Silvertone archtop

BradHall · #1 09-19-2017, 12:38 PM

A friend found this L 1924 Silvertone archtop in a storage locker. I couldn't find anything by googling it, other than a photo. I don't see a serial number anywhere. It appears to be pressed Masonite. Position markers are painted on. Overall it's in fair condition. The exception being "Butch" carved his name on the front and back! Any Value in making this cheapo playable again? Or should I make another planter box?

BradHall · #2 09-20-2017, 12:23 PM

A friend that buys storage units gave me an L 1924 Silvertone arch top. Appears to be pressed Masonite. It's black with painted binding & purfling lines. The neck has white painted rectangles for position markers. Obviously this is a low end guitar, but it is in fairly decent shape for how old it appears to be. Are these worth restoring to playable condition? Or will I end up with a Masonite box with strings that sounds as bad as the description?

mr. beaumont · #3 09-20-2017, 01:46 PM

Hard to say without seeing it...the necks can be suspect on some of these oldies.

As far as sound, first ou have to like the sound of an archtop--and then this particular kind of archtop. Some of the nicer American "cheapo" brands like Kays and Harmonys are pretty cool...a lot of these smaller painted woodgrain "white wood" types are a specific sound that I'm just not into.

Might make a fun blues fingerpicker or slide guitar.

Mr Fingers · #4 09-20-2017, 01:59 PM

I'd fix it for practice, myself, while expecting the result to be pretty poor. I'm not drawn to the sound of archtops in general -- I love the guitars, not the tone -- and the Sivertone has fundamental tonal disadvantages on top of that. Some "cheapo" guitars are actually capable of creating great tones, but this one has a lot working against it. I think old masonite and other composites is pretty unappealing stuff physically as well as tonally. But if it looks cool and plays well, it would be easy to slap a PU on it, and then the inherent deadness of the build could in fact be an asset.

FrankHudson · #5 09-20-2017, 04:11 PM

Not familiar with any 1920s department store archtops made out Masonite, but that could just be a hole in my knowledge.

Masonite was of course used in the hollowbody Danelectro type electrics sold as Silvertone in the later 50s and 60s. Those have their fans.

None of use can see the guitar, so it's hard to say. As already mentioned, some have severe playablity issues, and they weren't even trying to sound like a pre-war Martin.

BradHall · #6 09-20-2017, 04:22 PM

I did post some pics, but the post went to the custom build section, rather than the build and repair. Still figuring out Tapatalk photo posting. Could a moderator please move the posting for me?

printer2 · #7 09-20-2017, 06:54 PM

1924 as in the year? I doubt it, the one I did a neck reset and refret on was from the 60's I think. At least the one I worked on was made out of wood. Even then it was not worth the effort to do the work if you used the sound as the yardstick. Just get a cheap bridge of of EBay, a nut and a set of strings, maybe $20 and hours of, fun? Maybe if you need the experience of playing a mail order guitar. Otherwise not all that much value.

BradHall · #8 09-21-2017, 08:18 AM

Thanks all for the replies. Yeah Fred, I sure didn't think it was a 1924 year built guitar. The L1924 is the only marking on it. I think Masonite was developed long after that. The neck is in good condition, very little fret wear, tuners work. I don't care much for archtops either, just not my style. I'll offer this one up at the cost of shipping it to anyone interested in making it play again.

Truckjohn · #9 09-21-2017, 11:40 AM

Silvertone was a department store sales brand that started in the 1940's. Prior to that - Sears used Supertone as their house brand for instruments.

The majority of Silvertones were Harmony made... These were all solid wood up into the mid 1970's when they switched to laminate.

The typical thing on the cheap ones was solid knife-cut birch construction - this was heat pressed into shape for the top and back rather than being carved. Necks were poplar. The cheapest ones had no neck reinforcement or simply a steel bar. The more expensive ones got adjustable truss rods.

As they went up in price - they got spruce tops, mahogany back and sides, then carved maple back and sides. Necks also went from poplar to mahogany and maple.