1930s Royal Crest (Harmony) Carved-Top Archtop Guitar

Overview: While branded Royal Crest, this is a Harmony product and is similar to high-end, early Silvertone products that the brand made for Sears. It's a carved-top model and it's very loud and proud and has a much saucier, wider tone than their more-usual, pressed-top archtops. It's had a variety of old repairs not done in our shop, but we straightened it out and got it playing spot-on and cleaned-up some of the old work.

Tone: It's loud, full, and punchy. It has a ton of cut and volume and kicks right through an acoustic mix.

Feel: Like a lot of the nicer Harmony archtops from the time (very late '30s or early '40s), it has a bigger, round, C-shaped neck. It's similar to the feel of a "Banner Gibson" in general. The board is a little flatter (14" vs the normal 10-12" for the brand) as well.

Interesting features: It has a lovely celluloid headstock veneer with deco-style engraving and details. The back is ply figured maple and is eye-catching. It has a nice, mellow sunburst look to it with very dark edges. It's a very "lived-in" guitar so if you like them with blemishes and all, this is a good one to have.

Repairs included: Here it got a fret level/dress, some minor cosmetic fixes, and setup work done by Ancel. It's playing spot-on and ready to go. Previously, it had a neck reset, replacement (older) tuners fit, a replacement (newer) pickguard fit, replacement (newer) bridge fit (and not perfectly, but it's fine), and a replacement tailpiece fit. I swapped that tailpiece out for a '50s Harmony tailpiece instead as it's lighter-weight and, due to the way the arch in the top is so pronounced on the lower bout, the traditional trapeze tailpieces were bottoming-out on this guy from the steep angle and because this tail is so light it doesn't hurt the acoustic tone at all when it brushes against the top.

• Weight: 4 lbs 1 oz
• Scale length: 25 1/8"
• Nut width: 1 3/4"
• Neck shape: bigger C
• Board radius: 14"
• Body width: 15 3/8"
• Body depth: 3 1/2"
• Top wood: solid, carved spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid maple sides, ply maple back
• Bracing type: tonebar
• Bridge: replacement rosewood adjustable
• Fretboard: rosewood
• Neck wood: maple
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 54w-12 lights
• Truss rod: non-adjustable
• Neck relief: straight with a tiny hair of relief tuned to pitch (~1/64")
• Fret style: medium-low

Condition notes: It has a ton of wear and tear throughout the finish of the body. Whoever did the neck reset left dulled finish on the upper bout top and back and near the neck joint (probably from chasing steam ghosting). The neck reset job was decent, though, and the angle is fine. The tailpiece, tuners, pickguard, and bridge are replacements. There are a couple of small filled holes at the 14th fret on the board. As noted, there are lots of scratches and scuffs here and there in the finish and the finish itself has some weather-checking throughout.

It comes with: Sorry, no case.

Consignor tag: MMK