1920s Harmony-made Shutt-style Archtop Mandolin

This is the third Harmony-made "Shutt-style" mandolin I've worked-on and I've been super-impressed by each one. These have a Gibson A-style sort-of tone but a lot more punch and forward volume compared to most period Gibsons. They cut like nothing else.

Why? Well -- the tops and backs are carved but they're also unbraced. That means that there's not a lot of soundwave interruption by bracing and whatnot in the tops so the tops flex and respond to the tension like crazy. It also means that they "settle" up and down a bit more with weather, though, and if they're cut too thin can collapse pretty hard. This one, fortunately, was cut perfectly and it didn't even compress down too much when I tuned it up after repairs.

Unfortunately, it does share some of the design flaws of the other Shutt-Harmony products. First... the neck joint is absolute trash on these. Harmony only kept the dovetail going halfway down the heel which means that almost every Shutt I've seen has had a split heel or will wind-up getting a split-heel when the neck is inevitably reset... inevitably because the joints are so bad. It's like a wonderful loving circle of bad design! This one came with the split heel (from someone else's reset) and so did another one of these.

I myself split the heel on one of these when I was pulling a neck from a joint and that was incredibly frustrating. The joint had been shimmed-up so the dovetail was caught coming-up and I needed to apply enough pressure to remove it during heating and I heard... POP! ...and I knew exactly what that sound meant. Sigh. So if you're reading this and you've just done the same...? Don't worry about it. It's a flaw.

That all said, when these are dialed-in and humming, they're just glorious little things. It also helps that they look gorgeous, too.

Repairs included: a neck re-reset, fret level/dress, new adjustable bridge install, cleaning, crack repair, seam repairs, and setup.

Top wood: solid carved spruce

Back & sides wood: solid flamed maple, carved back

Bracing type: none

Bridge: adjustable ebony

Fretboard: ebonized maple

Neck wood: maple

Action height at 12th fret: hair-under 1/16" (fast) overall
String gauges: 36w-10

Neck shape: medium C/V 

Board radius: flat

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: low/small

Scale length: 13 7/8"

Nut width: 1 1/8"

Body width: 10"

Body depth: 2" + arching

Weight: 1 lb 12 oz

Condition notes: big hairline crack (repaired) on the front, finish muck-up around the heel, plenty of mild usewear/finish wear throughout... the fretboard has a few mild dryness hairlines that are no concern... the frets are quite low and small so if someone wants a "modern" feel a refret (which is an absolute pain on Harmony boards like this) is in order... but everything on it is 100% original save the bridge and it's ready to go.