Silvertone - Japan Made Models

Silvertone Serial Number Search
Sears Silvertone Guitar Serial Numbers

How did you date a sixties silvertone amp? I also have a 1481 but have no idea what year it is was made. The original speaker has been replaced. Tomb raider anniversary trainer fly mode. My serial number is 185 10110 and has a silver transformer marked P91F (looks original). My baffle was changed from masonite to plywood when they replaced the speaker. It sounds like it could be a King Liberty made in the thirties. That would be a Sterling Bell. The name SilverTone was replaced with SilverSonic sometime after WWII (1947-1950). Visit www.hnwhite.com for more info. The site also has catalog images of the horns they produced and serial numbers to help date the instrument. Serial Number Assignment 3rd series 5oz ingot produced by SilverTowne. Demonstrates a plain reverse with serial number assignment and is the most narrow of all three series. Estimated serial run of 9 with a 4,000+ gap of unassigned serial numbers between 24264 and 28405.

(Written by Jimmy Noise / June 2012)

Silvertone was a brand developed by Sears Roebuck Company in theearly 30’s.The Silvertone brand replacedthe Supertone brand on musical instruments sold by Sears.The brand was used on guitars sold bySears; however Silvertone never actually made guitars. All the manufacturingwas outsourced to various guitar suppliers. These included US manufactures andUS importers. To date there has been no information that confirms that theSilvertone directly imported directly from guitar manufactures in Japan. By Searshaving its own brand, it was able to market its guitars as an exclusive SearRoebuck product. The brand was discontinued in 1972. It is not clear why itceased, but Sears Roebuck continued to sell guitars into the 70’s, but notbranded as Silvertone.

This sight will focus on electric guitars made in Japan andsupplied to Silvertone.

SilvertoneLogos

There were two logos used on Silvertone guitars. The first onebeing the word Silvertone painted on the headstock in a thin line. The painthad no clear coat over it and often has rubbed off over the years. Great careshould be taken when cleaning these guitars as to not remove the logo.The logo was the same design as used on otherSilvertone models made in the US.This logo was used on Teisco built Silvertone guitars manufactured up to theend of 1965.

Guitars manufactured after 1965 got a newly designed logo. It’sunknown who designed the new logo, but the new logo was only used on the Teiscoimported guitars by WMI.

Around 1969 imported guitars sold by Sears began to have the new around silver disc. This marked the end of the Silvertone brand on Sears’sguitars. These guitars were supplied by various manufactures in Japan. Theguitars generally had a sticker on the neck plate or the model number wasstamped into the neck plate. These practices fell in line with Kawai builtguitars, not Teisco. But some Teisco’s did have this logo.

Models Supplied byWestheimer Sales Co.

Westheimer Sales was probably the first importer to supply importguitars to Silvertone. It’s assumed that a lot of these would have beenacoustic guitars. However they may have supplied some of the early builtTeiscos as well. It is unclear what actually happened because around the sametime Teisco was in the process of changing distributors in the US.

Models Supplied by WMICorporation– (Teisco)

WMI Corporation became the exclusive importer of Teisco builtguitars in 1965. They supplied Teisco guitars to Silvertone during the mid1960’s. The models supplied were either similar or exact models that were soldunder the Teisco brand. The modifications were often slight, but enough to beable to identify a guitar as being either a Silvertone or a Teisco brandedguitar.

The models shown below were built by Teisco and supplied toSilvertone by WMI Corporation. By clicking on the model number, additionalinformation is available.

Model 1418	Model 1424	Model 1435	Model1436	Model 1437	Model 1438
Catalogue No:57 P 1418 L	Catalogue No:57 P 1424 N	Catalogue No:________	Catalogue No:________	Catalogue No:_______	Catalogue No:_____
Black panther album download zip. Model 1487	Model 1495	Model No: 759-1435-1	Model No: 759-1436-1	Model No: 759-14371
Catalogue No:________	Catalogue No:57 G 1495L	Catalogue No: ________	Catalogue No: ________	Catalogue No:________

If you if have a guitar that you think is a Teisco builtSilvertone guitar and it is missing its logo, there are a few things that youcan check to determine if this is your model;

·Firstlycheck the model tag. If it has a model number that matches any of the above,then it is a Silvertone guitar.

·Thesecond way to tell is look at the logo area and check the shape of anyremaining glue residue in the shape of the logo.

·Checkthe nail holes of the logo. Sometimes the logo was nailed on. If the nail holesmatch the locations shown on the Silvertone logo, then it is a Silvertone.

·Thesharkfin guitars always had striped guards and the hex pickup adjustmentscrews.

·The1436 and 1437 have the white cover in front of the tailpiece and came with theblack tip tremolo bar.

Tone Controls: The tone dial works differently to modernand vintage US guitars. The tone knob works backwards. This is based onfiltering of the high frequency. ie Zero being no filtering and ten being fullfiltering. The

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