1965 Magnatone X-15 Tornado Electric Guitar – Used

The Magnatone Tornado was designed by Paul Barth (of early Rickenbacker fame) and built in Downey, CA in 1965. This one is a very lightweight guitar, owing to its fine-grained poplar body. It has an excellent vibrato system somewhat similar to a Jazzmaster trem in function.

It was refretted with jumbo frets. The original Magnatone bridges were quite problematic, so this one was refitted with a Mastery bridge. This guitar was also rewired. The mini switch situated above the neck allows you to toggle between two “modes”. The first is a fairly straight-ahead circuit that consists of master volume, master tone, and a blend pot instead of a switch for pickup selection. The second mode incorporates the two slider switches below the neck. These are wired to allow some of the quirky sounds from the original wiring scheme. The pickups are original.