This is a 1935 Ward 1242 (Ward's catalog number, it doesn't have a model name.) and, at $42.50, was the top Ward's acoustic guitar. (There was a fancy $55 metalbody Regal Dobro, but it was more only because it wasn't discounted anywhere near what the 1242 was; retail on it, as a Regal M-14, was $67.50.) It was made for Ward's by Gibson, and was structurally identical to the top of the line $100 Gibson-built Cromwell G-8, (Cromwell was a Gibson house brand designed to be sold by wholesalers to non-Gibson dealers.) with a carved spruce top, carved mahogany back, mahogany sides and neck and Grover Sta-tite tuners. It differed from the Cromwell G-8 in having a different inlay pattern, and a firestripe celluloid pickguard with a simple angle bracket, like other Gibson contract guitars. The Cromwell G-8 had a standard Gibson pickguard and fancy Gibson bracket. On the other hand, this had a bound peghead, which the Cromwell lacked. Both had standard Gibson trapeze tailpieces and non-adjustable truss rods in the neck - a standard Gibson truss rod put in backwards, with the anchor at the peghead and the adjustment nut sunk into the dovetail tenon on the heel; the tension on the rod was adjusted before the neck was glued in. An unusual feature of this guitar, the G-8, and later high-end Gibson/Ward's archtops was the deeper body; standard Gibson archtops had 3" deep sides; these are 4" deep. The deeper body depth, coupled with the mahogany sides and carved back, gives this guitar and the G-8 a unique tone; unlike the "chunk, chunk" of a typical maple archtop, these have a bassier, richer "CHOONK!" sound.
The FON (factory order number, Gibson batch number) on this guitar is 40 A 9; according to the Gibson shipping ledgers, it appears to have been the first one shipped, going out with a group of one each of every instrument Gibson was producing for Ward's for the Fall/Winter Fall/Winter 1935/36 catalog. It was shipped from Gibson to Montgomery Ward, Chicago on July 2, 1935; later the same day, several other 1242s from the same batch were also shipped to Chicago.
The 1242 remained in the Spring/Summer 1936 catalog, with the price lowered slightly to $39.95. In the Fall/Winter 1936/37 catalog it was replaced by the 1285, a similar guitar but with curly maple sides and laminated, not carved, back and checkerboard purfling around the top, and the "WARD" inlay replaced by a blank pearl rectangle. In F/W 1937/38 this guitar was given new inlays (the fan inlays moved to the cheaper 1123) and became the 1124; for the S/S '38 catalog, it's catalog number remained the same, but it now had a model name, the top of the line Recording King Model M-5.
There were probably not more than 100-125 of them made, at most.
The FON (factory order number, Gibson batch number) on this guitar is 40 A 9; according to the Gibson shipping ledgers, it appears to have been the first one shipped, going out with a group of one each of every instrument Gibson was producing for Ward's for the Fall/Winter Fall/Winter 1935/36 catalog. It was shipped from Gibson to Montgomery Ward, Chicago on July 2, 1935; later the same day, several other 1242s from the same batch were also shipped to Chicago.
The 1242 remained in the Spring/Summer 1936 catalog, with the price lowered slightly to $39.95. In the Fall/Winter 1936/37 catalog it was replaced by the 1285, a similar guitar but with curly maple sides and laminated, not carved, back and checkerboard purfling around the top, and the "WARD" inlay replaced by a blank pearl rectangle. In F/W 1937/38 this guitar was given new inlays (the fan inlays moved to the cheaper 1123) and became the 1124; for the S/S '38 catalog, it's catalog number remained the same, but it now had a model name, the top of the line Recording King Model M-5.
There were probably not more than 100-125 of them made, at most.