Bacon & Day 12 Fret Jumbo Flat Top Acoustic Guitar , c. 1932
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Item # 3101
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Bacon & Day 12 Fret Jumbo Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, c. 1932, made in Groton CT, sunburst top, natural back and sides finish, spruce top, mahogany back, sides and neck, black hard shell case.
This B&D flat top is a very rare guitar, with some unusual features. The combination of a 12-fret neck, slotted head and very large 16" body is typically seen only in the early 1930's when guitar design was in a period of transition. The Bacon Banjo Company was then casting about for new ideas, facing a lingering depression and a seriously declining market for banjos. While this guitar itself was almost certainly made by Regal in Chicago, the decorative touches (particularly the rhinestones) are pure B&D. Bacon & Day instruments were always top quality and this guitar ranks with the best Chicago-made guitars of the era.
Although the Bacon company built many of the finest (and most expensive) banjos of the 1920's, they had no experience, or apparent interest, in building guitars. They had dabbled with ukuleles and mandolins in the early 1920's and had even sold a few Martin guitars with a Bacon stamp, but in the main had been able to prosper with a banjo-only line.
When the high-end banjo market collapsed in the early 1930's, Fred Bacon and David Day, both older men with decades of experience in the music business, took the expedient route and contracted with outside makers to supply them with guitars that could be finished off as "B&D's". While similar to other Regal-built instruments, including the Tonk Bros. Washburn line, these "B&D" guitars are always distinctively appointed, and also the best that could be had.
This guitar is fairly plainly appointed but very well made, and definitely built for sound. The top is X-braced, and the 16" body is larger than even the Martin Dreadnought guitar that was just beginning to be marketed in the early 1930's; this Bacon is certainly aimed at the same market. The scale is very long at 26", putting it in a class with some larger Stella guitars and making for a very powerful sound. The shaded sunburst spruce top and soundhole are quadruple bound, but the neck is unbound with plain dot inlay. The tuners are the same simple flat-plate strips seen on early Gibson budget guitars from the Depression era, but with grained ivoroid buttons.
Overall length is 40 1/2 in. (102.9 cm.), 16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 26 in. (660 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
Recent pro neck set and refret. Added/replaced finger braces. The guitar has had quite a few repairs but is exceedingly playable with tremendous projection, tone, and sonority. Very Good + Condition.
This B&D flat top is a very rare guitar, with some unusual features. The combination of a 12-fret neck, slotted head and very large 16" body is typically seen only in the early 1930's when guitar design was in a period of transition. The Bacon Banjo Company was then casting about for new ideas, facing a lingering depression and a seriously declining market for banjos. While this guitar itself was almost certainly made by Regal in Chicago, the decorative touches (particularly the rhinestones) are pure B&D. Bacon & Day instruments were always top quality and this guitar ranks with the best Chicago-made guitars of the era.
Although the Bacon company built many of the finest (and most expensive) banjos of the 1920's, they had no experience, or apparent interest, in building guitars. They had dabbled with ukuleles and mandolins in the early 1920's and had even sold a few Martin guitars with a Bacon stamp, but in the main had been able to prosper with a banjo-only line.
When the high-end banjo market collapsed in the early 1930's, Fred Bacon and David Day, both older men with decades of experience in the music business, took the expedient route and contracted with outside makers to supply them with guitars that could be finished off as "B&D's". While similar to other Regal-built instruments, including the Tonk Bros. Washburn line, these "B&D" guitars are always distinctively appointed, and also the best that could be had.
This guitar is fairly plainly appointed but very well made, and definitely built for sound. The top is X-braced, and the 16" body is larger than even the Martin Dreadnought guitar that was just beginning to be marketed in the early 1930's; this Bacon is certainly aimed at the same market. The scale is very long at 26", putting it in a class with some larger Stella guitars and making for a very powerful sound. The shaded sunburst spruce top and soundhole are quadruple bound, but the neck is unbound with plain dot inlay. The tuners are the same simple flat-plate strips seen on early Gibson budget guitars from the Depression era, but with grained ivoroid buttons.
Overall length is 40 1/2 in. (102.9 cm.), 16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 26 in. (660 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
Recent pro neck set and refret. Added/replaced finger braces. The guitar has had quite a few repairs but is exceedingly playable with tremendous projection, tone, and sonority. Very Good + Condition.