Silvertone 1448 Guitar

My silvertone is a 1962 model i believe. The amp-case was not included when I bought. I bought it from a friend of mine who lives in Nagoya, japan for 2000 swedish crowns (about $220) including shipping from japan to sweden. He bought it in london a couple of years ago. So it has a few miles on meter, but anyway...
It's a one pickup fake solidbody with a short-scale neck and 19 frets or something like that. I prefer one pickup guitars, so I'm totally satisfied!

I usually play it through a Kustom Lead III and a Musicman HD130 or something. No effects or possibly a stereo delay.
It's got a really raw bluesy, hollow sound that I like very much. Plugged in it's surprisingly quiet, and since the pickup is close to the neck it sounds quite bassy, but not too much though. It's great at what it does, but it's not very versatile for different styles.

I've set the action pretty low and that works fine! The finish on the top of the guitar looks like a crappy overspray, but I'm pretty sure it's factory made. But the neck fits the neck pocket like a glove and all the other "flaws" just look good!

The guitar works great live! I can't remember any string brakes at all! And I'm not nice to them! And my silvertone stays in tune whatever you do to it. It's extremely reliable, even better than my jazzmaster!

Don't need it!

Probably my best guitar! Although it's one of my cheapest, it's reliable, stays in tune and looks cool!

The other reviewers cover all this in detail, so let's get on to the meat'n'potatoes! My guitar is a very clean 1965-made set, complete with the matching amp-in-case.

This guitar is an amazing value for the money (usually around $200-250 w/amp-in-case). The lipstick tube pickup produces an amazingly fat, rich tone that is great for blues and roots music, and the guitar is very quiet. The little 3-tube amp-in-case is a gas! It produces something like 5 watts of power through an 8" speaker, and is too quiet for anything other than low-volume playing without drums. You get creamy fat tube distortion at reasonably low volume. It sounds like the amps those old blues guys from the '50s used!

Like most vintage el cheapo guitars, they come in two varieties: either they play wonderfully or they are unusable. Common problems with these Silvertones are 1.) high action and 2.) lack of tuning stability. I have found a solution to both problems. To fix the action, unbolt the neck and insert two nickels inside the neck cavity, in the corners closest to the bridge-end of the guitar. Re-bolt the neck and voila! the neck is angled down, and the action is lowered. Re-adjust the string height, and you're all set. I had assumed that the tuning problems were caused by the dinky (yet cool-looking) slate-key tuning machines. Uh uh. I think the metal nut is the problem. The strings seemd to go UP in pitch, rather than down, which indicates the strings are catching on the neck. I simply filed the nut slots a bit to smooth 'em out, and occassionally "lube" them with pencil graphite. Now I have no tuning issues. .011 gauge flatwound strings (Pyramid or Thomastik Enfield) also help with the tuning and intonation, and sound best with these guitars as well. (That's what they were designed to be strung with back in '62, anyway.) The little rosewood slab of a bridge intonates surprisingly accurately, too. Now, for the action... The short neck scale, combined with the heavy gauge flatwounds, are a great pairing. It feels like you're playing on .010's, but you get the big tone of the .011's. This guitar SINGS and is SO MUCH FUN TO PLAY!! The neck is a bit wide and flat, but very comfortable. It takes a bit of getting used to the short neck because the notes and chords aren't where you expect them to be. The masonite body is nice'n' lightweight . I find myself playing it more than my Gretsch and Rickenbacker! And you can't beat it for low-brow good looks, with the sparkly black finish (which, incidentally, is not really a finish, but a spraypaint job that still has a sweet, woody smell after 36 years!), chrome tube PU and white vinyl edge "binding" designed to cover up the fact that it's made of plywood. It's amazing how some of the cheapest, crappy-est low budget axes make the best sounds!

Not the strongest guitar ever made due to the masonite construction - just don't let anything fall on it and you'll be fine. I would recommend bringing a back-up to a gig, due to its quirks (especially the tuning issues).

Sears hasn't sold these since 1967, and the original Danelectro's been out of business since the late '60s. Sorry, you're SOL!

The new Danelectro reissues are cool and well-made, but for under $300, ya might as well get a real one, made in Neptune City, NJ! They have that cool vintage vibe, are easy to find cheap, and sound freakin' fantastic. I love imagining that some Beatle-obsessed kid originally got this set for Xmas 1965 (my guitar was made in October) and bashed out "Gloria" and "Louie Louie" with his pals in the garage after school each day. Oh, the stories this guitar could tell...

okay, this is a review for a silvertone 1448 guitar. 18 frets, masonite body, 50 ply pickguard <very very thick>, volume and tone knobs, single lipstick pickup, black sparkle finish, rosewood fretboard, double cutaway with inwoard courve at the base <think apple>, in line tuners, nice thin neck, and a rather bizarre bridge. held on by one big screw and adjustable by two on the sides, the string balls hook over little dents on the back. then a piece of rosewood acts as the saddle, and can be turned whichever way to get the best intonation. oh, and a weird little aluminum nut.

i play rock and blues, with influences of more experimental guitarists like marc ribot. this guitar does the job much better than i thought it would. first off, the short scale neck is great for me, as i have smaller hands and rarely venture into high register screaming solos. this is going through a dunlop wah into a blue tube preamp into a fender ultimate chorus, and between the preamp and this guitar, i get the best sound out of a solid state amp period. cant wait to try it through the evil twin im saving for! with the tone knob pulled back, you get the jangly, hollow sounds perfect for surf music, or kashmir. with tone turned back up, the sound is much richer and fuller than i expected. ill give it a 9 though, for lack of bass sound in any setting.

this guitar was pro set up not long before i bought it, and it shows. the action is dead on, the intonation is perfect.

the neck on here is set with three screws, and is tight as a tick. the frets are beautifully dressed. both beat out any fenders or gibsons under the $1500 mark i have played recently.

the sparkle finish is just beginning to wear away in the right spots. just enough so non collectors or players will think its worth a lot more than it is.

this guitar is 13 years older than i am, and is holding up great. everything is solid, except for one thing: the tuners. they do hold a tune better than i expected, but when doing double or triple bends, which i do a lot, it goes out of tune quickly. not a big deal, i just tune it every other song real quick, and the guitar makes up for this flaw in other ways. next time i have $150 burning a hole in my pocket ill probably try and get another one as a backup, in case i break a string on stage, or am ever successful enough to have someone backstage tuning for me.

i am so tempted to take this to sears and try to return it, just to see what they say. but then they might take me up on it, and i wouldnt want that...

bottom line, i have been wanting one of these guitars, this is the silvertone equivalent of jimmy page's beloved danelectro. i found this one on ebay, it looked good, the price was good, so i got it, thinking i could hang it in the studio, maybe open tune it for a slide guitar. instead, it has become my main guitar. no, it hasnt replaced my tele or my es-335 copy for certain things, but as of right now it is the main guy. my band gave me weird looks when i pulled it out for the first time, but that was done by the first song. ive been playing for over ten years, and this guitar is more "me" than any i have played. the short neck is perfect for my girly hands, the look is great, the sound is very distinctive and cuts through the mix great. if it were lost or stolen, i would be pissed, and i would have to have another one immediately.

one gripe: changing strings on here is a bear. it takes twice as long as any other guitar i own. of course, thats just good reason to look for another one as backup :)

finally, i want to give a shoutout to moonglow, the ebayer from whom i purchased this. his description was excellent, the guitar still surpassed what he said about it, quick shipping, very friendly and informative emails about the instrument, and it arrived so well packed it was almost in tune. if anyone is considering picking something up from him, i will give references. this might seem an odd place to plug ebay sellers, but what can i say, it was a perfect transaction.

I scored this Sears Silvertone Model 1448 Guitar in Amplifier online, on one of the auctions. We all know it to be a Danelectro vintage, the
type where the Hard Case is also the Amp, but since no one else left a review for Sears, I felt compelled to compensate for the lack. The case/amp part has tag: Chassis # 185.10010. I can only guess the true year made, and going by specs found on speaker and other electrical components, I can't be sure if it is 1955 or 1964, and I could be wrong either way. This oldie cleaned up really well. The body is one of those cheapie hollow masonite front and back which lends to a unique resonance, very jangly, not woody-warm and bassy. This guitar and case are all original, but the Amp only hums, so the sound I heard is as run through my old Alamo Electronics Embassy tube amp. The body style is really severe, with the dual horns up by the neck being much more exxagerated than the Fender Strat style, tighter in to the neck and looking cool. The body has, well, very sexy lines, curving in as you look downward toward the Single Lipstick Pick Up, then flaring out again, and the bottom has a rump-cut (picture a peach?) as opposed to just a large, round style. The surface finish is Black with Gold sparkles, but it is subtle not flashy, not embarassing or a show stopper look. An incredibly thick pick/scratch guard dominates the one side of the guitar front, on the lower (when held in playing position) or control switch side, depending on how you want to refer to it. anyway, the thick pickguard is contoured in shape to compliment the cool body shape and is esthetically pleasing, you can easily see it was designed by an artist; again, very cool. There are two rotary control knobs; unusual in that the Tone is closer to the player's hand than the Volume is! Go figure! Their is a thick, wide white band of some old-time wired plastic or tolex or something that trims the side of the guitar between the front and back layers. Oh yeah- the Bridge is a small basic chrome unit, held to body with 1 massive screw and adjustable by two smaller screws on the opposing end (you easily can get at all from front of guitar). This guitar held up very well to many years of playing and it is easy to see, someone really loved their Daily Player! There is wear where there should be, like from where player's arm rub-rub-rubbed while strumming, or some wear-away where the guitar was repeatedly set into a stand, things like that. The Neck is bolted on of course, in keeping with the economy of the unit,, and I find it to be a thick handful; not a thin-trim-slim model like I've encountered on so many high-dollar Fender Strats; no, this neck is like being on-deck at batting practice; reminds me so much of the neck on a De Armond Jet Star Special I bought new just a few years ago and since moved out thru online auction. Just so you can relate, I am 6'-3", near 300lbs., but I have much smaller, fatter hands and fingers than a guy my size should have, thanks to my Mom's Czech (yeah, yeah, might as well say Polish) heritage. Anyway- the Neck on the guitar has 18 frets so obviously it is not the longest guitar you have ever played. It has shifted in shape with age: as a crappy 2 year student I am just fine with the sound and condition of the neck; when I showed this treasure to friends (a band) who have all played guitars and more for over 35 years each, these fellows would no longer allow the guitar to be tuned so I could play 1 blues song with them, but I can appreciate their experience and ear sensitivity- much less they play instruments that each cost more than most cars I have owned! Oh well; I payed $100 for this set-up and that is a SWEET PRICE to fondle a vintage relic I really never thought I would own in my lifetime. Back to the neck: the Tuners are 6 in-line and really (in my opinion) quite sturdily made, I've not seen another guitar with this exact Tuner format whereas they are kind of sealed in their own metal box, instead

This guitar is great fun to reproduce the Beach, rockabilly (some), twangy "Pulp Fiction soudtrack" sound, and is used by some for blues with a slide, but that is not for me. Think Pipeline, Penetration,
Tequila, all those SWEET old sounds that people tend to think of as the beach sound, and you've got it here! The old Lipstick pick up gives a brighter, jangly, unique sound. This is NOT a metal mash machine. My experience in life with guitars is this, my friends: it's not the axe, it's the man standing behind it! Just like a pro magician can handle worn crappy cards or a new deck with equal ease, it depends on you. The equipment may set you in a general direction- and like I wrote, this is SURF SOUND FUN beach twang, but if you want to shine Dick Dale's cool shoes, you better practice practice practice!

This is a vintage guitar and I am not the original owner. You read my comments on how well this particular guitar held up, and that is because it was very sturdily made and well cared for by a player that respected the axe. This guitar was made very well in my opinion, when you think about how incredibly inexpensive they were when new, and so many were made so the kids from coast to coast would have a great visit from Santa or they could save up their paper-route money. Better days, better days.

This unit has held up well and has many, many more years left in it. The cheaper guitars don't get played by the flashy big-name pros on tv too much, but sooner or later someone becoming famous is going to be photographed with one of these old screamers and WHAM- you won't be able to afford the damn things anymore. Typical live in America, people follow trends and copy the Kats. ME- yes, I WOULD play this out live but I would bring a back-up because I know to be prepared in life. Nothing like standing in the corner of the bar without equipment working and 5 other guitars sitting at home in your bedroom (idiot!).

I tried to get info from Sears on-line, and they are great, but hey, face facts, this is a relic. Be real. I do not need to purchase any parts anyway, I was just looking for info on age. Danelectro can probably help too. Actually, I did not bother to leave a email question for Sears Support- I'm not buying anything, and it's my responsibility to dig around on the 'net or in the Local Library if I want to properly date the guitars age.

I have been playing 2+ years; have owned WAY too many guitars because of an obsessive-compulsive problem but I am getting help, plus I buy and restore guitars so many just come and go. If this guitar was stolen I would be truely pissed but I would get over it, it's just an object. I WOULD replace it someday with one just like it, or in even better shape if I could afford it. What I love about this guitar is: 1. the amp-in-case thing is just so cool. 2. the guitar looks funky and I appreciate individuality; I know Fenders rule blah-blah-blah, but come on, be yourself, what do you want the whole world to drive Camaros and Mustangs? "There's no accounting for taste" said the old woman as she bent to kiss her cow! 3. Older gear is essential and affordable. Screw those big-buck silicone-chip duplicating machines; buy the old gear: guitars, mics, amps- and if you can play, you can sound much like the great old music, if that is your bag. And as Forrest Gump might say: "And that's all I have to say about that".