Airline Guitars Serial Numbers
Airline made the guitars for Montgomery Wards and are consider as House Brand guitars. House Brand guitars are not listed within Blue Book and therefore, it is next to impossible to date guitars such as yours. Best guess is late 1960's early 1970's. Regards, kcbuck. Moved you to 'Acoustic Guitar Values' forum for future reference. General: Airline Guitar serial numbers, harmony guitars, kennedy assasination. Expert: Bill Ruxton - 5/1. I've been playing guitars since 6. I've built them, repaired and have even painted a few.
I’m just happy to own this guitar. I know we really don’t “own” anything in the spiritual sense of the word, but having this guitar in my studio, holding this guitar, playing it through some vintage tube amps, I feel thankful. I searched for one of these buggers for many years until I found one out in beautiful Tujunga California. Oh man, it was so cool to open that case for the first time! Also, I’d like to give some credit to Scott Freilich of in beautiful Buffalo, New York. He’s been really great to me with sharing advice and knowledge!
For some reason, many guys in the guitar collecting world hoard knowledge like they hoard guitars. It’s been a little puzzling to me since there’s so little information on so many brands. People, please tell me if I ever swerve in that bitter direction!!!!! The Supro Triple Tone (often called the Tri-Tone) only appeared for one year in the Supro catalogs, 1959. Think about that year for a moment.
RIght away when I hear 1959 I think of the Gibson Les Paul. What a great year for guitars! In fact, I often find myself associating years with guitars. Like when I hear someone say 1965, I’m already thinking “oh, the year CBS bought Fender.” Do you do that? Anyway, like I was saying these Triple Tones were probably only made for one, or two years max.
A one year production run already makes these guitars rather rare, but if you can’t manage to find one of these, the more popular Supro Dual-Tone guitars will get you a similar vibe. How to play samsung pro cricket 2015 offline. Of course, just like the Model-T, you can have any color you want so long as it’s black (or white with the Dual Tone). In 1959, Valco was still making solid wood bodied guitars.
The “glass-fiber” bodies started to appear in 1962, but before that year, these Triple and Dual Tone guitars sported a medium weight body that was covered in a “No-Mar” finish that seems to be a thin coat of vinyl, or as the catalog of the time states “a tested durable glossy plastic.” One drawback to this finish is that it can peel with the passage of time and neglect, often in the cutaway area and on the edges. Although these finishes do hold up rather well. It seems that Valco used the No-Mar finish on less expensive instruments and reserved their lacquer “mirror finish” for their better models.
Download album the best anggun. Even so, these Triple Tones cost $179.50 brand new, and cases were $42.50 (hard shell “plush” case) or $24.50 (hard shell “flannel” case). A quick glance through the catalog shows some prices as follows: • 1507 Super Single $74.50 • 1561 Ozark $89.50 • 1508 Super Twin $99.50 • 1570 Belmont $99.50 (No-Mar finish) • 1550 Ranchero $99.50 • 1524 Dual Tone $149 (No-Mar finish) • 1582 Del Mar $179 (lacquer finish) • 1595 Rhythm Master $189 (lacquer finish) • 1590 Coronado $225 (laquer finish). Obviously, these prices come in at many budgets but when you compare the new price in 1958 for a Gibson Les Paul Standard was $279, then many of these guitars are bargains. Here’s another comparison, I own a 1956 Gibson ES125 ( a student model for the time) from the original owner, and he said his dad bought it for him in 1957 for $75. It seems to me like the Valco guitars were competing with some of the more well-established guitar brands of the time.
Even the shape of the Triple Tone is reminiscent of the Les Paul with it’s single cutaway. The Supro brand was the Valco “budget” brand and the National branded guitars served the upper echelon of prices.
The “Kord King” necks usually hold up pretty well over the years, although you’ll need a good tech like Dano if the neck has developed a bow or twist. Also the binding on the fiberglass guitars can sometimes deteriorate. But the Valcos did and do sound VERY good, and some their designs and art deco touches were very creative and do stand the test of time.