Silvertone1423
with Dave Burrluck
It doesn’t matter how long it takes, or how much money you spend, a key aspect of any modding project is honest evaluation and being man enough to admit you got it wrong. Well, yes, I got it wrong.
As we explained in Part 2 of our adventures with this lowly Silvertone last issue, the guitar replicates its original wiring with a highly unusual ‘blender’ sound where normally the dual-pickup mix would be on the three-way rotary switch. In blender mode, all controls – except the blender rotary control – are bypassed and that rotary acts like a sort of wah sweep going from a trebly and a little out of phase-y sound to full treble-off woof. Now, I use a standard dual-pickup mix a lot and the blender wasn’t working for me. A simple bit of rewiring to a more Gretsch-like layout rendered the Silvertone way more usable. So, what was the problem?
Simple: the Mk II modded version sounded like a cheaper version of my other guitars. I’d just replicated something I already had. And along the way I’d lost the uniqueness of the Silvertone – the fact that its odd wiring creates its unique sound.
I’m a big believer in reversible mods wherever possible and, thankfully, I’d just un wired the two pickups and the output jack from the circuit, pulled the pots and switch off and installed new kit for my ‘improvement’. Reversing that was dead simple – always draw out the circuit or take a clear photo before you start modding. Luckily, too, I’d used an old mini-toggle for the three-way pickup switch and hadn’t widened the diameter of the hole on the scratchplate to take a small depth Switch craft toggle switch, which I’d purchased for that very purpose.
This rather time-consuming exercise got me thinking long and hard about the whole process of ‘improvement’. Typically, we think of low price as low quality and in more than many cases that’s true enough. But as this Silvertone proves, a bit like a Supro or Danelectro and the like – part of the appeal of the guitar is its basic construction. For sure, if you’re playing to a stadium of people every night you’re going to need to get your tech to replace a few bits. But if you’re playing less often, and to considerably fewer people, do you really need to improve or fix something that really isn’t broke?
Well, we’re all different, but when a guitar like this – yes, it’s simple and funky – is really perfectly well built, it makes you wonder. I’m looking for character, and without that all the mods and best boutique parts are, frankly, a waste of time and money. And what constructional savings have been made here don’t include the extremely good-sounding Duncan Designed pickups or the very clever and very tidily done wiring hardness. Combine that with the guitar’s light weight and surprising resonance and, yes, I certainly could upgrade the rather vague and sloppy tuners, but I’m scratching my head a little in other regards.
It’s very unlike many modding projects where, for example, we might buy a lowly lookalike and try and upgrade it to perform and sound like the real thing. I’ve spent a fair bit of time – and money – fixing up a rather over-used 20-year-old Tokai Love Rock (see Mod Squad in this issue on p134) as much as anything as an exercise. Yes, the end result is much more to my liking, but that’s involved replacing everything with the exception of the body, neck, fingerboard and frets (although they have been heavily fettled). And with its maple neck and maple-capped alder body it’s only going to be a pimped Made in Korea Tokai. It ain’t never gonna be a ’Burst, is it?
We’re never too old to learn a lesson and I’ve learned a big one – and maybe more – here. While many of us can drop a considerable wedge on a quality instrument, we don’t all have that luxury. So instead of trying to turn something into something it can never be, find and embrace that cheap guitar character and play the damn thing. This Silvertone, now restored to spec, is definitely a keeper: a cleanly built slice of retro that, for the asking price, is a bonkers find. Aside from its fairly unique 14-fret-to-the-body neck joint, its totally unique blender sound and quite a gnarly, punky voice, it’s now getting more play time as I brush up on my open D slide playing. This broom needs dusting and, at this rate, I’m gonna need another one…
Reviewed Music Radar (2016) Price £249 On Test Since Mid-2018 Studio Sessions No Gigged Yes Mods Now reversed www.gear4music.com