1930s Slingerland MayBell No 84 Electrified Archtop Guitar

This model of guitar is a little on the rarer side but now I've worked on three of them and all of them wound-up electrified in almost the same manner. The owner of this one is the same as the "Seabees" version of the guitar and now he and his lady have a matched pair.

While marked "Slingerland MayBell" (it's a Model 84 in their catalogues) it was almost certainly made by Oscar Schmidt for the company. These have a nice, woody, darker sound that really suits retro jazzy chord-chopping or fiddle backup. Electrify them with a mini-humbucker (this has a Kent Armstrong Slimbucker -- I highly recommend them) and flatwounds and you have instant classic jazz tone. 

The guitar itself is in great shape and, aside from the new wiring harness and pickup install, it only needed a light level/dress of the frets and setup to get it playing spot-on. It has a press-arched solid spruce top and solid birch back and sides. The neck is poplar and the bridge and fretboard are rosewood.