arrived in the mail today... very nice guitar; excellent pickups; very much like a gretsch for very little money....
anyone know if there a way to date these i cannot find a serial # or so ??
Silvertone 1446 (Chris Isaak)
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- Rated: 32 ↑
Aug 12, 2008 1:55 p.m. fws6:
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- Rated: 54 ↑
Aug 12, 2008 2:01 p.m. tartan phantom:
Dang it, I've always wanted one of those! Nice score, fws6!
If you can't find a serial number, the best estimated date is probably by comparing it to the models in the old Harmony catalogs.
Try this website:
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- Rated: 32 ↑
Aug 13, 2008 6:33 a.m. fws6:
As there is no Harmony equivalent for this particular model, it is hard to compare...
the guitar has the socalled single line Kluson Deluxe tuners, which I know were used by Fender from the late 50s to approx. 63/64. Could that be a clue to date the guitar ?
All other 1446s I saw had open back tuners but the Kluson's on mine are old not r.i., and do appear original to the guitar.
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- Rated: 54 ↑
Aug 13, 2008 10:02 a.m. tartan phantom:
Tell you what, I'll go through my Sears catalog archives and see if I can find it there. If so, I'll post it here for you.
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- Rated: 1 ↑
Aug 13, 2008 11:28 a.m. Ike:
Check THIS ONE. Looks pretty much the same to me.
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- Rated: 59 ↑
Aug 13, 2008 11:36 a.m. Bear:
I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but the pickups were designed by Seth Lover and built by Gibson. They are mini-humbuckers.
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- Rated: 14 ↑
Aug 13, 2008 12:45 p.m. riz:
I love those guitars, and have a set of those pickups somewhere. They were made during the "patent #" sticker era, which is early 60's. I think they have two small offset coils. Nice grab!
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- Rated: 32 ↑
Aug 13, 2008 1:28 p.m. fws6:
yeah I knew about the pickups and that it is early / mid sixties. I just was curius if I could find out the exact year.
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- Rated: 54 ↑
Aug 14, 2008 8:18 p.m. tartan phantom:
Ok, I did a little digging in my catalogs, and this is the earliest I could come up with:
Sears Spring & Summer Catalog 1964:
(click to enlarge)
I don't have Sears catalogs for 1959-1963, so I can't say whether 1964 is the first year. But it does NOT appear in the 1958 catalog.
However, I do have a 1966 catalog and it is still listed, but is gone from the catalog by 1970. So at the very least, 1964-1966 is in the ballpark. Hope this helps!
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- Rated: 66 ↑
Aug 14, 2008 8:28 p.m. Walter Broes:
It's in the '61 catalog too.
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- Rated: 32 ↑
Aug 15, 2008 5:56 a.m. fws6:
thanks
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- Rated: 14 ↑
Aug 16, 2008 6:45 p.m. MarkW:
Have you played it yet?
