!

UNK Kay FHAC VG $163 Clean, logo strong w/ a little blemish on the 't,' some edge wear (esp. on back of headstock), pickguard missing, NS tuners, stamped L2889, N-1



If you haven't looked at this past Summer's amazing auctions, why not visit? It was a blast; there were lots of great instruments, and I had a great time writing about the proceedings. There's a lots of fun info in pretty much all of the pricing archives. I find myself re-reading and referencing them frequently. Just click any of the links below.