I've been collecting Magnatones for a couple of years, and I really like them, so I thought I'd share the informations I could gather, and hopefully hear other players's infos and opinions about them. (Especially, if someone could help me to figure out how the switches act on a Typhoon, I would be VERY interested!)
The Typhoon and Tornado are offset, the Zephyr and Hurricane are not, but I'd like to keep them all in the same post if you don't mind
Please note that whatever good I might say about them, they are NOT at the same level of quality as Fender from the era, but their price on the "made in USA" vintage market make them a good value for money.
History
Ok, let's start with facts : the Starstream serie was launched in the summer of 1965 (though Magnatone's website states end of 1964). Three people were involved in the process, including Paul Barth, who started at the National company, beeing member of John Dopyera's family, and then was a founder member of Rickenbacker. He was fisrt hired by magnatone in the late fifties, when he designed the Mark VI, then the Artist series (aka mk VII, VIII, IX and X). In the meantime in founded his own company (Barth Natural Music Guild), then in the late sixties, he founded Bartell of California.
Also involved were Tony Price and Larry Ludwick.
This was probably not a commercial success, as the production was stopped less than two years later. Not sure how many were produced, but the serial numbers appear to be sequential. The highest numbers I've seen are in the 900 for Typhoon and Tornado, and 1100 for the Zephyr. I never followed the Hurricane sales with as much interest, as I'm a guitarist, and though I like to play the bass also, one is enough for me. Anyway, mine bears the number 755. I don't pretend to be much knowledgeable on this, but I would guess without taking too much risk that less than 2000 of each model were produced.
More informations here : http://www.magnatoneamps.com/starstream.html
Materials :
The bodies were made of "appalachian poplar" as stated on Magnatone's website. They are lightweight and the fact that they are much thinner than Fender guitars adds to this. For 50 years old poplar bodies, I find they handle time much better than I would have thought. I only had an issue with a screw jumping off on one of my Typhoon, but the previous owner had the bridge's adjustment plate mounted backward, so that's probably where the issue came from.
The necks are maple with a "selected imported rosewood" fretboard. Some sellers claim it's brazilian RW, but I doubt this is the truth. Production began in the late '64 (or summer of 1965, which seems more likely according to pots codes) and one year later, Fender would stop using braz due to the lack of availability.
Beeing relatively light-colored, the fretboards look pretty similar to Rickenbacker's (though they are not finished) so I would guess they had the same supplier.
Necks :
The necks all share the fret-zero design (even the Hurricane bass). Typhoon and Tornado have a 25"5 scale length and 21 frets, while the Zephyr has a 24" scale length and 20 frets. I have seen a Zephyr for sale with a Typhoon's neck, so I would think the necks are interchangeable in the same way as 22"5 and 24" Fender necks, but I didn't try so I can't confirm for sure. I could try if someone is interested. The Hurricane has a full scale 34" neck.
The profile is a thin to medium C and I find it quite comfortable. The width is 42.5 mm at the fret-zero (1,673"). The radius is 9"5.
There's a single truss rod that is similar in design to what was used by Rickenbacker on their dual truss-rod.
24" Zephyr and 25"5 Typhoon, side by side :
Finish :
Not sure what was exactly used by Magnatone to do their finish, probably nitro, but not the same quality as Fender. It's not rare to see them really worn, with entire areas of visible bare wood. The lacquer also tends to have much more checking than I've seen on Fender's (personally I like it).
The entire Starstream series were offered in five different colors : sunburst (as about anything from the '60), white metallic (that turned yellow with age), black metallic (tends to turn to an interesting olive green), red metallic (seems to have been a kind of dakota red metallic, but tends to turn to a beautiful Fiesta red metallic), and blue metallic (not sure how it used to look new, but tends to look like OTM nowadays, though my bass is almost teal green metallic). Oddly enough, sunburst appears to be the rarest finish.
The black and white received a matching color on neck back and headstock.
I'm not really a collector, only enthousiast about those guitars, so I don't have all colors, only blue (2), red (1, or 2 with the Zephyr I attempt to restore) and white (2)
I remember having seen a black Typhoon on this website last year : http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... hp?t=34356
All finishes except sunburst were metallic, but look very different from any Fender metallic. I'm not sure what the purpose was when they choose the large metal flakes, nor how they looked at the time. For now, they often have turned to gold, and don't mix with the color very well.
Example on my white Zephyr :
Personally, I like that look, but it's probably not everyone's cup of tea.
Electronics :
The wiring is rather complicated, so I'll post a wiring diagram for each model. Pots are Stackpole, often dated 35th week of 1965 (but I've seen 24th week and 44th week also). I guess they bought a large batch when they launched the production.
Hardware :
The Typhoon and Tornado came with double line Kluson 6-on-a-plate tuners, but the entry-level Zephyr had crappy unbranded 6-on-a-plate tuners.
Tornado :
The Typhoon and Tornado's floating tremolo are one of the highlight of those guitars. Sorry for what might appear heretic, but I think I like them more than Fender's units (including vintage), though I admit they are ugly.
On the other hand, the Zephyr's tremolo unit is probably the worst I've ever seen. On mine, it went through the back of the body.
Typhoon/Tornado trem :
The bridge is the same on three models. It's an odd design and has a bad reputation, but I've never had to complain about it. It was often replaced by something else though, sometimes because people didn't like it, sometimes because it was lost during restringing.
The X-20 Typhoon
The white one is 100% original, the blue one had the upper switch and the knobs replaced. Both are missing the bridge cover. The white one sounds slightly better, the blue one has a slightly better neck, and her overall condition is better.
The Typhoon was the top of the line. It has a slightly offset body, fully radiused on the back, and three pickups : the neck and bridge pickup have adjustable screws and two rough cast bar magnets like a P90. The middle pickup has rough cast magnetic polepieces. I thought one of the polepiece was broken when I had my first Typhoon (the blue one), but I discovered later that each pickup of this design had a shorter B string polepiece, so I guess that's how magnatone used to stagger their pickups
The wiring is complicated. The upper switch selects the circuit (rhythm or lead), each of them being connected to one of the volume pots. The other switches are pickups selectors, but act in a complicated way, selecting one, two, or three pickups, sometimes out of phase, probably sometimes series, and sometimes putting capacitors in the circuit. People often say that there are 8 combination in both rhythm and lead circuits, which make for 16 different sounds. In fact, two combination are the same in each circuit, which makes only 14
I would also add that only 12 of them are usable, but that's still a very versatile guitar. Tones go from boomy to trebly. Most of them are interesting (but none of them will ever replace a JM's neck or middle position in my opinion). The thing I regret the most with the wiring is the lack of a middle pickup alone setting.
I wish I could describe accurately how the switching acts, but I'm not very skilled when it comes to electronics, so I hope someone will help me to understand the diagram (pickups wire color schemes tends to vary from one guitar to other, I used my white Typhoon to draw the diagram, pictures below are from the blue one) :
The X-15 Tornado
100% original, including the often missing bridge cover.
Same body than the Typhoon, but lacking the middle pickup. The switching allows for 8 different settings, but one of them puts both pickups off on mine. I only have one Tornado, so I'm not sure it is normal. All settings produce great sounds on this one. Of all my Magnatones, it is in fact the best sounding. I don't know if it is due to the Tornado's pickups and wiring, or if it is this particular guitar. I would tend to believe it's the model, as I read better review on it than on Typhoon and Zephyr, but I'm not sure.
Wiring diagram :
The X-10 Hurricane
100% original. I like how the blue turned to an almost teal green on this one.
The wiring is pretty straightforward on these : one pickup, one volume pot, one tone pot. Tonewise, I would say it's in the P-bass territory, though I'm not an expert bass player. One interesting (but probably not really useful ) feature, is the roller knob on the treble side of the bridge. It raises or lower a mute assembly, pretty much as found on Jaguars.
The X-05 Zephyr
The student model. There's a gap in quality. The body is even thinner, and slab on the back. The tuners, as mentioned before, are crappy, and the trem is the worst you could imagine. But… the two pickups (which are the same as found on Typhoon in the middle position) sound great, especially in the neck position, and this is a very fun and addictive guitar to play. The wiring is odd though : you get either one of the pickups alone, or both out-of-phase. Given how they sound individually, I'd really like to hear them in phase, but I'm reluctant to touch the wiring on a perfectly working vintage guitar.
Wiring diagram :
Ok, done but...
I still have this one, not technically a Magnatone, but it shares the same pickups and wiring as the Typhoon, and used to share the same bridge too. But I think this one deserves another thread (I will put it in the straight-waist board), for I have much to say, and even more to ask about it...
I hope this thread wasn't boring
