I picked up a cheap (as they should be) mid-60's Silvertone 1457 yesterday. It is _proper_ grimy and needs _a lot of work_, but now I can live out my Christina Billotte dreams.
She posted a photo of hers recently. It's the same one she's been playing for over 35 years. Survivor!
It’s in much better shape than I was initially worried about. The action was horrible, intonation atrocious.
It doesn’t have a truss rod, but it does have a crude neck tilt adjustment screw system. I loosened the strings and neck screws, made a couple tweaks of the neck tilt adjustment, slid the bridge around a smidge and bingo, it’s likely as playable as any 1457 ever has been.
Some fresh strings and a careful/thorough cleaning and I’m good to go.
Nate