1940s SS Stewart (Harmony-made) Archtop Guitar

My friend Tom has known this guitar his whole life. His Dad bought it new "back in the day" and when Tom was a kid, he and his brothers used to "amplify" it with a record player's needle. There's a bit of fill/wood putty in the top just south of the bridge and I'm assuming that's where they scratched the heck out of the top doing just that.

This instrument has been down on its luck for who-knows-how-long, but I just recently bought it from Tom to remove it from forever-sleep in my repair racks. He'd wanted me to sell it for him but I didn't know when I would ever get around to it as there's not much profit motive in it. Buying it meant I could "legitimately" waste my own time getting it ready to go.

Now that it's stabilized and playing nicely, it's a cool guitar again. It has a snappy, midsy, barky voice. I'd imagine blues fingerpickers would probably love its snap and presence, though I do enjoy it a lot as a "swing-style" chord-chopper. The necks on these are fairly sizable, though, so it's not a profile everyone will enjoy.

The worst bit about this guitar is that it's been refinished. It was refinished decades to a "satin natural" but it would have probably been sunburst of some sort to begin-with. There are also a plethora of old repairs -- mostly fill-jobs to old hairline cracks. The neckblock on this was also damaged at one point so I reinforced both it (after gluing) and the endblock using a 1/2" dowel that runs from block to block and is pinned at the endblock underneath the tailpiece. I use this technique a lot on '60s hollowbody electrics with bolt-on necks that tend to need some lateral reinforcement and it works like a charm. Said dowel is suspended inside the body just under the top but not touching it and between the two tonebar braces.

Also, did I mention -- how about that pickguard, huh? So good...

Repairs included: a neck reset, neckblock repair/reglue, dowel reinforcement of the body/blocking, fret level/dress, side dots, bridge repairs (it has a period Harmony base from another guitar as this one's was cut down but the bridge top is original and I've given it fresh posts), minor crack fills/re-repairs, cleaning, and setup work.

Weight: 3 lbs 12 oz

Scale length: 25 1/8"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Neck shape: medium-big V

Board radius: 12"

Body width: 15 1/2"

Body depth: 3 1/4" + arching

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahoany

Bracing type: tonebar

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 54w, 40w, 30w, 22w, 16, 12

Truss rod: non-adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-lower

Condition notes: as noted, there are a plethora of old hairline crack repairs on the top and one on the back. The tuners and parts of the bridge are replacements but otherwise the hardware is all original. The 3, 5, and 7 fretboard inlays are "fill jobs" and I've touched-up the color on 3 and 7 to get them to blend-in slightly-better. There are two filled holes in the fretboard extension from where I added minor bolt-reinforcement of the neck joint and fretboard extension. The entire finish has been refinished to a satin natural -- probably in the '70s, if I had to guess. The headstock veneer has some slight chip-outs on its edges. 

It comes with: no case, sorry!