The 714 was the
only Gretsch-built guitar that Sears ever offered.
Gretsch featured several Synchromatics around the mid-1940s, and the Model 100 (reflecting its $100 price
point?) featured standard f-holes, rather than the unique Gretsch 'teardrop'
holes.
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The 714 was a beautiful guitar, with a famously
unexpected
pedigree. It was built by Gretsch!
That's right, one of the greatest guitar makers ever actually
built a Silvertone model for Sears! Based on the 1940s
Synchromatic 100 model, the Silvertone 714 was
identical to its famous-name counterpart except for the legend on the headstock,
and even that shared the inlaid fancy script of the 'Synchromatic' model.
Sears was scrambling to get guitars into the catalog after the wartime
production restrictions of World War 2, and this rarity is the happy result.
Introduced:
Fall/Winter 1946 as the 57G0714 at $94.50
Retired: mid-1947
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