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Review.
Silvertone spent decades maligned as the ugly duckling on the electric guitar and amplifier pond. Because Silvertones were relatively affordable instruments sold by Sears, Roebuck & Company from the 1930s through the early ’70s, they were viewed as stepping-stones to the Fender, Gretsch, Gibson, or Rickenbacker you’d get when you got serious. But since the ’90s, many vintage Silvertone guitars and amps (typically those built by Harmony and Danelectro) have gained the respect and collector attention they always deserved.
With all this renewed interest, Samick revived the Silvertone name. And in a few years, they’ve started to revisit some of the Silvertone brand’s most loved designs. One of the most interesting original offerings, the 1423 (also branded as the Harmony Jupiter H49), was made from 1959 through 1962 and it’s the inspiration for the guitar.
Tuxedo Junction
The designers behind the original twin-pickup 1423 likely used Gibson’s Les Paul Jr. as a point of departure. And at a glance, the new 1423 looks like a straightforward reissue. It’s got the same single-cutaway body as the original with a sharp-looking black sparkle finish and white binding with a fine black pinstripe. A white, foxtail-shaped pickguard is home to five black knobs and a chicken-head selector switch. The rosewood fretboard is dressed with classy block inlays and the classic, slight, and snaky Silvertone script logo adorns the headstock.
However, there are a number of differences—both cosmetic and structural—between the 1423 and its predecessor. Most significantly, this version is a mahogany solidbody with a four-screw, bolt-on neck, where the original was a semi-hollow with a three-screw neck. The original included a rosewood archtop-style bridge, but the new version has a Tune-o-matic-style bridge (with a retainer wire) that provides better adjustability and intonation.
Less significant details include a white plastic nut in place of an aluminum nut. Closed-back tuners with chrome knobs replace the old open-geared machines with white plastic buttons. And this version has a pair of chrome strap buttons instead of a single white endpin, so you wont have to tie your strap off at the headstock. Also, the trapeze tailpiece on the reissue uses a slightly different design—a raised diamond for embellishment instead of three horizontal lines.
Overall, our 1423 is a solidly built guitar. The neck fits snug in its pocket and the finish is free of defects.
Being semi-hollow, examples of the original 1423 fall in the vicinity of five pounds, but our reissue is more substantial at seven pounds, 14 ounces. It’s still very comfortable to hold and feels compact and well balanced. The neck has a very comfortable C shape profile is a nice compromise, neither too thin nor too cumbersome. Gibson players in particular will feel very much at home with it, particularly given the 1 11/16" wide nut and 24.75" scale length. Despite the less-than-ideal setup, the guitar plays very well—a definite improvement over a typical, well-used vintage Silvertone.
The controls on the 1423 include volume and tone for each pickup, a 3-way selector switch, and, for the middle position only, an almost Rickenbacker-like blend knob that rolls off the highs and boosts the mids. The knobs fall in a straight line—blend, volume, tone, volume, tone.
Clone of the orginal darmond pickups a limited run. A thin mahogany solid body. Sparkley finnish. A nice silvertone Samick made gig bag. I love samick guitars. All the models.
Silvertone spent decades maligned as the ugly duckling on the electric guitar and amplifier pond. Because Silvertones were relatively affordable instruments sold by Sears, Roebuck & Company from the 1930s through the early ’70s, they were viewed as stepping-stones to the Fender, Gretsch, Gibson, or Rickenbacker you’d get when you got serious. But since the ’90s, many vintage Silvertone guitars and amps (typically those built by Harmony and Danelectro) have gained the respect and collector attention they always deserved.
With all this renewed interest, Samick revived the Silvertone name. And in a few years, they’ve started to revisit some of the Silvertone brand’s most loved designs. One of the most interesting original offerings, the 1423 (also branded as the Harmony Jupiter H49), was made from 1959 through 1962 and it’s the inspiration for the guitar.
Tuxedo Junction
The designers behind the original twin-pickup 1423 likely used Gibson’s Les Paul Jr. as a point of departure. And at a glance, the new 1423 looks like a straightforward reissue. It’s got the same single-cutaway body as the original with a sharp-looking black sparkle finish and white binding with a fine black pinstripe. A white, foxtail-shaped pickguard is home to five black knobs and a chicken-head selector switch. The rosewood fretboard is dressed with classy block inlays and the classic, slight, and snaky Silvertone script logo adorns the headstock.
However, there are a number of differences—both cosmetic and structural—between the 1423 and its predecessor. Most significantly, this version is a mahogany solidbody with a four-screw, bolt-on neck, where the original was a semi-hollow with a three-screw neck. The original included a rosewood archtop-style bridge, but the new version has a Tune-o-matic-style bridge (with a retainer wire) that provides better adjustability and intonation.
Less significant details include a white plastic nut in place of an aluminum nut. Closed-back tuners with chrome knobs replace the old open-geared machines with white plastic buttons. And this version has a pair of chrome strap buttons instead of a single white endpin, so you wont have to tie your strap off at the headstock. Also, the trapeze tailpiece on the reissue uses a slightly different design—a raised diamond for embellishment instead of three horizontal lines.
Overall, our 1423 is a solidly built guitar. The neck fits snug in its pocket and the finish is free of defects.
Being semi-hollow, examples of the original 1423 fall in the vicinity of five pounds, but our reissue is more substantial at seven pounds, 14 ounces. It’s still very comfortable to hold and feels compact and well balanced. The neck has a very comfortable C shape profile is a nice compromise, neither too thin nor too cumbersome. Gibson players in particular will feel very much at home with it, particularly given the 1 11/16" wide nut and 24.75" scale length. Despite the less-than-ideal setup, the guitar plays very well—a definite improvement over a typical, well-used vintage Silvertone.
The controls on the 1423 include volume and tone for each pickup, a 3-way selector switch, and, for the middle position only, an almost Rickenbacker-like blend knob that rolls off the highs and boosts the mids. The knobs fall in a straight line—blend, volume, tone, volume, tone.
Clone of the orginal darmond pickups a limited run. A thin mahogany solid body. Sparkley finnish. A nice silvertone Samick made gig bag. I love samick guitars. All the models.
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