Supro Lexington

Late 60s (my instincts say 67 but what do i know) Supro fake-Jag. Standard floating metal bridge, tortoise PG with a nice 3-tone sunburst finish. Lovely closed-gear klusons. Nice when you're used to Harmony open strip tuners. Humongous single-coil right in the middle with a humbucker-size cover. 1 V, 1T pot. Wood? I don't know, other than rosewood fretboard. Simple, made in the good old U S of A. Comes with your typical POS cardboard case. If you've ever owned a Silvertone, Harmony, Dano, or whatever, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

This guitar sounds mean and tuff like only these old budget American guitars can. Doesn't feed back as much as my Harmony h15/h16s, but has that same kind of warm sound. Edgier and toothier, though. This aint your pony tailed dad's $2000 PRS, boy, there's no piezos or blend knobs here. It makes one sound. It has one pickup. The sound it makes is good. The pickup itself is nuts, a giant hot as **** singlecoil. I think it sounds great. I play through a bunch of old ****, 60's Epiphone Constellation bass amp, 90s Vox Tonebender. Sounds killer through a twin. I have a few bands, one is heavy fuzz ****-rock skeezy punk weirdness, another (people tell me) is like if GG Allin met the Lyres, and the third is double guitar garagepunk kinda oblivians style. Maybe the fact that this guitar works for all three is a testament to my lack of range as a guitarist, but whatever. I think it's a testament to how much this guitar rules.

It's a well made machine compared to loads of guitars now, but the drawback is there's no adjustable truss rod. The neck on mine is straight, but no truss doesn't give you too much leeway. Action's nice and low, small frets like all these kinds of guitars. Like I said before, really nice old Kluson Deluxes with white buttons. Neck is a shallow comfy C-ish. I've been playing Harmony Bobkats exclusively for a couple of years, which have a pretty fat, deep shortscale neck, and this is a bit smoother. Doesn't look like the pickup adjusts, at least easily, but whatever. If that kind of thing is going to bother you, you probably aren't interested in a one pickup budget guitar anyway. Nontrem tailpiece, but I hear the higher end models have those Hagstrom vibratos that the Harmony h19 has too. Single piece floating metal bridge.

I'm sure this guitar will survive live playing. These things are built like most American musical stuff in the 60's was, ie well. The three color sunburst is actually very vibrant and the finish is nice. Not sure but my guess is a nice thin nitrocellulose lacquer. I would use it with no backup for sure.

Ha! Try caling Valco, sold to Kay in 67, bankrupt in 68, and then sold to Kawai or some ****.

I've been playing for a few years. Started on 80's MIJ fenders, but sold em all as soon as I got my first Harmony. Now I have a Harmony H-15, one H-16, a Teisco Vox Phantom copy, a ****** '63 Ibanez, a dinky old Norma acoustic, and now this beast. It suits me just fine. I like it a lot. If I lost it I would be sad, but could not afford to buy another one. This one was a gift.

The Supro Lexington was one of the last models ever designed and produced by Supro, as they were struggling in the marketplace and the reso-glas guitars were fading from the memory of most players of the time. The Lexington models look very similar to Jaguar/Jazzmaster body shapes, but these Supro's are much thinner at the "waist" than their Fender counterparts. 40 1/2" long by 13" wide. 24 3/4" scale. They came in "lustre rubbed" sunburst finishes only, although slight variations in components can give away the year of manufacture.
The Lexington first appeared in late 1964 and disappeared in the late 60's, as did everything that was Supro. These models were initially referred to as "shaded" guitars and were available in one, two, or three pickup models. Model designations were S525 (1 pu, no trem, cost $95), S535 (2 pu with trem, cost $169.50), and S545 (3 pu with trem, cost $199.50). Cases were an extra $50 at the time. Prices remained the same until they went out of business, but the model designations did change to S625, S635, and S645.
The earlier models sported a tremolo system very similar to old Hagstroms of the time, whereas later Lexingtons had a slightly more sophisticated, but not that great, chrome trem with "roller" bridges and a chrome cover plate. Most definitely of Japanese origin.
Pickups were the standard Supro/Valco/Airline/National models, which were single coils disguised as humbuckers. Early model Lexingtons had some sort of gold foil/mesh on part of the pickup covers, whereas later models had the simpler chrome covers without any adornment.
Bodies were made of solid wood (alder?) as were the "thin-line" necks, which included a non-adjustable "Kord King" design which were guaranteed never to warp or bend! The Supro logo was a sort of clear sticker applied to the headstock, above the finish. Neck has a zero fret, one plastic string tree, and VERY NICE old Kluson Deluxe tuners were found on the two and three pickup models. Frets are vintage sized, meaning small. Brazilian rosewood fretboard.
Electronics had a volume knob for each pickup, and two rocker switches for each pickup. One is a simple on/off switch, and the other is a hi/lo tone switch. All electrical components are of very high quality and wiring/soldering is pretty darn good.

I have the three pickup version of the Lexington, made towards the end of their production, probably 1967-68. The greatest thing about these guitars are the pickups. They sound beautiful, as do all those old Supro pups. They're totally different from everything out there, similar to old Gibson P90s. They do clean very well, and are filled with this indescribable articulate sound that just adds that special something to your playing. There's like added harmonics going on. Where I really love these pickups is to drive a good tube amp. Then they get gritty and raw, without getting microphonic. These are the perfect pups for rowdy blues, and nasty hardcore punk, which are my primary styles. But don't let me pigeon-hole the sound, they sound great for reverb drenched surf, rockabilly, and jazz! Lately these pups are selling for big time dough by themselves, and they're worth it.
The only rub I have against this guitar is the wiring schematic. In order to have the tone controls on the rocker switches, Supro employed a dizzying array of capacitors that basically suck the sound of these pups. At the time they called it "tone-shading", but the design really destroyed an otherwise great guitar sound. The pots and caps are all wired together in this menagerie that really looks like leftover amp boards and parts, which leads me to believe that the same folks who wired the amps wired the guitars. The first thing to be done with these guitars is have the whole rocker switch wiring removed by a good tech, and replaced with a more traditional wiring scheme that allows the pickups to breath and shine. You don't have to mess with the switches, only the wiring underneath. With the old wiring, it's like the pups are trying to sing through a pillow. It's probably why these guitars have never become popular, although they are very collectable as not many were sold or still exist.
I don't think I have ever seen anything cooler than this jaguar looking guitar that sports these three psuedo-humbuckers. It looks mean, vintage mean!!! After the wiring fixes, I don't think I've ever heard such a beautiful guitar. These old Supro pups are the real deal. Right up there with the revered Gibson pups of the day. Well maybe not right up there, but damn close as they really have their own unique thing going on.

The Lexington sets up very well thanks to the trem with the roller bridge. Chrome on the hardware matches very well with the nitro sunburst. All the chrome is still shiny and has held up very well. Neck joint is tight and it's connected to the body by a four bolt plate, ala Fender. Frets are finished nicely, although they are vintage-sized and you will need a re-fret unless you are one of them guys who enjoy those tiny frets. I prefer medium jumbos, but when I was a kid I would jam away on whatever I had! I really like that this guitar is solid wood, rather than the reso-glas models which can peel and warp over time. The build quality is almost as good as an old Fender, and easily equals or is better than the Fender "craftsmanship" of the 70s.
The pickups are mounted to the body and don't leave too much room for height adjustment. Black pickups rings are there for show only. Body is routed on either side of the pickup mounting "block". The pups aren't necessarily calibrated for the neck, middle and bridge positions, and changing them around is no small task. The rocker switches are very cool as you can have any combination of pickups. In my Lexington, the middle pup is especially sweet, and I usally leave it on all the time, combining it with the neck or bridge as I see fit.
Intonation is spot on, and the tuners hold it all together. In fact, these tuners alone are probably worth $200 and up.

Well, the Kord King neck really hasn't warped, twisted, or bowed! It's really unreal for a 40+ year-old guitar with no truss rod adjustment. Sunburst nitro finish has stayed beautiful all these years, but I'm sure that all depends on the play-time. Mine sat under someone's bed for a LONG time. Pickguard is sort of toirtise-shell/animal print dark red/brown, and it hasn't warped or shrunk. Tuners are very good, and the roller bridge is awesome despite the trem which isn't that great. Strap buttons are average, but solid. I use rubber washers from Grolsch beer bottles as strap locks. It's a trick I've seen many old punkers use and they work great. Using this live, you WILL kick everyone's arse!! With these pups, these guitars are killers, straight up.

You know the story, the company is long gone. Find a good tech in your area, or become one yourself!

I have way too many guitars, as I'm a bit obsessive. I've bought and sold many and I've whiddled the collection down to the essential pieces. This Lexington is one of the essentials. I don't play in bands anymore, but I do get out to quite a few local jams, and I love bringing this guitar. I own some new-ish stuff like Les Pauls, Jaguars, Reverends, Dipinto's, G&Ls, and Gretsch. A while back I started to appreciate the older, less popular US brands like Danelectro, Silvertone, Harmony, Kay, and from there I've started to love the National, Supro, Airline family. Some of them you have to fight to play them, but that sound is all worth it. Keep in mind though, these guitars will often need some work to get them right after years of neglect or abuse, especially if the necks are non-adjustable. Can you use a heat gun and some clamps without damaging an old nitro finish? If you can't, you better find someone who can, before you spend your savings on one of these treasures. Warps are also commonplace and you better ask a ton of questions if you're buying online.
Lastly, if it were lost or stolen I'd be hard-pressed to find another since they're so rare. I wouldn't go "hunt the guy down" and "rip his eyeballs out" or any other of the tough-guy talk that makes me chuckle. Don't you just love when you read this sorta stuff in the listings? These cream puffs need to chill. 9 times out of 10, guitar players are pussies anyway. Need proof? Just walk into any neighborhood Guitar Center. Don't have a center nearby? Consider yourself blessed.