1930s Del Oro (Harmony) Faux Resonator Conversion Guitar

This is a guitar that one of my consignors left here for resale somewhat recently. It's a 1930s, Harmony-made instrument and began life as a "faux-resonator" guitar -- basically a tailpiece-style flattop guitar with f-holes on the upper bout and a coverplate installed that makes it look like a resonator guitar. Under the care of Ancel (with a lot of guidance from yours truly) it's been turned into an actual resonator guitar.

The method of conversion is the same that I've used maybe a half-dozen times in various instruments -- guitars, baritone ukuleles, soprano ukuleles, mandolins, etc. -- and most recently in a '50s United guitar. It's a simple idea -- I take a normal biscuit-style resonator cone, flip it over, cut back all of the layers of the cone's "foot" save the last bend before the actual sound-production part of the cone begins, and then fit it in a cutout hole in the body. We borrowed the "T-bridge" idea from that United instrument as I thought the tone and stability of that design was excellent.

The end result is a guitar that sounds a lot like a National wood-body, single-cone instrument but with a little more warmth and woodiness. It's loud, it's proud, and it's saucy as well.

Other work done on this guitar included a neck reset, board plane and radiusing, a refret, various structural work inside, and setup-side work, of course.