Of course, if you can’t find a Valco model or your budget calls for a less expensive instrument, there are still plenty of Eastwood Airline guitars around. Today, these guitars sell anywhere from $1500 to $3000 thanks to guitarists like JB Hutto and Jack White. The price for a Valco Airline guitar in 1964 was $99. A narrow piece of maple runs down the middle of the body to anchor the. The red plastic guitar body is made of two pieces called Res-O-Glas, a type of fiberglass. He describes his guitar as a hollow piece of plastic. As part of The White Stripes, White played his Airline for nearly 10 years. The original Valco Airline guitars were made in the US Eastwood Guitars’ Airline models are made in South Korea and China. Others may have referred to the guitar as the Montgomery Airline or JB Hutto Montgomery Airline. There are some slight cosmetic differences, such as the greenish tuning pegs on the headstock as well a more Gibson-style inlay design.
![1964 jb hutto montgomery airline guitar 1964 jb hutto montgomery airline guitar](https://images.offerup.com/UiUs9iELQhWUYqETFdyVQDecJKI=/250x333/67b3/67b36b93e8a943d19fe41bcf6c4e94bb.jpg)
These models have an adjustable truss rod, mahogany body (as opposed to the Res-O-Glas) and two humbuckers. While the pickups were made to look like large humbuckers, they are actually single coils that churn out a round and chimey sound."Įastwood Guitars acquired the rights to the Airline name and have been producing their own models since 2001. The volume and tone controls are above each pickup, next to the selector switch. Each pickup has a dedicated volume and tone control, but a master volume control sits next to the input jack. The controls are a bit puzzling for some players. Quirkier still, the guitar only had 20 frets.
![1964 jb hutto montgomery airline guitar 1964 jb hutto montgomery airline guitar](https://www.guitarrepairbench.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/jack-white-guitar.jpg)
The Valco Airlines didn’t have a truss rod instead, the neck was kept sturdy with reinforced steel.
![1964 jb hutto montgomery airline guitar 1964 jb hutto montgomery airline guitar](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0080/2930/6939/products/1960AirlineJetson-Detail09_300x300.jpg)
A narrow piece of maple runs down the middle of the body to anchor the neck, pickups and tailpiece. Hutto who was the first and most visible musician to regularly use this guitar in live performances and recordings. He describes his guitar as a "hollow piece of plastic." The red plastic guitar body is made of two pieces called Res-O-Glas, a type of fiberglass. The red 1965 Airline model illustrated here is referred to as the ‘JB Hutto’ model after the bluesman and slide guitar artist J.