If you look at
Sears' electric guitar
catalog pages for 1968, you can see a big change has come to the line: the Spring/Summer catalog has a few Danos still offered, as well as some Kay and
Harmony models holding over from the mid-60s. Fall/Winter '68, and it's a whole
new game. Danelectros; sadly gone, the 1405 and its accompanying family hold
down the solidbody end, while a mishmash of hollowbodies add a bit of variety to
the line. Something was gone, though... the style, the cool, the mojo... these
new guitars were functional... but not nearly as cool.
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The 1405 was made by our friends at Teisco, and was
about as basic an electric guitar as you could get. A vaguely Strat-shaped body
with a little Mosrite thrown in, a straight bridge with some up/down adjustment,
and a single pickup with volume and tone. And something else; the words 'Made In
Japan' on the neckplate of this and the entire solidbody family now offered from
Sears. At least these still said 'Silvertone' on 'em. Of course, the
'Space Dot'
logo emblems weren't far away...
Introduced:
Fall/Winter 1968 at $29.50
as the 57H1405L
Retired:
Spring/Summer 1970 at $29.50
as the 57K1405L