Silvertone (instruments)
Encyclopedia
Silvertone was the brand name used by Sears, Roebuck and Company
for its line of sound equipment from 1915 to 1972. A hand-cranked phonograph
was introduced under the Silvertone brand by Sears in 1915. Beginning in the 1920s, the brand was expanded to include Silvertone radio
s and expanded again in the 1930s, replacing the Supertone
brand on musical instruments.
Probably best known for their line of well made and inexpensive guitar
s, the brand became popular with novice musician
s. Jerry Garcia
, Rudy Sarzo
, Chet Atkins
, Bob Dylan
, David Lindley
, Garry Nutt, John Fogerty
, Tom Fogerty
, Jack White
, James Hetfield
, Dave Grohl
, Phil Keaggy
, Mark Knopfler
, Brad Paisley
, and countless others had a Silvertone for their first electric, bass, or acoustic guitar. The Canadian band Chad Allan
and The Silvertones, which would go on to become The Guess Who
, took its name from this line of instruments. Pete Townshend
would employ them in live performance with The Who
for the purposes of smashing them. Jack White
of The White Stripes
has been known to use vintage Silvertone amplifiers.
Singer-songwriter
Beck Hansen's main guitar is a Silvertone.http://www.vintagesilvertones.com/forsale_gtr-dano-1449.html
The name was placed on guitars from several different manufacturers over the years, including Danelectro
, National
, Harmony
, Kay, and Teisco
.
The guitars—especially the 1960s models—are prized by collectors today. One of the more well-known models is the Danelectro Silvertone 1448
, made in the early to mid 1960s. The guitar's case had a small built-in amplifier and the guitar itself had a very short-scale 18-fret neck, which proved popular with beginners. Beck
's main guitar is the 1448, stickered with an old Rush
sticker, and a sticker that says: "I ♥ Country Music." Many Silvertone guitars, especially nowadays, are recognized by a curved hook shape at the end of their heads.
Today, Silvertone is a brand name used by Samick Music Corporation and was endorsed by Paul Stanley
of KISS
from 2003 to 2006.
Silvertone is also a name of a model of harmonica made by Huang Harmonicas.
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...
for its line of sound equipment from 1915 to 1972. A hand-cranked phonograph
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
was introduced under the Silvertone brand by Sears in 1915. Beginning in the 1920s, the brand was expanded to include Silvertone radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
s and expanded again in the 1930s, replacing the Supertone
Supertone Records
Supertone Records was a United States record label of the 1920s. Supertone Records were marketed by Sears, Roebuck & Co..Supertone was one of several record disc brand names marketed by Sears....
brand on musical instruments.
Probably best known for their line of well made and inexpensive guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, the brand became popular with novice musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s. Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, Rudy Sarzo
Rudy Sarzo
Rudy Sarzo is a Cuban American hard rock/heavy metal bassist. Sarzo has played with many well known heavy metal acts including Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, Manic Eden, Dio and Blue Öyster Cult.-Early life:...
, Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, David Lindley
David Lindley (musician)
David Perry Lindley is an American musician who is notable for his work with Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, and other rock musicians. He has worked extensively in other genres as well, performing with artists as varied as Curtis Mayfield and Dolly Parton...
, Garry Nutt, John Fogerty
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...
, Tom Fogerty
Tom Fogerty
Thomas Richard "Tom" Fogerty was an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist in Creedence Clearwater Revival and the elder brother of John Fogerty, lead singer and lead guitarist in that band....
, Jack White
Jack White (musician)
Jack White , often credited as Jack White III, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and occasional actor...
, James Hetfield
James Hetfield
James Alan Hetfield is the rhythm guitarist, co-founder, main songwriter, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler,...
, Dave Grohl
Dave Grohl
David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Foo Fighters; the former drummer for Nirvana and Scream; and the current drummer for Them Crooked Vultures...
, Phil Keaggy
Phil Keaggy
Phil Keaggy is an American acoustic and electric guitarist and vocalist who has released more than 50 albums and contributed to many more recordings in both the contemporary Christian music and mainstream markets...
, Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
, Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
, and countless others had a Silvertone for their first electric, bass, or acoustic guitar. The Canadian band Chad Allan
Chad Allan (musician)
Chad Allan is a Canadian musician and founding member of The Guess Who. He was the group's original lead singer and front man, as well as rhythm guitarist, songwriter and occasionally drummer and pianist....
and The Silvertones, which would go on to become The Guess Who
The Guess Who
The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Initially gaining recognition in Canada, they also found international success from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s with numerous hit singles, including "American Woman", "These Eyes" and "Share the Land"...
, took its name from this line of instruments. Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
would employ them in live performance with The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
for the purposes of smashing them. Jack White
Jack White (musician)
Jack White , often credited as Jack White III, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and occasional actor...
of The White Stripes
The White Stripes
The White Stripes was an American rock band, formed in 1997 in Detroit, Michigan. The group consisted of the songwriter Jack White and drummer Meg White . Jack and Meg White were previously married to each other, but are now divorced...
has been known to use vintage Silvertone amplifiers.
Instrument amplifier
An instrument amplifier is an electronic amplifier that converts the often barely audible or purely electronic signal from musical instruments such as an electric guitar, an electric bass, or an electric keyboard into an electronic signal capable of driving a loudspeaker that can be heard by the...
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Beck Hansen's main guitar is a Silvertone.http://www.vintagesilvertones.com/forsale_gtr-dano-1449.html
The name was placed on guitars from several different manufacturers over the years, including Danelectro
Danelectro
Danelectro is an American manufacturer of musical instruments and accessories, specializing in rock instruments such as guitars, bass guitars, amplifiers and effects units.-History:...
, National
National String Instrument Corporation
The National String Instrument Corporation was a guitar company that formed to manufacture the first resonator guitars.-National resonator guitar designs:...
, Harmony
Harmony Company
thumb|right|250px|A collection of Harmony guitars:SS Stewart gold acoustic, H73 [[Roy Smeck]], H37 Hollywood, Silvertone 1446, H44 StratotoneThe Harmony Company was an American company that, in its heyday, was the largest musical instrument manufacturer in the USA...
, Kay, and Teisco
Teisco
Teisco was a Japanese manufacturer of affordable musical instruments from 1948 until 1969, and now its brand is owned by Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co. Ltd. . The company produced guitars as well as keyboard instruments, microphones, amplifiers and even drums...
.
The guitars—especially the 1960s models—are prized by collectors today. One of the more well-known models is the Danelectro Silvertone 1448
Danelectro Amp-in-case
The Danelectro Amp-In-Case, properly known as Solid-body Electric Guitar with "All-in-one" Amplifier-Case or Silvertone 1448/1449/1451/1452/1457 is a line of guitar sets introduced from 1962 to 1968. It was sold for $67.95 , sometimes including a 45 rpm how-to-play record, as part of Sears Silvertone...
, made in the early to mid 1960s. The guitar's case had a small built-in amplifier and the guitar itself had a very short-scale 18-fret neck, which proved popular with beginners. Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
's main guitar is the 1448, stickered with an old Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
sticker, and a sticker that says: "I ♥ Country Music." Many Silvertone guitars, especially nowadays, are recognized by a curved hook shape at the end of their heads.
Today, Silvertone is a brand name used by Samick Music Corporation and was endorsed by Paul Stanley
Paul Stanley
Stanley Harvey Eisen , better known by his stage name Paul Stanley, is an American hard rock guitarist, singer, musician, painter and songwriter best known for being the rhythm guitarist and primary lead vocalist of the rock band Kiss. He is the writer or co-writer of many of the band's...
of KISS
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
from 2003 to 2006.
Silvertone is also a name of a model of harmonica made by Huang Harmonicas.