1969 Harmony-made Silvertone 319 Classical Guitar
Just recently, I sold an earlier Harmony-branded version of this guitar. That one had fan bracing, an inlaid rosette, and a slightly-different bridge. This one has ladder bracing and a stenciled-on rosette, though it does have cool tortoise binding. The bracing changes means that while this guitar is about as loud as the older version, it has more of a midsy/shimmery tone to it that suits a flamenco/folk-strumming style better.
It has a faded date-stamp in the body that seems to read S-69 and has a Harmony-style stamp/batch number near the neck block.
It's also pretty dang clean and all-original, though it does have one ~4" repaired hairline crack on the back near the neckblock. It plays quick and easy and has a slimmer (front-to-back) neck profile than many classicals from the time, though the nut width is the same as Spanish-style guitars.
Repairs included: a bridge reglue, fret level/dress, back crack and seam repair, cleaning, and setup.
Setup notes: action is spot-on at 3/32" at the 12th fret and the neck is straight. I've strung it with LaBella Gold (polished) strings. Normal silvered basses will give you a bit more attack and punch, but I love the silky sound of these.
Condition notes: one repaired hairline crack on the back, some minor use/handling wear throughout, but otherwise very clean and all original. The bridge was made with a slightly-compensated saddle which was presumably to suit older nylon strings which sometimes intonated a little sharp up the fretboard on the larger gauges. It doesn't affect playability, but if you're a super-light-touch player, playing bass notes up the neck might play just a hair flat... around the 10th fret! The frets at the very end of the fretboard extension have been leveled pretty low, too, to compensate for a little "ski-jumping" in that area. I doubt you'll be picking hard 6 or 7 frets over the body, though...
It has a faded date-stamp in the body that seems to read S-69 and has a Harmony-style stamp/batch number near the neck block.
It's also pretty dang clean and all-original, though it does have one ~4" repaired hairline crack on the back near the neckblock. It plays quick and easy and has a slimmer (front-to-back) neck profile than many classicals from the time, though the nut width is the same as Spanish-style guitars.
Repairs included: a bridge reglue, fret level/dress, back crack and seam repair, cleaning, and setup.
Setup notes: action is spot-on at 3/32" at the 12th fret and the neck is straight. I've strung it with LaBella Gold (polished) strings. Normal silvered basses will give you a bit more attack and punch, but I love the silky sound of these.
Scale length: 25 1/8"
Nut width: 2"
String spacing at nut: 1 3/4"
String spacing at bridge: 2 1/4"
Body length: 18 3/8"
Lower bout width: 14"
Waist width: 9 5/8"
Upper bout width: 11 1/8"
Side depth at endpin: 3 7/8"
Top wood: solid spruce
Back/sides wood: solid birch
Neck wood: poplar
Bracing type: ladder
Fretboard: ebonized maple, synthetic nut
Bridge: ebonized maple, synthetic saddle
Neck feel: slim-to-medium D-shape, flat board
Condition notes: one repaired hairline crack on the back, some minor use/handling wear throughout, but otherwise very clean and all original. The bridge was made with a slightly-compensated saddle which was presumably to suit older nylon strings which sometimes intonated a little sharp up the fretboard on the larger gauges. It doesn't affect playability, but if you're a super-light-touch player, playing bass notes up the neck might play just a hair flat... around the 10th fret! The frets at the very end of the fretboard extension have been leveled pretty low, too, to compensate for a little "ski-jumping" in that area. I doubt you'll be picking hard 6 or 7 frets over the body, though...
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