Supertone

Supertone

Also known as: Sears Supertone, Supertone (Sears)

Unclaimed

Supertone was the house instrument brand of Sears, Roebuck and Co., used on guitars, mandolins, banjos, and ukuleles sold through the Sears catalog from roughly 1914 until around 1940. After Sears purchased the Harmony Musical Instrument Company of Chicago in 1916, Harmony became the primary manufacturer behind the label, though instruments badged Supertone were also sourced from other Chicago-...

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Supertone was the house instrument brand of Sears, Roebuck and Co., used on guitars, mandolins, banjos, and ukuleles sold through the Sears catalog from roughly 1914 until around 1940. After Sears purchased the Harmony Musical Instrument Company of Chicago in 1916, Harmony became the primary manufacturer behind the label, though instruments badged Supertone were also sourced from other Chicago-area builders such as Oscar Schmidt and Regal during the brand's run.

Most surviving Supertone instruments are small-bodied parlor guitars and entry-level archtops aimed at the mail-order market of the 1920s and 1930s, with stenciled tops and modest hardware. The most collectible model is the 1935 Supertone Gene Autry "Round-Up" guitar, a Harmony-built flat-top decorated with a cowboy-and-cactus scene and Autry's signature, which helped popularize the cowboy-themed acoustic of the era.

The Supertone name was phased out at the end of the 1930s as Sears consolidated its instrument lines under the Silvertone brand, and Harmony itself was sold back to its management in 1940. Original Supertone instruments now circulate primarily on the vintage market, valued for their pre-war Harmony construction rather than as part of any active product line.

Supertone has 2 products cataloged on Equipboard, including Vocal Processing Plugins.

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