Oak Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, most likely made by Harmony (1920s)
LOADING IMAGES
This item has been sold.
Item # 11707
Prices subject to change without notice.
Oak Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, most likely made by Harmony (1920s), probably Chicago, dark cherry lacquer finish, oak back and sides, spruce top; poplar neck with ebonized fingerboard, black hard shell case.
"When a Git-tar player the Blues" about 100 years ago it usually looked pretty much like this one! This 12 5/8" wide "standard" size model is typical of thousands of "catalog" guitar sold by jobbers, retailers, and mail order houses like Sears, Roebuck & Co. all over the US in the first quarter of the 20th century. While the Stella-branded guitars made and sold by Oscar Schmidt company of Jersey City are the most celebrated, there are many variations on this theme by a number of manufacturers.
This particular guitar is almost certainly Chicago made, with the single canted top brace below the soundhole typical of many of the city's anonymous products. This is a fairly typical instrument of its type with half-herringbone wood marquetry around the top and soundhole and celluloid binding top. The back and sides are made of oak, an unusual choice today but not uncommon I this period. The center of the back has an inlaid line colored wood backstrip. The neck is poplar; the fingerboard genuine rosewood with better quality fretwork than many of these instruments. This is an original steel-string instrument with a tailpiece and floating bridge.
The instrument has is no visible brand name or markings, just the scraps of a torn label under ther soundhole. It is most likely a product of the original Sears-owned Harmony company or possibly a lower grade Lyon & Healy. Like the more famous Stella guitars it offers a dry, woody sound often characteristically associated with early country blues 78 RPM recordings. This is the sort of guitar commonly seen in period pictures of country and blues artists from the 1920's, and is VERY similar to the famous instrument pictured with Blind Lemon Jefferson in the much-reproduced Paramount catalog photograph.
Overall length is 37 in. (94 cm.), 12 5/8 in. (32.1 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 1/4 in. (616 mm.). Width of nut is 1 13/16 in. (46 mm.).
For its age and type this guitar is less worn than many and remains in very good playing condition. The finish shows general wear and tear but the top is almost entirely free of the common strumwear. The back of the neck is worn to the wood inn the lower positions and along the spine. The top is crack free, there is a long repaired back crack along the center seam. The guitar has had a neck set and some beneficial fretwork, the tuners appear period but not original to this guitar. Overall this is a nice playing and supremely authentic instrument for early fingerstyle blues and similar styles, and a neat little knockaround guitar for any style. It resides in what appears to be an original chipboard case. Overall Very Good + Condition.
"When a Git-tar player the Blues" about 100 years ago it usually looked pretty much like this one! This 12 5/8" wide "standard" size model is typical of thousands of "catalog" guitar sold by jobbers, retailers, and mail order houses like Sears, Roebuck & Co. all over the US in the first quarter of the 20th century. While the Stella-branded guitars made and sold by Oscar Schmidt company of Jersey City are the most celebrated, there are many variations on this theme by a number of manufacturers.
This particular guitar is almost certainly Chicago made, with the single canted top brace below the soundhole typical of many of the city's anonymous products. This is a fairly typical instrument of its type with half-herringbone wood marquetry around the top and soundhole and celluloid binding top. The back and sides are made of oak, an unusual choice today but not uncommon I this period. The center of the back has an inlaid line colored wood backstrip. The neck is poplar; the fingerboard genuine rosewood with better quality fretwork than many of these instruments. This is an original steel-string instrument with a tailpiece and floating bridge.
The instrument has is no visible brand name or markings, just the scraps of a torn label under ther soundhole. It is most likely a product of the original Sears-owned Harmony company or possibly a lower grade Lyon & Healy. Like the more famous Stella guitars it offers a dry, woody sound often characteristically associated with early country blues 78 RPM recordings. This is the sort of guitar commonly seen in period pictures of country and blues artists from the 1920's, and is VERY similar to the famous instrument pictured with Blind Lemon Jefferson in the much-reproduced Paramount catalog photograph.
Overall length is 37 in. (94 cm.), 12 5/8 in. (32.1 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 1/4 in. (616 mm.). Width of nut is 1 13/16 in. (46 mm.).
For its age and type this guitar is less worn than many and remains in very good playing condition. The finish shows general wear and tear but the top is almost entirely free of the common strumwear. The back of the neck is worn to the wood inn the lower positions and along the spine. The top is crack free, there is a long repaired back crack along the center seam. The guitar has had a neck set and some beneficial fretwork, the tuners appear period but not original to this guitar. Overall this is a nice playing and supremely authentic instrument for early fingerstyle blues and similar styles, and a neat little knockaround guitar for any style. It resides in what appears to be an original chipboard case. Overall Very Good + Condition.