Silvertone World - Electric Guitars - 1960s/70s

The hollowbody market was a hard to predict one, and the year this guitar was first offered, 1968, Sears went from offering zero double cutaway hollowbody electrics to offering no less than FOUR separate models by years end. I'll blame this on George Harrison, who was often seen sporting a handsome double cutaway Gretsch Country Gentleman. The Japanese 1475 replicated the Gretsch nearly exactly, but Harmony was here with some American made guitar goodness.

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The 1485 was a Harmony-made ES-335 look-alike, and a premium guitar at the time it was offered, commanding one of the largest prices for a Silvertone in any catalog at $199.95. Obviously related to its long available brother the 1454 (and itself most closely related to the Harmony H78), it was available for only a year as the Made In Japan instruments took over. The higher than usual price tag of the 1485, along with its small window of availability, make this a rare Silvertone.

Introduced:
Fall/Winter 1968 at $199.95
as the 57H1485L

Retired:
Fall/Winter 1969 at $199.95
as the 57G1485L

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Click here for photos and the story of a unique 1485

MAGNETIC LIPSTICK TUBES???

Guitars were important because of their high unit volume and profitability. The Danelectro Company was a supplier of electric guitars and amplifiers. Nat Daniel was the founder, president and sole owner, who in addition to amplifiers also introduced the affordable solid body electric guitar in the early fifties. Today the Danelectro brand is a collector’s item among guitar aficionados. Nat was an innovator who understood the principle of “rigid control of expense,” an example of which was his innovative and inexpensive guitar magnetic pickups used in electric guitars. He made them from surplus lipstick tubes, bought from a cosmetics manufacturer. He inserted the electronics in the tubes and produced the lowest cost guitar pickup in the industry. An acoustic guitar, manufactured by the Harmony Company was our biggest unit seller in 1954, priced at $9.95 in Sears catalog. It was a beginner's guitar and many serious amateurs, some of whom later became professionals, learned to play on their Silvertone, stock number 605. I asked Nat if he could do something with a low priced electric guitar that would appeal to the same beginner's market as the 605. He did and we enjoyed resounding success with this exclusive innovation that included the guitar with an amplifier built in to the case, sale priced at $49.95. I think the reason I respected people like Nat Daniel was because he disagreed when he thought my ideas were off base, even though I, representing Sears, was his economic life-line. How different from the “Tell me what I want to hear not what you really think” malaise of my corporate life.