1962 Silvertone 1423 (Harmony H49 Stratotone Jupiter) Semihollow Electric Guitar

This guy is the Silvertone (Sears-sold) version of the Harmony H49 Stratotone Jupiter -- the fanciest version in the lineup and not seen out in the world so often. Being a Silvertone, it of course has to have the coolest version of the finish options, too. In this case that's a charcoal-black with coppery-gold flakes of metallic fleck mixed-in. It looks killer in person but is harder to see in photos. Other neat aesthetic details like a raised Silvertone logo on the headstock and the "window" DeArmond pickups add-up to give it a cooler look than your average Stratotone-style guitar.

The wiring is different from the model just under it, too, as it has a "blender" control that replaces the middle position in the 3-way swatch. This lets you "roll" the blender pot between the neck and bridge pickups to get some different sounds. Overall it's a darker, less-precise tone than a normal 3-way operation, but it does give you a lot of extra sound material to use. I like it best set a little "off center" in either direction. It also has independent tone/volume controls for each pickup.

Like the other Stratotone-style guitars, it's built as a semihollow along Danelectro lines, sort-of, being flat on the top and back. The top and back are ply birch while the sides are solid birch. It has poplar or pine blocking under the bridge and at the neck joint. This design style lets it clock in at just 5 lbs overall. That's a nice easy weight to gig with for a few hours!

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, ground added to wiring/tailpiece, bridge compensation, and setup.

Body wood: ply top and back with birch sides and pine/birch blocking

Bridge: ebonized maple

Fretboard: ebonized maple

Neck wood: poplar

Pickups: 2x original DeArmond single coils

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

Neck shape: medium C, very little taper (widening) towards the neck joint

Board radius: 10"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-lower

Scale length: 24 1/8"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Body width: 13 1/4"

Body depth: 2"

Weight: 5 lbs 0 oz

Condition notes: there's light scratching throughout with some dings/flaking on the back of the neck and mild wear here and there around the body edges. The headstock edges have the usual rub-off, too. Overall, though, it's fairly clean for its age and the thin nitro finish sprayed on these old Harmony guys. It's also completely original save an added ground wire from the tailpiece to the jack and some compensated slots I filed into the bridge topper. The truss cover has a chip-out at its top edge (as usual).

It comes with: its original chip case and shipping slip cover.