1930s United-made Weissenborn-style Hawaiian Guitar

This is a truly oddball instrument. It's a hollowneck Hawaiian guitar in the Weissenborn style, but it's entirely made from thin ply birch and is both narrower and shorter than the actual Weissenborn-style instruments. It's like a "parlor Weissenborn." I'm almost certain it was made by United in New Jersey as the look of the glue inside, the kerfing, the bracing, the headstock shape, and the material (ply birch -- the only company to make use of this type of it in such huge quantities for student/mid-grad gear) all point to them. If it's not a United product, then it's a "last gasp" Oscar Schmidt instrument or remotely-possibly a Regal.

By now you've probably noted the metal disc in the soundhole. That does nothing -- ignore it. It's attached to a post glued to the back of the body and it's just for looks/silliness. The instrument sounds roughly the same with it in or with it out of the soundhole. Being an electric-land fanboy, though, I'd be very tempted to stick a magnetic pickup in its place or on top of it. Orrrr... rig-up some springs that run from its edge to the bottom of the post on the back to give the guitar some innate reverb (yes, that works, by the way)... orrrrr... whatever!

My work was light on this instrument but now that it's done, it's humming and happy. It appears to be entirely original except for the tuners (ironically, I replaced the same style replacement tuner -- '60s Japanese -- with a slightly earlier, better-looking version of the same style).

It sound is woody, dry, and only a little boxy. I like the sing-song quality to the voice, though -- and its bluesy bite that has just a lot more air and sustain than your average "squareneck cheapo." While the fingerboard markers are for low-bass open A tuning (G tuning up a step), I've tuned it to open E (EBEG#BE low to high). The "outside edge" notes written on the board correspond to the root note of the chord you're playing in that position in open E, which makes the writing somewhat useful instead of just contrary. I've got it strung with an unwound 20 for the G/G# string position, too, to make it a little more "slide friendly."

Repairs included: bridge reglue and minor tweaking, nut sanding/reslotting of the nut slots, replacement tuners, cleaning, setup.

Top wood: ply birch

Back & sides wood: ply birch

Bracing type: ladder

Bridge: birch

Fretboard: maple

Neck wood: ply birch w/poplar headstock

String gauges: 52w, 38w, 28w, 20, 16, 12

Neck shape: square/hollow

Scale length: 24"

Nut width: 1 7/8"

Body width: 12 1/4"

Body depth: 3 1/4"

Weight: 2 lbs 15 oz

Condition notes: it's all-original except for the tuners. There's plenty of finish distress here and there throughout and fading to it, too, but the decals (or paint?) on the fingerboard are nice and clean, surprisingly.