The Magnatone Model X-20 Typhoon was Magnatone's top of the line guitar when made in the mid '60's. The guitar has three single coil pickups and three controls, with four slide switches mounted on a three layer plastic pickguard, and 21 frets on a 25.5 inch scale. The neck is bolt-on lacquered maple with a rosewood fretboard and clay dots, and the body is poplar with a thin metallic blue finish, which is not quite a metalflake. The body shape is a fairly typical offset double cutaway, but the body edges are fully radiused, and the body tapers to about half thickness at the top edge where your arm rests.

Although this sounds a lot like a Strat clone, the Typhoon is a very different instrument when you look closer. Probably closer to a Fender Jaguar, though I'm not that familiar with the Jags features. The vibrato tailpiece is just that, vibrato only, no dive bombing possible, with a modest up and down range. The tailpiece has a unique "Lever Lock" feature, which locks the arm when it is rotated to within a certain range, although it takes some very careful set up to make sure that the lock position is exactly in tune with neutral.

The bridge is a set of six individually adjustable round bars in a shallow U-shaped cradle with a blade extending into the guitar body. The blade rests in a V-shaped support which can be raised or lowered by four screws, leaving the bridge free to rock forward or back with the strings as the tremolo alters the tension. No friction, but the entire assembly is free to come off the guitar when the strings are removed. Many of the Typhoons still around have suffered the loss of the original bridge parts because of this, and almost all are missing the cover which snaps onto the bridge assembly. If these parts are lost, all kinds of bad and ugly things can get put in instead.

The tuning keys are quality Kluson "Six-In-Line" machines with chrome buttons, and the nut is a "Zero Fret" with a metal retaining bar just above it. A thin plastic panel covers the truss rod adjustment above the nut, and a black decal on the headstock says "Magnatone Typhoon".

Where the Typhoon really stands out is in the sophisticated use of passive electronics to create a truly astonishing range of tones.
The three controls are Volume, Volume, and Tone instead of Volume, Tone, and Tone like a Strat, and instead of a three (or five) position lever switch, the Typhoon has three two position slide switches below the strings, and another on the upper horn. The switch on the horn selects which of the two Volume controls is active, and also significantly affects the tone, kind of like the "Lead" and Rhythm" switch positions on a Les Paul. The three switches below the pickups are not simple "On and Off" controls, but select one, two, or three pickups in and out of phase, in series and in parallel, and also adds in some capacitors to darken or brighten the sound depending on the switch settings.

With eight settings possible on the three switches, and two flavors of these eight from the upper switch, the Typhoon has about sixteen different tone settings on tap. For those with a gentle touch, you can park the upper switch in between the normal positions, just like the lever switch on an old Strat, and get another eight tones with both of the volume knobs active for balancing them. That's 24 tone settings without even touching the Tone control. And only two or three of the switch settings result in tones which aren't very distinctive from all of the others. Quite an accomplishment for a forty year old instrument.

Original Magnatone black hardshell shaped case with dark orange plush lining (9.25). Three tiny chips on the back and a few small chips on the edges.