1960s Silvertone 1487 (Teisco-made) Electric Guitar (w/Built-In Amp)

There are a whole mess of reasons that I love this guitar. First, it's a wacky thing -- a '60s electric with a built-in amplifier (1/2w power!) and speaker. We're used to seeing this stuff from '80s and '90s learner guitars, but not from '60s ones.

Of course, the amp no longer worked, so I rewired it as a passive instrument. It works "as normal" for a one-pickup guitar, with master volume and tone controls (500k pots and an orange drop cap). I replaced the on/off switch with a spare from my parts-bins and used that to engage the original speaker for use as a microphone.

Turning it "on" mutes your guitar pickup and engages this "mic," but it does let you scream into the speaker. The volume levels are, of course, quite mismatched, but you could see where adding a boost pedal mixed with various effects could be outrageous and wonderful. With it turned-up "natural," it actually gives a decent "acoustic guitar" kind-of lo-fi sound. Adding a bunch of gain via drive pedals will immediately make it feedback. Do you see how you could set up your chain to make it work as an instant feedback generator when you toggle the on/off on the body? Alternately, I think it could also be fantastic to simply wire the speaker/mic to its own jack and with its own mix of effects added -- then you could toggle it "on" via the body and "off" when you don't want it. So many ideas...

Anyhow, post-repairs it plays spot-on, has a Gibson-y scale length, and sound nice. The pickups on these are a desirable design in the "vintage market," with their clean-and-clear jangle sound played clean and ridiculous, airplane-engine roar when hit with gain.

The body's odd shape is also a huge bonus, too. It sits a little higher in the lap (more like a semihollow or acoustic and vaguely Tele-like in handling) and so, for me, this is way more comfortable than your average solidbody with their narrow waist. It also looks like nothing else out there.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, new wiring harness, and setup work. My guy Ancel did the level/dress job and I did the rest.

Body wood: unknown

Bridge: one-piece adjustable (compensated only for wound-G strings!)

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany family

Pickups: 1x Teisco "gold foil" single coil

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16” overall (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 46w, 36w, 26w, 20w, 13, 10 -- 10s with a wound G

Neck shape: medium C/soft V

Board radius: 16"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-small-lower

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

Body width: 12 3/4"

Body depth: 1 5/8"

Weight: 6 lbs 9 oz

Condition notes: aside from a few scuffs, nicks, dings, and scratches throughout the body and neck (all not too obvious), it's actually in really good shape. It's hard to tell but the finish is a deep brown metallic color and it looks great in person -- a color you might see on an old car. Everything is original on the instrument except for the wiring harness. I have "before-and-after" photos of the back of the pickguard, showing the removal of the original amplifier that was built-in.

It comes with: its original slip-case gigbag and the yanked-out amplifier.