National Sears & Roebuck Duolian Model Resophonic Guitar (1931), made in Los Angeles, serial # R 49, green crinkle enamel finish, steel body, mahogany neck with composite fingerboard, black chipboard case.
This is a fairly rare National, sold not by the company's usual jobbers but directly to the public by the country's greatest catalog merchant Sears, Roebuck & Co. In the most severe year of the great Depression, any sale was a good sale and National contracted with Sears to manufacture these instruments for them at a special lower price. The guitar is identical to National's lowest-end metalbody instrument, the Duolian, except the coverplate has fewer holes in a simpler pattern and there are no headstock markings except an "R" series (for Roebuck!) serial number and patent marking on the top edge. The neck is natural finish mahogany with an 'ersatz ebony' composite fingerboard and is slimmer than many period National necks with a subtle "U" contour. The fingerboard dots are grained ivoroid plastic instead of pearl, and the board is unbound. The finish is the standard Duolian green crinkle with a lot of patterning in the paint.
These proprietary guitars sold in the Sears & Roebuck catalog for $29.00 (plus freight!) while a regular Duolian retailed in stores at $32.50, and thus were a great value for Sears' customers. The documented serial numbers suggest that around 600 or so of this model were sold over a fairly short period, compared to literally thousands of National-branded Duolians. This guitar is marked"R 49" and thus is one of the first 50 made. This excellent example is both an interesting rarity and a great-sounding steel body National.
Overall length is 38 5/8 in. (98.1 cm.), 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 25 in. (635 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.). Nicely original overall; appears nothing has been changed except the original ebony nut has been replaced with bone and the frets have been smoothed down with a G&P. Some general wear and scratching to the finish overall; there are 6 shallow drill marks in the headstock face-it looks like someone mounted Rhinestones there ay some point, or intended to! A fine example of a rare National and an excellent player with quite a powerful punchy sound Excellent - Condition.
