Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Some garage bands had some nice gear..like Rickenbacker guitars and VOX keys. Many did not though..so will post cheap and not so cheap vintage guitars and info...my first electric that I had and used in my band Rip Curl was a sunburst St George
The St. George brand name is associated with 2 Japanese import companies, Buegeleisen & Jacobson of New York and WMI of Los Angeles. The St. George label was used on Japanese import guitars from the mid to late 1960's.
Mine was much more basic than this one and cost me about $60...they want a bit more now for this one!
http://www.mijguitar.com/st-george-vint ... ickup-mij/

I bought a St. George once at a guitar show about ten years ago (maybe more..) for $25. The dealer was quite happy to get rid of it.

I gave it to a friend and it was in pieces last time I saw it. Horrible guitar!

St. George's were sold at the W. T. Grant Department Store in Charleston SC when I was growing up.
I was glad I took lessons, because my teacher helped me talk my parents into a Gibson Melody Maker/Skylark amp combo as my first electric rig. A year later I traded that rig in on a NOS '62 Strat and '64 Deluxe Reverb (the first sold in SC). I signed a note for the balance with my accountant Dad and paid it back with interest in less than a year.
Most of my friends started with more humble beginnings.

My St George really didn't play all that bad..not like some electrics of the time with the strings 1/2 an inch or more off the board. Retail for a Jaguar then was $475 in 1965 a princely sum my family could not afford...my reverb unit was a little better a Danelectro and I had a great amp a Magnatone

My first electric guitar was a mid 1960's Silvertone 1477 which was the same guitar as the Harmony H15 "Bobkat". I got it and an old Univox combo amp at a yard sale for $40 somewhere around 1975 or so. That little guitar KILLED! Really easy playing and the two DeArmond pickups were great for playing Rock & Roll; nearly microphonic and edgy sounding. I miss that guitar to this day! The Univox amp was very similar sounding to an old brown Fender Vibrolux and was low wattage with a single 12" speaker. It had some funky blackish, gray sparkle covering with white piping on the edges, like a Supro. After some research, I've since learned it was probably a mid '60s U-42... the magic of the internet!

This isn't my actual guitar but it looked really close to this one --

peewee wrote:My first electric guitar was a mid 1960's Silvertone 1477 which was the same guitar as the Harmony H15 "Bobkat". I got it and an old Univox combo amp at a yard sale for $40 somewhere around 1975 or so. That little guitar KILLED! Really easy playing and the two DeArmond pickups were great for playing Rock & Roll; nearly microphonic and edgy sounding. I miss that guitar to this day! The Univox amp was very similar sounding to an old brown Fender Vibrolux and was low wattage with a single 12" speaker. It had some funky blackish, gray sparkle covering with white piping on the edges, like a Supro. After some research, I've since learned it was probably a mid '60s U-42... the magic of the internet!

This isn't my actual guitar but it looked really close to this one --

When my son was about five, I gave him a single pup Bobcat..have a pic of him with it in my office...also I still have the guitar w/it's orig case as he let me keep it when I gave him an early 70's Les Paul plain top...hah! I agree though a Bobcat and a small 5-15 watt amp kills!

GARAGE EQUIPMENT! I started with a Teisco 4 pup monstrosity with huge Hammond organ-style flip switches and a TV set/entertainment center with a wet-bar

well...it WAS a Teisco......and here is my first AMP----a' la' Sears and Roebucks-----

vynesmusic wrote:GARAGE EQUIPMENT! I started with a Teisco 4 pup monstrosity with huge Hammond organ-style flip switches and a TV set/entertainment center with a wet-bar

well...it WAS a Teisco......and here is my first AMP----a' la' Sears and Roebucks-----

These Sears amps are quite sought after now days..I have a twin twelve (combo) model//instant Link,,just don't let the cab get wet..hah

kenposurf wrote:

vynesmusic wrote:GARAGE EQUIPMENT! I started with a Teisco 4 pup monstrosity with huge Hammond organ-style flip switches and a TV set/entertainment center with a wet-bar

These Sears amps are quite sought after now days..I have a twin twelve (combo) model//instant Link,,just don't let the cab get wet..hah

After the bass amp shown, I TOO, had the twin 12 Sears amp.......neither amp was any good for live gigs....ended up using the head unit as an overdrive for a Gibson Titan III amp-----AWESOME, till it BLEW UP onstage live

I would have those days again............