The Silvertone Acoustic H621 Pt. 1 The Repair Begins

The Silvertone Acoustic H621

My fascination with this particular guitar started about a year ago at an antique store in Santa Barbara. I saw a guitar similar to this one, but in the more orangish color, sitting on a chair for $75. I picked it up and played it. It was almost in tune, and didn't have the baseball bat neck of most Harmony guitars of that era that I've picked up. Harmony manufactured many of the Silvertones of that era. There was no neck separation, either, and it actually reminded me of vintage Gibson J-45 (my dream acoustic that some day, when I have an extra 4 grand laying around, I'll buy). I didn't buy it, but thought about it for a few weeks, and finally decided to go back and get it. Of course, it was gone.

But checking on the Goodwill auction site, I came across this Silvertone. It looked pretty beat up, and so I put in a low bid, which I then, rather surprisingly, won. When it arrived, I took it out of the box and realized that even though it was dusty and dinged, the neck was still straight and it seemed to be reasonably well cared for.  According to the "Silvertone World," site, the guitar was manufactured somewhere between 1964 and 1967.

I tuned it up, and even with a cracked bridge, a bent tuning machine, and rusty strings, it held it's tuning. Strumming some cowboy chords, it sounded great! I started working some scales up and down the neck, and was still surprised by it's sound. There was no rattle, and the action was pretty good all the way to the 14th fret. The neck had some slight wear, but nothing outrageous. It was filled with dustbunnies and spiderwebs, which I used my shop vac to clean.

So I bought a case for it, and some new tuning machines and a new bridge, and started to read up on how to fix it. I also figured that since I got it so cheap, I might decorate it up a bit. After all, I have my good Sigma, my Epiphone and my Arts and Lutherie, which are all nice guitars. I figured I could play with this one a bit.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

I made this video shortly after I received the guitar last August.