1969 SILVERTONE
1490 BASS
BY CHRIS KIES
Silvertone guitars and basses were offered through Sears and Roebuck stores and
catalogs as beginner-level, quality made
instruments from 1954 until the early ’70s.
While originally marketed for novices—
Jerry Garcia, John Fogerty, Dave Grohl,
and Brad Paisley all noted a Silvertone
as one of their first electric guitars—the
Sears-branded axes have found a soft spot
in the vintage market with collectors [as
evident in PG’s March 2010 cover story
“Funky, Cheap Electrics: Formerly Low
End Kitsch... Now Cool Collectibles”] and
oddball admirers like Beck, who often uses
a 1448 Silvertone guitar.
The Silvertone name and brand was
just that—a moniker started in 1915 when
Sears began offering hand-cranked phonographs that expanded to include radios
in the 1920s. The line grew in the 1930s
and replaced the Supertone brand used for
their musical instruments. Like most big
box retailers of the day, Sears outsourced
its musical instrument production to actual
guitar companies like Kay, Harmony, Valco,
and Danelectro. But Danelectro quickly
became the go-to producer for Silvertone
instruments selling about 85 percent of their
guitars and basses through Sears. Many of
the instruments made by Danelectro for
Sears were identical to their own specs—the
only differences were the name on the headstock and various color offerings.
In 1958, Silvertone attempted its first
dive into the low end with the 1373 bass,
which featured a short-scale setup and six
strings. However, the shock-and-awe factor
quickly wore off and it was discontinued
the following year, and replaced by a standard four-string, semi-hollow, single-cut
1444 bass. The last model introduced
under the Sears and Roebuck Silvertone
name was the 1490 in 1968. It was the only
bass exclusively built and distributed by the
Japanese company Teisco.
The ’ 69 Silvertone 1490 bass showcased
here has a 30" scale, three-tone sunburst,
double-cutaway 14"-wide body—described
in that year’s Sears and Roebuck catalog
Have an axe that would make a great Guitar of
the Month? Then email pics and your instrument’s
story to us at gotm@premierguitar.com.
as hardwood— and a rosewood fretboard
on a maple neck. Sears described it by say-
ing, “an ultra-slim neck gives ‘uniform feel’
throughout the whole register.” Additional
appointments include 20 frets, two single-
coils that are controlled by individual rock-
er tabs, two Volume knobs, a Tone control,
an adjustable bridge, two-piece celluloid
pickguard, and a thumb rest. As shown in
the original Sears ad, this Silvertone origi-
nally went for just $77.95.
