Saturday, August 27, 2011

Silvertone 1415


Here's our store mascot Dan E. Lectro with a couple of his best bosom chums - a vintage Silvertone 1415 and a late 90s Danelectro reissue.  Like most Silvertones, though, this guitar was actually built for Sears by another American guitar company, and from the looks of that masonite construction and lipstick pickup, I'd wager it's also Neptune City, New Jersey gal at heart.


That one pickup really screams, and the wiring has been untouched since the late 50s/early 60s - it still has the original potentiometers and the big fat "tootsie roll" capacitors inside.  Although, unlike some old Danelectro/Silvertone guitars, the paint has actually dried - leaving it thankfully bereft of the infamous curse of the eternally tacky neck that plagues some of these models.


The one has the "dolphin nose" headstock instead of the earlier coke bottle shape, which dates it somewhere around 1959-1962.  These guitars are justifiably famous for their unique, funky tone that lends itself to prickly blues and clangy garage rock.  Come check it out - it's one of Dan's favorites!