Silvertone 1429L

This lovely oddball is a 1959 Silvertone 1429L thinline hollow-body single cutaway electric. It features 20 frets, three "toaster" DeArmond single-coils, three large toggle switches on the lower bout to turn on/off the pickups, a volume and tone control for each pickup, mother of pearl block inlays, binding on body and neck, and a trapeze-style tailpiece with a wooden bridge. Tuners are adequete, nut is plastic and needs a bit of work, headstock is the larger Harmony-style. The neck is thin and small and amazingly fast. Body is of maple and poplar and the finish is a smoky tobacco sunburst. I spied this at a local pawnshop and had to try it out. I saw immediately that it was in fantastic shape. When I picked it up I expected there to be a time zone between the strings and the fingerboard but I was shocked to find that besides being massively out of tune, the action was beautiful, very playable. Truss rod needed just a small twist to set the neck perfectly. The fact that the neck was so playable made me sweep this guitar up fast.

Wow!!! Wow!!! I am beyond blown away by the sound of these pickups! Holy mother of pearl, these are single-coils? These are the coolest pickups I think I have ever heard. The neck pickup is faaaaat, but has a nice sizzle on the top end, sooo perfect for blues and jazz. Blues licks sound killer on this pickup. The middle pickup is loud, blustery and snotty. I liked it but found it to be my least favorite. The bridge pickup is a friggin' monster! Oodles of low end and just the perfect amount of bite, I found myself going back to the bridge pickup again and again as it sounds so sweet. All the rest of the combinations pay off in spades, especially the bridge and middle pickup combo, which sounds only vaguely strat-like, definately has it's own character. Snappy but fat, fat, fat! Haven't played this through my rig yet (blackface Bandmaster/4x10 cab and Blues Junior in tandem w/some pedals) and am jonesing to do so this weekend. I'm not trying to blow smoke, this is one of the best sounding guitars I have ever heard. It may not be a Les Paul, ES-175 or anything of that ilk, but DANG!! this guitar sounds and plays incredible! I'm mainly a strat player, have a Hamer for humbucker needs, and this is a very welcome addition to the crew. This guitar will see action, it will more than likely come to most every gig, it's that cool.

Stays in tune surprisingly well. Action is a dream. Neck is straight.
Nut is cut a bit wacky, needs some lovin'. Switching works great, one pot makes only a tiny bit of noise (not bad for six of them after almost 50 years). Strap buttons have to go, they are too tiny and the strap keeps slipping off. Hey, whaddya want from a guitar that sold for 175 bucks brand new in 1959 in a Sears catalog?

For being 49 years old, this guitar is in wonderful shape. After I get the nut checked out and change the straplocks, I can easily see myself using it at least one set a night. It can do many styles, from country to rockabilly, blues to classic rock, reggae, etc. No, kiddies, you probably don't want to play Satan metal with it, but you could sure try. The amp I tested it with was a Vox Valvetronix and I had the amp cranked up pretty good. The pickups didn't squeal, but they are microphonic to a degree, I could talk through them..saints be praised, I WILL play this guitar live through a loud amp and I will love it!

Uh...yeah...customer support...ummm....

I've been playing about 26 years now, done a zillion gigs, you know the drill. I use mainly strats, this is my first hollow-body since an electric 12-string back in 1980. Yeah, it's a Silvertone, but it plays like buttah and sounds un-freakin-real! I am a DeArmond convert, that's for sure. Full, hot and sizzlin'! What great sounds! I'm so glad I decided to pick this guitar up, I will certainly find a spot for it live and in the studio, this is a monster of a guitar. What a great addition to my arsenal, what a superb pawnshop prize!