Originally Posted By: Jim Fogle
Sears use to purchase their guitars and amplifiers from top of the line off brand manufacturers like Kay, Harmony and Danelectro. You could purchase some really good instruments from Sears in the sixties.




I don't, and would not refer to Kay, Harmony, and Danelectro as "top of the line" guitars. Off brand certainly, marginal beginner's guitars*, but no where close to TOTL. I had a Harmony guitar before I purchased my Gibson, so I know first hand about them. Moving from the Harmony to the Gibson, I could not believe how much easier the Gibson was to play and how much better it sounded.

I had a Harmony guitar as a teen. It was the second guitar I owned. The first one was a Woolworth's $25 guitar. After playing with it for a year, I convinced my mom I needed a better guitar and I had my eye on a new shiny Harmony with a $99 price tag in a music store. I got that guitar for my birthday as I recall. While it was better than the Woolworth guitar, a few years later I bought my Gibson SG from a fellow for a couple hundred bucks. Around 1971 or so. The Gibson made the Harmony sound and play like a piece of junk. Seriously, there is no comparison to a good quality, well made guitar like a Gibson or a Fender.

A friend had a solid state Silvertone amp. I believe that was a Sears brand at the time. Like any bunch of kids in the 60's trying to get a "band" together..... we used that amp for the whole band....and PA. 2 channels and 2 inputs on each.... 2 guitars, one bass, and a high impedance mic. We were in high cotton as the saying goes.

* when people ask me to recommend a guitar for their kid who is wanting to learn to play guitar, I always recommend buying a good quality, perhaps a second hand name brand guitar. Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Ovation, Martin, Taylor etc.... I recommend these brands because they are well made and therefore, sound better, are easier to play, and if the kid decides 6 months later it's not his/her thing, the guitar can be resold for the initial investment cost, especially if it was bought at a discount second hand and it's still in good condition.

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 02/20/17 03:11 AM.
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