Guitar I.D.

[Adam Casey]

I just picked up this guitar for $7 at a second hand store. She's in
need of some repairs, and that's all well and good, but I can't figure
out what exact make and model she is.

My hunch was that it was an old Silvertone guitar Sear's sold back in
the 60s, but no dice.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/pecd8f8bb6cf5fc75893d44b4cce17467/fb633d9b.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/pbf653124f2f60ad04d731998b473022c/fb633d8a.jpg

No headstock markings.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/pbb57c6cb8a9fb774556fc3d3ed2a8fbf/fb633d7d.jpg

Interesting pick-up.

Any help would be appreciated.

-Adam

[Ed]

Can't help you with an identification, but I can tell you that looking at
those pictures reminded me of some not so fine memories of farting around on
crappy old zero fret guitars. I seem to recall having a guitar with a cowboy
themed pickguard just like yours, and that pickup looks very similar to the
one I installed on a classical. It was so microphonic that it actually
worked on a nylon stringed guitar.

My advice is to not worry about who made it. Knowing who made it is not
going to make it any less difficult to tune or play.

['nuther Bob]

On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 19:45:07 +0900, "Ed" <gwbush@whitehouse.gov>
wrote:

>My advice is to not worry about who made it. Knowing who made it is not
>going to make it any less difficult to tune or play.

Dude!

I know that guitar! I saw Steven Stills play it during warm up
at Woodstock!

OK... now you can go sell it on Ebay and say you heard it was
valuable. Tell 'em Bob documented it, I'm well known everywhere.

Bob

[Adam Casey]

"Ed" <gwbush@whitehouse.gov> wrote in message news:<bhjdcc$nvq$1@cobalt01.janis.or.jp>...
> Can't help you with an identification, but I can tell you that looking at
> those pictures reminded me of some not so fine memories of farting around on
> crappy old zero fret guitars. I seem to recall having a guitar with a cowboy
> themed pickguard just like yours, and that pickup looks very similar to the
> one I installed on a classical. It was so microphonic that it actually
> worked on a nylon stringed guitar.
>
> My advice is to not worry about who made it. Knowing who made it is not
> going to make it any less difficult to tune or play.

Well, my main hope was to track down replacement parts. The volume
and tone knobs along with the jack are corroded. The pick up seems to
be in working order though.

-Adam

[Ed]

"Adam Casey" <adamccasey@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:d0fce968.0308151753.338806a2@posting.google.c om...
> "Ed" <gwbush@whitehouse.gov> wrote in message
news:<bhjdcc$nvq$1@cobalt01.janis.or.jp>...
> > Can't help you with an identification, but I can tell you that looking
at
> > those pictures reminded me of some not so fine memories of farting
around on
> > crappy old zero fret guitars. I seem to recall having a guitar with a
cowboy
> > themed pickguard just like yours, and that pickup looks very similar to
the
> > one I installed on a classical. It was so microphonic that it actually
> > worked on a nylon stringed guitar.
> >
> > My advice is to not worry about who made it. Knowing who made it is not
> > going to make it any less difficult to tune or play.
>
> Well, my main hope was to track down replacement parts. The volume
> and tone knobs along with the jack are corroded. The pick up seems to
> be in working order though.

Good luck. And believe me Bob, you'll need it. I've seen my fair share of
no-name zero fret guitars and the one thing I do remember about them is that
they all seem to have been built by companies that have long since
disappeared. They have been built in Italy, England (Vox has no shame at
all), and various banana producing countries.
My suggestion is to keep hitting up garage sales, flea markets and such in
order to find another one to use as a parts bin (actually, my advice is to
stuff it in the attic and forget about it). You might get lucky and find
another $7 wonder that is the exact duplicate of your guitar or was
manufactured using the parts you want. There is no way on gawd's green earth
that you'll find that stuff down at your local guitar store or by contacting
the manufacturer. It would be like going to your local chevy dealer and
asking them for a set of 1955 studebaker hubcaps.

On the plus side, you can always try to sell it on fleabay as an exotic
naturally reliced vintage guitar. Put a high reserve on it and those boyahs
will eat it up.

[TuskBuffer]

If the pickup seems to work fine, why not just replace the pots? In lieu of
that, try contact cleaner to free up some of the corrosion. I don't know
how bad they are, but it does a good job cleaning up "crackling" knobs.

I just recently picked one up that looks like the same manufacturer as
yours--same type bridge and tailpiece, even the sunburst pattern looks
similar. It looks like there was an oval-shaped plate on the headstock at
one time, which has been removed. I'm guessing it was the maker's name.
I've seen guitars like these on eBay with most saying (guessing) they were
made by Harmony. Mine's got two pickups and a whammy bar, and actually
stays in tune pretty well! It sounds like crap compared to my other
guitars, but what the heck? It's always fun to find a good deal anyway,
right?
--
You've got the best guitar
You've got the best amp
Now get the best pick!
http://www.tuskbuffer.com


"Adam Casey" <adamccasey@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:d0fce968.0308141050.411d6375@posting.google.c om...
> I just picked up this guitar for $7 at a second hand store. She's in
> need of some repairs, and that's all well and good, but I can't figure
> out what exact make and model she is.
>
> My hunch was that it was an old Silvertone guitar Sear's sold back in
> the 60s, but no dice.
>
>
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/pecd8f8bb6cf5fc75893d44b4cce17467/fb633d9b.jpg
>
>
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/pbf653124f2f60ad04d731998b473022c/fb633d8a.jpg
>
> No headstock markings.
>
>
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/pbb57c6cb8a9fb774556fc3d3ed2a8fbf/fb633d7d.jpg
>
> Interesting pick-up.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> -Adam

[Adam Casey]

> Good luck. And believe me Bob, you'll need it. I've seen my fair share of
> no-name zero fret guitars and the one thing I do remember about them is that
> they all seem to have been built by companies that have long since
> disappeared. They have been built in Italy, England (Vox has no shame at
> all), and various banana producing countries.
> My suggestion is to keep hitting up garage sales, flea markets and such in
> order to find another one to use as a parts bin (actually, my advice is to
> stuff it in the attic and forget about it). You might get lucky and find
> another $7 wonder that is the exact duplicate of your guitar or was
> manufactured using the parts you want. There is no way on gawd's green earth
> that you'll find that stuff down at your local guitar store or by contacting
> the manufacturer. It would be like going to your local chevy dealer and
> asking them for a set of 1955 studebaker hubcaps.
>
> On the plus side, you can always try to sell it on fleabay as an exotic
> naturally reliced vintage guitar. Put a high reserve on it and those boyahs
> will eat it up.


Well, I'm not exactly looking for vintage parts or anything, just
looking for leads on when it could have been made, where, etc.

I think I'm going to keep the cracked and chipped pickguard and just
replace the knobs and jack (the pick-up doesn't appear to be
corroded.)

-Adam

[Mike Pritchard]

I might have an idea....it looks a whole lot like an old Teisco that I had as a first
electric. The body, pickguard and funky pickup are identical. I thought mine said Teisco on
the headstock, but yours may be from a different time period, when perhaps they didn't put the
brand name on there. At any rate, I think there is a VERY good chance that it is a Teisco.

As a guitar, it worked for a first electric, but mine really was a piece of crap. The pickups
are so bad, you can talk into them and hear it through the amp. Blech! I got mine in the mid
70's....yours may be a little older.

Hope this helps!

Mike P.



Adam Casey wrote:

> I just picked up this guitar for $7 at a second hand store. She's in
> need of some repairs, and that's all well and good, but I can't figure
> out what exact make and model she is.
>
> My hunch was that it was an old Silvertone guitar Sear's sold back in
> the 60s, but no dice.
>
> http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/pecd8f8bb6cf5fc75893d44b4cce17467/fb633d9b.jpg
>
> http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/pbf653124f2f60ad04d731998b473022c/fb633d8a.jpg
>
> No headstock markings.
>
> http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/pbb57c6cb8a9fb774556fc3d3ed2a8fbf/fb633d7d.jpg
>
> Interesting pick-up.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> -Adam

[Mark]

adamccasey@yahoo.com (Adam Casey) wrote in message news:<d0fce968.0308141050.411d6375@posting.google.com>...
> I just picked up this guitar for $7 at a second hand store. She's in
> need of some repairs, and that's all well and good, but I can't figure
> out what exact make and model she is.
>
> My hunch was that it was an old Silvertone guitar Sear's sold back in
> the 60s, but no dice.
>
> http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/pecd8f8bb6cf5fc75893d44b4cce17467/fb633d9b.jpg
>
> http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/pbf653124f2f60ad04d731998b473022c/fb633d8a.jpg
>
> No headstock markings.
>
> http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid74/pbb57c6cb8a9fb774556fc3d3ed2a8fbf/fb633d7d.jpg
>
> Interesting pick-up.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> -Adam

Looks like an old Kay or Teisco from the Sears catalog. Maybe.