c.1935 Unmarked Round-hole Archtop Guitar




Update #2, 2017: Per the comments section, this now appears to be a Harmony product.

While at first glance this appears to be a rather plain tailpiece-loaded flattop "parlor" guitar, it's not! This one is actually a round-soundhole archtop patterned after the early-mid 1930s Gibson round-hole archtops. It's a 13 1/2" body (0-size) instrument with a "12 fret" length (meaning taller upper bout) but coupled with a 14-fret neck and long 25 1/2" scale. For its age and build level (this is roughly "student" grade) it's in phenomenal condition. I just had to give it a fret level/dress, cleaning and setup at the nut.


All hardware is 100% original which is nice, and the only "cracks" are a not-through, tight pickguard-screw hairline on the upper bout and a very tiny not-through crack on the back near the heel.

Woods: dyed mystery-hardwood for the fretboard, poplar neck, solid birch body, rosewood bridge. The saddle is bone but the nut appears to be celluloid or similar. Binding is painted on with the exception of the soundhole "rosette" which is celluloid binding.


Nice slotted headstock and round-hole archtop vibe gives this very much a "Django" look. It sounds great for that sort of music, too -- loud, driving, percussive when dug-into, and balanced throughout with a longer scale that suits "custom light" (52w-11) or lighter strings quite well. This actually had old LaBella gypsy-jazz strings on it when I got it... so someone else had the same idea, too!


The grain on the top is pretty cool. While it's obviously birch, the sunburst and interesting graining makes it look almost like walnut or similar here and there.


Good, well-fitted rosewood/bone bridge. The bracing under the top is 3x ladder braces on the lower bout and one above the soundhole.


Celluloid pickguard.


Plain-Jane pearl dots, original brass frets.



Despite the clumsy painted-on "binding" this has a really cool look to it.


Great heel join.






Original strap button, too.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Jake, the owner told you that this guitar wore LaBella Gypsy Jazz strings, right? Or do you have some string identification superpower?
Rolfyboy6 said…
LaBella Gypsy Jazz Strings - Silver plated copper wound on silk & steel. 010 014 022 028 036 046 for Gitane. Quite distinctive. Jake might just know his own business.
Rolfy has it right. They're similar to silk & steels in look and feel and tone but have slightly different details.
Anonymous said…
Hello .Il has one there " gretsch ( JR) who looks like a lot


http://gretsch.forumactif.com/t927-gretsch-ou-pas
Anonymous said…
Oscar Schmidt made.
Without doubt.
I totally agree. I updated that info for the 2nd one of these I worked on. Will update it here, too!
Hi, I have a very similar looking guitar with different headstock. It is badged The Michigan. Everything else about it looked exactly as your photo when it was original but it has been re-polished in a natural honey colour. I have tried to research a little historical info but unsuccessfully. Maybe you can enlighten me?
Simon, Cornwall, UK
Anonymous said…
I just bought one of these and have been doing some research on them, while I'm waiting for it to arrive. I know, I know-but it was only a couple hundred bucks shipped-and where can you find an 80 year old round hole archtop for that price? This guitar is a NIOMA(National Institute of Music Arts) guitar. NIOMA was an organization based in Seattle, Washington in the 1930's that purchased house brand instruments from Oscar Schmidt or Regal(depending on the source). I'm leaning towards OS also. Coincidentally, these instruments were featured in the Jan 2014 issue of "Vintage Guitars". I don't have a copy of the mag, but have seen references and photos on the internet. From what I can tell, the only marking on the guitar was a "NIOMA" decal on the headstock that's missing on yours. If you do a google search for images on the net, you'll see a few. It is an exact match.
NickR said…
A message to Driftwood Artist. The Michigan was a brand of Beare & Son Ltd- the celluloid badge shows B. S. & L. and the company still exists- its logo was the Cat & Fiddle. There was a shop in London and Toronto and guitars were even sold with the cat and fiddle on the headstock- made by Harmony and sold in Toronto. Guitars by quite a few US makers were sold in the UK as Michigan badged items- after WW2 they were European made as the current post-War £ to $ exchange rate made US made items prohibitively expensive. The guitar you have is almost certainly a 1934/5 Harmony Valencia- then coded as an H1265. It has a round hole and is arched- the bridge on mine is identical to the bridge on this guitar. The guitars look similar but have some differences- not least the headstock shape. You can find this guitar on the Harmony Demont site- Francois Demont had one in his collection.
Jake Wildwood said…
I'm not sure if this is what you're saying but -- this instrument is not a Harmony Valencia model. They are, I agree, very similar... but the devil's in the details. I've handled Valencias before of the like you're talking about and internally they're different and externally, too.

The body shape is different in the shoulders and waist (rounder on this one), the arching is different, and the bracing is quite different. Also note the heel shape, the lower location of the soundhole, the neck profile shape, the fact that these don't have a standard Harmony scale length, etc. and you can add up the wrong details. I know there's a second "Valencia" shape that's more rounded but that, too, has a higher-up soundhole and less of a "L-00" and more of a peanut sort of shape to its body.

Makers back then were all building very close-spec instruments in imitation of others and this is very often the case with low-end stuff that's close but not quite the same. I can't guarantee it but there were too many "wrongs" for Harmony attribution on this particular guitar.
Jake Wildwood said…
less of a = less of an -- tired :D
Unknown said…
As you say " The devils in the detail "
I also have one of these guitars...
It is 100% not an Oscar Shmidt.
Although basically the same guitar.
The headstock on a Shmidt is strait cut and flat ended...
Also the clumsy paint on yours was probably added after purchase as mine and the others I have seen are identical and do not have it.

Unknown said…
As you say " The devils in the detail "
I also have one of these guitars...
It is 100% not an Oscar Shmidt.
Although basically the same guitar.
The headstock on a Shmidt is strait cut and flat ended...
Also the clumsy paint on yours was probably added after purchase as mine and the others I have seen are identical and do not have it.

Jake Wildwood said…
Neale -- No offense, but just because a few details are off from this one to other ones does not make this -NOT- a Schmidt product.

I've handled two more of these guitars (of different specs) since I posted this one and it definitely has construction identical inside to other Schmidt round-hole archtops that were much more clearly Schmidt products. This same headstock style was ALSO used on Schmidt parlors for other brands at the time -- including some pretty weird stenciled mid-30s stuff (in the Stella vein but less cool) and Hawaiian guitars made for/sold under the Oahu brand.

Sloppy painted "bindings" are seen on many mid-late 30s Schmidt products -- right before the company went bust.
Jake Wildwood said…
HAH! It appears that I'm totally wrong, here, and have corrected this up top in the post. Here's a message from email:

Hello, I've just picked up one of these, almost identical in every respect guitars in the UK.
It is marked "The Michigan" on a black and gold sticker both on the front of the slotted headstock and another inside the sound hole.

Inside, next to "The Michigan" sticker is an ink red oval with F33 inside it.
The fretboard has been replaced, recently by the look of it, with a new one in rosewood with medium modern frets and four pearloid dot markers.

The bridge is a very old unusual two piece metal and wood adjustable job which I do not think is original.
Set up with Martin PB 12s it sounds boxy and almost banjo like on the top two strings.
It plays well in conventional finger style, but I've upped the action with the aforesaid bridge and it's good for country slide.
"The Michigan" was a name used by Beare and Son, London and Toronto - musical instrument sellers and distributors.
I guess it came to the UK via them....

The fact that it has that F33 stamp indicates to me it was "Harmony Made" or am I wrong and it is in fact an Oscar Schmidt?"

So, apologies to the folks above for my skepticism -- but it looks like we have our answer as to the maker, here. I'm quite surprised by this!
Nick R said…
The Michigan guitar discussed above is one of these below. It is very similar to the Valencia that I own and mentioned some way up in the thread. We cannot see the top edge of the headstock- I cannot remember if it is pointed like my Valencia from Michigan or is straight but it is a slot head, unlike the Valencia. The Harmony Database gives 1932 as the date for the one owned by Francois Demont- but it is pertinent to mention that the use of the date stamp began in Fall 1932.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-michigan-acoustic-guitar-hard-465075186

This is the headline: Worthpoint RARE VINTAGE "THE MICHIGAN" ACOUSTIC GUITAR W/ HARD CASE. NEEDS TLC. MAKE OFFER!

Nick R said…
I have now tracked this guitar to the Harmony Database entry and it was coded H1234 and I assume the photos are of the guitar owned by Francois because it has the date stamp of F32. Most Harmony nuts believe the F is definitely for Fall. Recently, there was a very rare Supertone on eBay, the model 269 called "The Florentine" which retailed at $20- not the $5, all birch, round hole arched top version which was stamped F35- and ONLY appeared in the 1936 Sears, Roebuck catalogue. There is no way that the guitars would have been made in the "first half" of 1935 and not retailed until 1936. Anyway, this H1234 does have a slight curve- like the Harmony "wave" on top of the headstock. Anyway, I don't know if this means the guitar in this feature is definitely made by Harmony or the case remains "unproven" as they adjudicate in Scotland.I am not convinced the two are the same but there are many similarities. http://harmony.demont.net/guitars/H1234/427.htm
Nick R said…
Last comment! That one above, the H1234 is the 12 fret version. The Michigan and the guitar being discussed is 14 fret. The 14 fret Harmony is the H1255 and the Database has a load more photos of this model to make a proper comparison. Here is the link:

http://harmony.demont.net/model.php?id=348