Silvertone 1418

  Woo Hoo!

The body was rescued from a garage sale. This POS from 1969 was sold for about $100 through Sears stores. “The poor man's 335”, it originally had a three-on-a-side headstock and was one of the worst guitars ever made. It is shown here with a salvaged Fender-style neck (that would resurface on another guitar.). This was a parts bin guitar; total out of pocket expenses were under $50. That's a real Gibson humbucker; it had languished in my junk drawer for years.  The problem with these Japanese thin hollow body guitars is that the neck joint is too small and the only body connection is a small block of wood. I got it to play, but the guitar’s body would warp under tension. That made for high, unstable action and, ultimately, a trip to the garbage can.



In this YouTube video, the player had trouble with the action above the 12th fret as well: