(The instrument above is a Silvertone Model 1421, dated 1962. It is very similar to the Harmony Model H46 – (B0373) photo courtesy Mike and Mike’s Guitar Bar, Seattle)
Silvertone was the brand name used by Sears, Roebuck & Company for its line of sound equipment and music products from about 1915 to 1972. Along with a number of other manufacturers, CMI/Harmony produced a range of instruments branded Silvertone for Sears Roebuck. DeArmond pickups were fitted in some of these instruments.mnt above is a Silvertone H44 Stratotone, 1954,
DeArmond also manufactured a number of attachable pickups branded Silvertone. These assemblies used 1 or 2 plain chrome Hershey Bar pickups, riveted to a steel bracket that enabled the pickup(s) to slide along a bar. This provided some tonal variation. The assembly also incorporated volume and tone controllers for each pickup. The catalog numbers for these two items changed over the years.
D-grille pickup:
One pickup design, referred to as the ‘D-grille” (for diamond), comprises a bar pickup with several fixing options: riveted to a pickguard, riveted to a metal bezel, woodscrew-fixed directly to an instrument’s body or through a hardwood bezel the same size as the pickup itself, manufactured in a range of heights. The metal bezel was manufactured either flat, or with dimples in a variety of heights to suit the particular instrument.
The insert in the pickup’s front face came in a silver or gold foil finish or in a range of colors.
