airline amp in case.

[johnnyb]

I picked this one up on the saturday night of memorial day weekend. It was a late night, band practice, drunken e-bay oops. But i think i got lucky. i thought my bid would never make it, but i dont think anybody was watching, or i overpaid. the ad stated the amp didnt work, but all i needed to do was to re-seat the tubes. works fine. When i took it out of the case i thought it was a re issue or something because there wasn't a scratch on it. no belt gouges, no pick marks, zero fretwear nothing. i opened it up and it was like new on the inside, and then the tell tale clue. The original c size battery was still in there. I don't think this thing was ever played. I think the only 2 strings that were on it were also original. Just had to clean and polish it, oh and take the tuners apart, they were a little siezed, and its like brand new. Im not sure of the origins of these things. I think valco but ???. and if anyone knows how to date the pots on these it would be helpful.







Original power tube


The battery

[johnnyb]

well, i just found this site for dating pots. its very helpful.
http://www.guitardaterproject.org/potcodereader.aspx

[Michael Ambrose]

I've seen these around... DiPinto had a rebuilt amp-case (sans guitar) for a while... and I myself had a lower-end model for a while...

buuuuut...

Woah, woah, woah... hang on a sec there!!...

What in the world does the C-battery do?!?!?

I had a plain 'ol single-pickup/single-cut guitar come with my amp case... but it was the simplest wiring you could imagine (save for a tone-cut selector)...

...what in the world is that C battery powering?!?!?? On board tremolo or something?

[johnnyb]

yeah, that red switch on the front is a manual tremolo. very primitive, its just a flat piece of metal that opens and closes a circuit controlling a drop in volume. requires a whole new technique. kinda cool though, i thought it would be in the way but its not.

[VintAxe]

Wow, I think you got lucky too johnnyb.

I have an Airline similar to yours but nowhere near the condition.



The bridge on mine obviously got lost somewhere along the way and someone has replaced it with a Teisco bridge. Yours looks original.

Mine also has the brass pup covers but the brass has tarnished to black.

The electronics setup on mine appears identical to yours. Check the battery holder on yours johnnyb. Mine is stamped No. 173, REYSTONE ELECTRONICS.

And speaking of batteries, I ran across this battery advert for Burgess from a 1952 magazine. Apparently, these batteries are known as "zebra" batteries among those that care about such things.



As for dating the guitar, let me know what you learn from the pot codes. I know these amp in case instruments were made from around 1963 up to 1968 or so. Unfortunately, the Airline version doesn't appear in any of the Wards catalogs I have seen. Given the built in tremolo, I'm thinking our instruments were likely sold in the later 1960's.

[VintAxe]

Oooh, and I think they are definitely Valco.

Here is a picture of the Supro 1507 that appears in the 1962 and 1963 catalogs. Looks to me like the body and neck are a match to the Airline.

Also, the tailpiece, bridge and tuners look close to a match. It makes me wonder about the tailpiece on my Airline. It looks original but .........

Also makes me wonder if I'm wrong about the later 60's deduction. It makes more sense that they would supply Wards with these guitars while they were producing these 1507 Supros or shortly after they were discontinued in 1964.

[Spud1950]

Here's a little more info.Says its a model 7214,early 1960s.Also some info on the amp.





Different model, but here's another Airline amp in the case guitar.

[johnnyb]

pot# 304-6420 came up that it was manufactured by Stackpole electronics inc. in the 20th week of 1964. i also noticed a serial # on the back of the headstock that reads G16857 which ill check out further. Thanks steve for the info, i tried to research the battery but came up with very little besides the guy who started the company. couldnt find when they folded. this guitar is a blast to play, ive never had a short scale before. all the girls think its cute. Through the amp case it actually sounds pretty good, but through my rig it sounds great. I can overdrive the heck out of it and keep the feedback in check. here is the case/amp.

[VintAxe]

Mine's got the exact same case johnnyb. A 1964 date looks to be about right.

[cheepaxes]

Steve, the tailpiece on yours looks more like the one on my '73-ish ES-175 than anything I would have expected to find on an Airline.

-Scott

[jeff mercer]

[sneakypete]

[jeff mercer]

Oops...just for the sake of accuracy, the ES-175-bodied National/Valcos' were called the "Bell Aire" , not the "Debonaire"...

( I was sorta on the right track....:0)

[nearly.a.musician]

I picked up this guitar second hand, played very well for a guitar at least 40 years old. Couldn't really find out what it was, untill I stumbled on a picture of one of these... The Airline logo is missing on mine (will probably get a new one), and a Supro logo is fitted on the headstock.

Somewhere along the road the guitar had a refinish, my bet is that the shop fitted on a Supro logo (because it does look like those super models). It has the 3 holes for the logo on the pickguard (will buy a new logo I think), the same electronics as above... Plays great though... You guys still have 'em? (do you mind sharing what you've paid for them? Hard to guess for a value on this one...)

But anyhow, it's hard to find a guitar like this in Belgium, the previous owner bought it in the states. I hope I can find an original amp in case, and someone willing to ship international. Oh and Johnny, you got lucky for sure, that guitar looks like brand new!!! I couldn't even find pictures of other guitars like this untill I found this thread, so you really must be lucky... Here's a picture of mine though...

[guitarist09]

very nice guitar! it looks so vintage!
Lucky to have that! Congrats