Up for sale, a 1967 Silvertone 1488 Silhouette in excellent, 100% original condition with a trio of DeArmond gold foil pickups ! The 1488 was the only Harmony made Silhouette to feature three pickups, and this top tier model featured a "hand-rubbed cherry luster finish" according to the original catalog description. Professionally setup with low, comfortable action that stays consistent up the neck, and a fresh set of 11-50 DR strings.
This Silhouette has a huge range of gold foil tones thanks to the three pickup design and on/off toggle switches for each pickup and can deliver everything from spanky twang in the bridge position to warmer, mellow jazzy tones with only the neck pickup selected. The blending of the bridge/middle and middle/neck also produce tones heard on no other Silhouette model (not to mention selecting all three pickups together). There's a certain percussive cut, jangle, and surprising kick from an original DeArmond pickup, and these Silvertone foils really deliver the goods! Although the silver diamond pickup covers are one of the notable cosmetic features of this model, the pickup still falls within the "gold foil" family, having identical construction to its assembly line brothers with gold metal inserts.
The neck has a comfortable medium C profile that borders on the chunky side and the blocked and bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard features clean, original fretwire. The frets have their full original height with well rounded crowns and only light wear in the first position (mostly in the expected spots beneath the B and G strings) and almost no wear up the neck. The stock tuning machines still work well and the gold script "Silvertone" logo is intact on the headstock.
All of the electronics work as they should, including the bank of three dished rocker switches for turning on/off each pickup. The stock CTS pots date to mid 1966, with untouched solder joints, and the underside of the nitrate tortoise pickguard is dated Feb 13th, 1967. This is the last iteration of the 1488 Silhouette, and unlike earlier models with a rosewood bridge, this guitar features a metal bridge mounted to the top with six adjustable saddles. This bridge improves intonation, top end response and vibrato action immensely over the previous version, and is also more reliable than the earlier, floating bridge! The vibrato works extremely smoothly, with a spring inside the body that provides a Bigsby-esque action, yet with a quicker response and more subtlety available from the unit, for quick flutters and surfy dives that jump back to the original pitch with ease. All four mini DeArmond amber bell knobs are also present. Cosmetically, the guitar features some honest playwear from the past 50 years, with various small nicks and dings from consistent use (mostly on the rounded body edges and back of the guitar) and a bit of buckle rash on the back. There is also some light finish wear along the laminated seam on connecting the body of the headstock to the contoured edge, but rest assured the headstock has never had any breaks or cracks, and the seam line is superficial only. There is also moderate rust on the tuning machine plate, but the gears themselves have been properly oiled and still turn as they should. Aside from a few minor cosmetic blemishes the guitar is in great shape and a nice example of this classic Harmony model!
