Description
This is an early 1960’s Silvertone made by Harmony of Chicago. The Jupiter 1423 is the top of Harmony’s Stratotone line. The body, shaped in a style similar to a Les Paul, is constructed with a spruce front and back and maple sides. It has DeArmond pickups, beautiful mother-of-pearl block inlays on the neck, a black finish speckled with rich gold color, a white pickguard on which the controls are mounted, two white plastic strap pins, and the “Blender” control which regulates the neck and bridge pickups. The guitar also features an adjustable rosewood bridge, white binding with a stripe inlay on the front and a fixed trapeze style tailpiece. The fast action feels good on the fingers and the sweet tone tells the story of its 55 years of rocking and rolling. It has taken on some wear over the years by a previous owner but it plays beautifully and sounds excellent. It comes with an original case that has also taken on some wear over the years. Get this classic while you can.Description from VintageSilvertones.com
CONDITION:
This guitar is in good condition. 100% original, the body is very clean except for a sticker placed on the lower bass bout by a previous owner, and a few nearly invisible scrapes on the back. The bottom of the tailpiece has a name etched into the metal. There is also wear on the side of the neck and some nearly invisible playing wear to the paint on the back of the neck. One can see hole through the top of the headstock with duct tape covering it on the back. This Jupiter has some wear around the edges of the headstock.
TUNERS:
The all original, opened back, individual, chrome plated tuners with plastic buttons are smooth and in great working order although the g-string tuning peg is slighly bent. This does not affect the tuner’s performance.Description from VintageSilvertones.com
NECK:
It has a straight, bound, bolt-on neck with rectangular mother of pearl inlays on a rosewood fretboard, 20 frets, and 24″ scale. There is some minor playing wear on the first three frets. In addition, there is some wear on the upper bass side of the back of the neck. The action is fast. The frets and fretboard feel fantastic under your fingers. The headstock, featuring a raised, metallic Silvertone logo, which is missing the “S”, has some slight, very minor paint wear on the top edges. There is, however, a hole drilled into the top of the headstock with black tape covering the back. The neck is kept straight with an adjustable truss rod under a white plastic plate. Description from VintageSilvertones.com
PICKUPS:
There are two DeArmond single coil pickups that give a great surf or heavy rock sound but could work for a varity of styles. The neck (bass) pickup is very strong, rich, clean and bright. The bridge (treble) pickup is bright, potent and twangy with a smooth bite. Overall, the pickups work well and sound excellent. This guitar is capable of producing a wide variety of tones suitable for many styles including, rock, jazz, funk, soul, country and blues. It has individual volume and tone controls for each pickup along with the Blender control to balance the mix of the neck and bridge pickups when the three position pickup selector switch is on both pickups instead of its other choices, the neck or bridge individually. All electronics work properly. Description from VintageSilvertones.com
The Dimensions are:
Overall length: 38.5″Description from VintageSilvertones.com
Body width: 13.25″
Body thickness: 2″ with neck 2 1/8″Description from VintageSilvertones.com
Scale: 24″
Width of the nut: 1.75″
String height at 12th fret: 1/16″
Here’s the original description from the 1961 Sears catalog:
Dual Pickup Guitar
emphasizes treble, bassDescription from VintageSilvertones.com
Black finish speckled with rich gold color. Blender switch for special tone effects…tone, volume controls for each pickup. Adjustable bridge. Spruce top and back, maple sides. 38 x 13 x 2 inches. Model 1423L with original chipboard case K736L Description from VintageSilvertones.com
