1960 Silvertone 1304 (Danelectro U-1 Short Scale) Electric Guitar

My friend Joel keeps buying old Danelectros (this is Silvertone-branded but made by Danelectro) and then realizing he's not an electric guitar player and then sending them up here. He's sworn it off, now, though! This is his latest catch and release -- and it looks like he picked it up from Carter Vintage Guitars at some point. He told me he hadn't even plugged it in! I get it, though -- Danelectros are dang cool and the lure of their image and style is really hard not to be taken-in by.

Anyhow, it's completely original, pretty clean, and has a serial number that places it at 1960. People call this model the "Silvertone U-1" because it looks like a Danelectro U-1 model (it even has the "coke bottle" headstock shape) but with Silvertone (Sears) badging. It's slightly different, though, in that it has a 23 1/2" short scale neck as opposed to the 25" normal Danelectro neck. The pickup is also less "neck position" and placed rather directly in the "mid position." These changes yield a guitar with a very similar tone to a "normal" U-1 but with a relaxed left-hand feel and a little more sparkle and chime on the treble.

I often tell people that Danelectros sound to me like the most "acoustic" of electric guitars. They have an even, chimey, clean voicing that takes strumming and fingerpicking really well and when given a bit of drive they have a warm-but-sizzly lead voice. Acoustic players will find, I think, that their "response" to picking is really similar to the response you'd get out of an acoustic instrument. If you pick harder you get a bit more grab and drive but it's not as aggressive as with a lot of other pickup types. There's always this innate sense of clarity and balance unless you're swimming in distortion.

As per the usual for this model style, the body semihollow with a poplar or pine center-block and poplar-and-pine "rims" that make up the sides. This makes it quite lightweight. The top and back are masonite and cream tolex-ish material covers the sides. This particular guitar is painted brown with a clear pickguard, though the paint has flecks of silver-sparkle in it throughout. They're very small, though, and thus hard to see. The neck is poplar with a rosewood fretboard and, because it's a short-scale variant, a single steel non-adjustable truss installed in it.

Repairs included: fret level dress, saddle compensation, setup.

Made by: Danelectro

Model: Silvertone 1304 

Made in: Neptune, NJ, USA

Serial number: 2020

Body wood: poplar/pine center block and edges/sides w/Masonite top/back

Bridge: steel w/rosewood saddle

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: poplar

Pickups: 1x original lipstick

Tone: clean, chimey, balanced, sparkly

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 46w-10 lights

Neck shape: mild-medium C/D-shape

Board radius: ~14"

Truss rod: non-adjustable steel

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium

Scale length: 23 1/2"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

Body length: 17 3/4"

Body width: 13 1/8"

Body depth: 1 5/8"

Condition notes: it's really clean and all-original, though it does have a few scratches and scuffs on the top/back. I've modified the saddle for good intonation and balanced string height. I've also added side dots to the board. The back of the neck behind the nut has a thin darker line in the finish that looks like a hairline crack but isn't -- the finish has cracked there and gotten some grime in it. It's really typical to see this on Danelectros and '70s Guilds because the wood swells/contracts seasonally along the line of the truss rods as they're closer to the surface of the back of the neck than in other brands.

It comes with: a Carter Vintage Guitars gigbag.