1942 Harmony Cremona VI Carved-Top Archtop Guitar

I took this cool old Harmony in trade recently from a friend of mine. He'd done a little bit of work to it but I finished it off and now it's humming-along, playing and sounding like a champ. Harmony Cremonas are pretty rare and this carved-top VI model (it's stamped F-42 and has the Carved Top stamp in the f-hole) is the bee's knees as far as trim and style go. It has very unusual fret markers, too -- big pearl slabs that are cut on the diagonal. My buddy and I haven't seen another like it and it was clearly meant to impress.

The build is lightweight and accurate and features a carved spruce top and carved flamed maple back. The sides are flamed maple, too. The neck appears to be maple and had a "faux center seam" painted down the middle of the back. Enormous amounts of playwear have rubbed the finish right off first and second positions on the back of it, though, and the fretboard has some fairly hefty divots in first position. The guitar is all-original except for the tuners and a missing pickguard.

It's rare for an early '40s Harmony to still have a metal tailpiece. By this point rationing was in effect and so usually we see rosewood tailpieces from this era. They must have saved the better gear for the fancy guitars.

Repairs included: fret level dress, setup, etc.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid flamed maple

Bracing type: fan

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany/maple

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 52w-11

Neck shape: medium-fatter C

Board radius: 10"

Truss rod: non-adjustable

Neck relief: hair of relief tuned to pitch

Fret style: low/small

Scale length: 25 1/8"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Body width: 16"

Body depth: 3 1/4" + arching

Weight: 4 lbs 12 oz

Condition notes: it's got a lot of wear and tear to the finish and was obviously played a ton. There are smaller scratches everywhere and minor nicks and dings here and there, too. At the curviest part of the sides there are small, tiny little cracks that pose no issue -- sometimes when maple sides dry out they get these vertical cracks on the most stressed parts of the bends. There aren't a lot of them, but they're there -- and you can see them in one of my side shots. The only other crack is a long, center-seam-area one that runs the length of the top. I've cleated it through its entire length and filled it. It's no longer obvious at a glance but you can see it easily under the tailpiece's center on the lower bout. The original pickguard is missing, the tuners are (good, modern) replacements, and I've recut the original adjustable bridge to both have more adjustment room, fit it better, and give it better intonation. My friend reset the neck on this previously but the angle was a hair low -- though there's plenty of adjustment room so action can be kept constant in changing seasons. The angle in relation to the body was a little off, too, so I had to rehang the tailpiece to favor the bass side a little. It's not obvious.

Also: the frets are quite low -- like '20s Gibson-style -- in first position. It plays fine (the action is quick and fast and the feel is good if you're an accurate fretter) if you're used to funky old guitars but if you like to have modern-feeling frets you'll need to consider a refret, for sure.

It comes with: a really ragged old chip case only suitable for extra padding in shipping and storage.