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musical instrument details

1930s Pre-War Harmony Archtop Art Deco

Estimated price for orientation: 1 295 $

Category: Acoustic Guitars
Class:











Description
Brand: Harmony Exact Year: 1930
Soundboard Style: Archtop


Here I have a very old archtop guitar that was built sometime around 1930. I am judging this by the MOTS (Mother of Toilet Seat) headstock overlay and V shaped neck which were common appointments during the time. There's no way of telling who made it because the original label has been torn from inside the guitar. It currently says Pitt on the headstock. I would say this is a Harmony brand instrument similar to Lee Gibbs and others of it's era. The headstock is almost like a Gibson and the workmanship is very quality similar to an early Epiphone. The thickness of the fingerboard is identical to the thickness of an old Gibson fingerboard I have at home. The dots on the neck are real pearl. The top is carved and not laminate. The back and sides are Flame Maple and the fingerboard is Rosewood. I'm guessing the top is Spruce which was a commonly used wood back then. The neck is a hard V with 20 total frets. It's 25.5" scale length which is identical to modern Fender guitars. The body is bound back and front and the neck is unbound. There is no truss rod but the neck is very straight and I can play all the way to where the joint is. The action is set a slight bit lower than 3/32" which would be good enough for an electric guitar. When picking up this guitar you can tell it's a high quality instrument. It feels very solid. This guitar is all original with the exception of the pickguard. The original one was cracked so a replica was made. I also have the original alligator skin case. This is a very fine instrument.