Silvertone Aristocrat
1947 Silvertone Aristocrat
This 1947 Silvertone Aristocrat was made by Kay Musical Instrument Company. Kay produced guitars for Sears who sold them in their catalog under the Sears house brand, Silvertone. It was the first non-electrified version of the Aristocrat and was made from 1946 - 1950 immediately after the WWII.
The Aristocrat guitars evolved throughout the 1950’s as Kay made different variations of them with single and dual pickups installed. Single cutaway versions were also introduced along with changes to the neck inlays, headstock veneer and pick guard emblems over the years.
It is a full 17" jumbo archtop and while the top is solid spruce (press-arched) with tonebar bracing, the back and sides are plywood with figured-maple veneer. It has a maple neck, Brazilian rosewood fretboard and bridge, and the extra-long 25 3/4" Kay scale length. These were often referred to as the "Master" size archtop (42x17) and was the top of the line offering from Silvertone at that time.
It has binding throughout the top and bottom as well as the neck and “Split-Rectangle” inlays for the fret markers. The original pickguard and headstock are very cool with their coat of arms emblems painted to look like a celluloid inlay.
The neck on this guitar is huge! When people throw out the phrase “baseball bat neck”, this is one of the first guitars that comes to mind for me. It has a C shape with 12” radius fretboard and a bone nut with a width of 1 11/16”.
It’s really a joy to play. The guitar has amazing clarity when picking out individual notes and chords. The projection and presence is warm and full. The guitar while considered a more economical option back then, was definitely designed with the professional in mind.
This particular guitar is in excellent condition especially for a 78 year old instrument. It appears to be all original with the exception of the tuning keys. The original rounded keys dried up and crumbled apart and were replaced with modern, vintage style kluson tuners. It’s a fairly common problem for guitars this old.
The neck angle is great and has never been reset which is unusual. The need for a neck reset is pretty common when you’re dealing with vintage acoustics like this. Especially those that do not have a reinforced neck. Even higher end guitars made by Gibson and Martin often require it. Not this one! It’s also still very straight.
There are other issues that can be common with guitars like this Silvertone. Luckily this one has been able to avoid a number of them. The neck heel often will crack or break up. Also the binding on these can shrink and crumble over time. This guitar hasn’t shown signs of binding issues yet.
It’s the oldest guitar I own, a part of American history and it makes me happy that it has been so well cared for over the years. She still plays and sounds great. I currently have it set up with light gauge, flat wounds. I wouldn’t recommend using 12’s or heavier gauged strings on theses due to the non-reinforced neck and long scale. I’ve used a DeArmond Rhythm Chief 1000 floating pickup with is and it also sounds amazing plugged in.