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Silvertone Electric-Acoustic Guitar, used by Jesse Fuller

National Museum of American History

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Object Details

Fuller, Jesse
Description (Brief)

This electric-acoustic guitar was made for Sears around 1962 by companies like Danelectro and Harmony. Silvertone guitars were popular because of their solid construction and inexpensive pricing.

This guitar was owned and played by Jesse Fuller (1896-1976), a one-man-band folk and blues singer from the San Francisco Bay area who accompanied his guitar-playing with singing, harmonica, percussion, and a foot-operated bass instrument called a fotdella. Fuller played guitar as a child but didn’t become a professional musician until the early 1950s. As a songwriter, Fuller is best known for his songs, “San Francisco Bay Blues” and “Beat It on Down the Line.”

Jesse Fuller purchased this Silvertone guitar in 1962, from a Detroit Sears, after his original Maurer guitar was stolen and he needed another guitar to be able to make his playing engagement that evening.

Credit Line
Gift of Alice Robinson
ca 1962
ca 1962
ID Number
1994.0053.01
accession number
1994.0053
catalog number
1994.0053.01
Object Name
guitar
Physical Description
wood (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 107 cm x 40 cm x 10 cm; 42 1/8 in x 15 3/4 in x 3 15/16 in
Place Made
United States
See more items in
Cultural and Community Life: Musical Instruments
Artifact Walls exhibit
Music & Musical Instruments
Popular Entertainment
Exhibition
Sounding American Music
Exhibition Location
National Museum of American History
National Museum of American History
subject
African American
Record ID
nmah_607587
Usage of Metadata (Object Detail Text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a4-449b-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

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Silvertone electric acoustic guitar
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