A Labor of Love…
My customer really wanted me to restore his aunt's old archtop. Sometimes the sentimental value is worth more than the actual instrument. I do not judge. In fact, I think this is going to be a swell old archtop. I found out long ago not to have discussions about "value". Sure, this guitar has little dollar value. But it has mojo and belonged to his aunt. End of story. No makers mark or name, likely Chicago-made circa 1940. Probably produced for some jobber by Kay. Needs a neck reset and refret, glue and cleat huge top cracks, glue and cleat side crack. He even wants me to install a K&K pickup in it.
They were with few exceptions built of solid woods (usually birch and spruce), and all had dovetail neck joints!
I ended up doing quite a bit of work to this old guitar. Top was cracked in several places…and they were wide cracks that would not easily close up. We figured this had been left in an attic because it was extremely dry, incredibly dirty, and basically falling apart. I removed the back to get better access to the top and side cracks (this was built using hide glue, which does come apart with care and patience…luthiers say it is “reversible” because it can separate with heat and moisture.) Glued and cleated cracks, installed a K&K pickup (one of my favorites), glued loose top braces, and reattached back. Then we did a neck reset (neck was already loose), and planed some twist out of the neck and did a complete refret.
Interesting that the fingerboard was made of either walnut or mahogany. Surprisingly, a great many of these old “catalog” guitars did have Brazilian Rosewood bridges and fingerboards! This did have an adjustable bridge made of Brazilian Rosewood. The finished product played like a brand new guitar, but sounded like an ancient vintage piece…Reminded me very much of 1940s era Gibson L-50s.