Washington Model B-330 Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1925)
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Item #9983
Washington Model B-330 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, c. 1925, made in Chicago, natural varnish finish, mahogany back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with ebonized fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case.
"Washington" is one of those fairly generic brand names that dot the American musical instrument landscape of the pre-depression age. In late 19th and early 20th centuries this was a trademark brand used by J.W. Jenkins Sons of Kansas City, one of the west's biggest jobbers for good quality but not high-end instruments. The "Harwood" brand was their premium line and actually built in-house; the Washington offerings were mostly sourced from the standard Chicago makers as most Jobber lines were in the 1910s and '20s.
This beautiful guitar is just about the nicest Washington brand instrument we have encountered. It was called (for reasons lost to history) the Model B-330 and was one of the highest grade guitars Jenkins offered in their house lines beneath the expensive pro-grade Harwoods. The B-330 was listed in Jenkins' catalogs from around the mid-1910's well up into the 1920s; by then it was the best of that lot. The list price in 1918 was $22.00; in 1923 it was raised to $22.50! For an extra 75 cents a nut raiser would be provided for Hawaiian-style use. While not pricey by Martin standards that was still a decent amount of money for a guitar at the time.
The Model B-330 was described as "Concert size, finest San Domingo mahogany back and sides, white spruce top, genuine mahogany neck, head rosewood veneered and bound with imitation ivory...top bound with ivory celluloid and inlaid with very handsome colored wood marquetry, artistic design...pearl star inlaid in head, pearl ornaments inlaid in fingerboard...strictly hand made...a more beautiful instrument would be hard to find." For $22.00 they may have been right there!
The headstock has a colorful "Washington" decal and a large blue label under the soundhole announces "The Genuine WASHINGTON fully warranted". Jenkins actually failed to mention one of the guitar's most charming and distinctive features, a mandolin-like pickguard inlaid into the top under the strings with vine and pearl dot accents. This was not a common guitar ornament but does show up occasionally in the 1910's and always adds a classy air to the proceedings.
A single catalog illustration of the Model B-330 was used for years and appears to show an instrument originally built by Oscar Schmidt in Jersey City. This example has some cosmetic variations from that and was almost certainly built in Chicago in the early-mid 1920's, possibly by the Groeshel/Stromberg-Voisinet operation. It is a neatly made instrument, with a relatively thin and responsive ladder braced top, ebony bridge and fairly slim V-profile neck. The workmanship overall is neat (neater than Schmidt, at least) and the guitar plays and handles well with silk-and-steel strings. This is a lovely little guitar, elegant to look at and a neat piece of playable history; a distinctive 1920s offering with an easier-to-trace history than many of these jobber instruments.
Overall length is 36 3/4 in. (93.3 cm.), 12 13/16 in. (32.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 in. (10.2 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 1/4 in. (616 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This guitar is in fine overall condition showing only very light wear and some well-executed repairs for something like 100 years on the planet. The original thin varnish is largely intact showing light crazing throughout. There are a few well-executed older repairs, most notably a sealed and cleated top crack on the bass side in between the soundhole and the innermost curve of the waist. The varnish is polished out in this area. The bass side rim has a resealed pair of adjacent cracks that run about seven inches from the waist to the apex of the lower bout. These are also cleanly sealed, touched up and lightly polished over.
The neck has been reset, the original bridge has been neatly lowered a bit and a new bone saddle added. The original bridge plate and interior ladder bracing are in tact with no signs of repair. The tuners, bridge pins and endpin are all original. This is a very good playing guitar with a sweet sound; due to the fairly minimal bracing we would only recommend using silk & steel strings. It still has plenty of volume and is a very classy little guitar, a nice survivor 100 or so years on. Excellent - Condition.
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"Washington" is one of those fairly generic brand names that dot the American musical instrument landscape of the pre-depression age. In late 19th and early 20th centuries this was a trademark brand used by J.W. Jenkins Sons of Kansas City, one of the west's biggest jobbers for good quality but not high-end instruments. The "Harwood" brand was their premium line and actually built in-house; the Washington offerings were mostly sourced from the standard Chicago makers as most Jobber lines were in the 1910s and '20s.
This beautiful guitar is just about the nicest Washington brand instrument we have encountered. It was called (for reasons lost to history) the Model B-330 and was one of the highest grade guitars Jenkins offered in their house lines beneath the expensive pro-grade Harwoods. The B-330 was listed in Jenkins' catalogs from around the mid-1910's well up into the 1920s; by then it was the best of that lot. The list price in 1918 was $22.00; in 1923 it was raised to $22.50! For an extra 75 cents a nut raiser would be provided for Hawaiian-style use. While not pricey by Martin standards that was still a decent amount of money for a guitar at the time.
The Model B-330 was described as "Concert size, finest San Domingo mahogany back and sides, white spruce top, genuine mahogany neck, head rosewood veneered and bound with imitation ivory...top bound with ivory celluloid and inlaid with very handsome colored wood marquetry, artistic design...pearl star inlaid in head, pearl ornaments inlaid in fingerboard...strictly hand made...a more beautiful instrument would be hard to find." For $22.00 they may have been right there!
The headstock has a colorful "Washington" decal and a large blue label under the soundhole announces "The Genuine WASHINGTON fully warranted". Jenkins actually failed to mention one of the guitar's most charming and distinctive features, a mandolin-like pickguard inlaid into the top under the strings with vine and pearl dot accents. This was not a common guitar ornament but does show up occasionally in the 1910's and always adds a classy air to the proceedings.
A single catalog illustration of the Model B-330 was used for years and appears to show an instrument originally built by Oscar Schmidt in Jersey City. This example has some cosmetic variations from that and was almost certainly built in Chicago in the early-mid 1920's, possibly by the Groeshel/Stromberg-Voisinet operation. It is a neatly made instrument, with a relatively thin and responsive ladder braced top, ebony bridge and fairly slim V-profile neck. The workmanship overall is neat (neater than Schmidt, at least) and the guitar plays and handles well with silk-and-steel strings. This is a lovely little guitar, elegant to look at and a neat piece of playable history; a distinctive 1920s offering with an easier-to-trace history than many of these jobber instruments.
Overall length is 36 3/4 in. (93.3 cm.), 12 13/16 in. (32.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 in. (10.2 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 1/4 in. (616 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This guitar is in fine overall condition showing only very light wear and some well-executed repairs for something like 100 years on the planet. The original thin varnish is largely intact showing light crazing throughout. There are a few well-executed older repairs, most notably a sealed and cleated top crack on the bass side in between the soundhole and the innermost curve of the waist. The varnish is polished out in this area. The bass side rim has a resealed pair of adjacent cracks that run about seven inches from the waist to the apex of the lower bout. These are also cleanly sealed, touched up and lightly polished over.
The neck has been reset, the original bridge has been neatly lowered a bit and a new bone saddle added. The original bridge plate and interior ladder bracing are in tact with no signs of repair. The tuners, bridge pins and endpin are all original. This is a very good playing guitar with a sweet sound; due to the fairly minimal bracing we would only recommend using silk & steel strings. It still has plenty of volume and is a very classy little guitar, a nice survivor 100 or so years on. Excellent - Condition.
