please ID this archtop sunburst...

[jdsowa]

Year made is probably 48-58. Doubt you'll be able to narrow it down any further. There were a zillion misc brands in that day. My guess is that it's NOT a well-known name like Kay, Old Kraftsman, etc.. since the headstock is unfamiliar. The neck appears to be original. Maple fretboards are kind of unusual, but they were used.

If it plays well, it's probably worth $50-100? Look on ebay for similar vintage archtops.

[Macky]

Framus could be a good place to start. They have an archive site.
Framus Vintage

[jun3machina]

thank you both for your help.
my brother is a musician, and it baffled him too. he felt like the neck was original as well. so thanks for possibly confirming it. it has a pretty wicked sound...it was played a lot...not the prettiest thing, but there's just something about it.

so 40's to late 50's then? okay.

any recomendations on wiring/parts because i would like to get it back up and running as an electric/acoustic one of these days...thanks so much for helping me out. i know im a newbie, but i appreciate those that have chimed in.

[jun3machina]

oh, and would anyone be kind enough to elaborate on the maple fret? seems most were made of rosewood? thanks

[kafka]

The bridge and tailpiece look just like the ones on the old Kay archtop that I learned to play on. There's also something reminiscent about the shape and layout of the f-holes.

I think that scalloping on the headstock and nut are user mods.

[jun3machina]

lil bump

[Macky]

HOYER... a German manufacturer have been around for 100 years.
History
If your lucky it could be one of those.
From the website for 1948... says that brochures were produced
------
1948

HOYER was one of first German guitar companies to print a brochure after the second world war in 1948 (see right). The arch-top models ‘Herr im Frack’ and ‘Solist’ were very popular professional instruments during this period. Both models are now collectors items with cult status.

[Macky]

send them a picture

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

I have a 1954 Kay. The body is very similar, a darker burst, but with 'real' mother of plastic binding. The bridge is similar, the string end piece is identical. When I bought it I was so proud. I took it to my luthier who laughed at me, told me to hang it on the wall, refused to do the neck work ("it would cost more than the guitar is worth...").

By the similarity of the hardware, I'd guess mine and yours come from the same area if not the same manufacturer. Your painted on binding and the light colored neck indicates to me that it is an even less expensive model, or that these differences in feature sets were options (Pick one from column A, two from column B...) the OEM offered buyers.

These entry level instruments were often not made by the company who's name is on the headstock, but second-sourced from off-shore vendors who made them cheap and tossed them out the door by the thousand. I worked for a music store in the 1960s and we could order all kinds of guitars, basses, etc with any logo we wanted, instruments costing us anywhere from $12.50 to a top end price of about $85. And the prices dropped with larger orders.

Though I thought it was very cool and had it's own unique sound, it hangs on the back porch overlooking the pool along with the turn of the century Guitaron and a couple of other odd musical pieces I acquired over the years. I had an 1880s rosewood and brass portable pump organ out there, too, but someone wanted it badly enough that I got rid of it.

If your guitar will tune up and the neck stays in position, might as well string it up and have some fun. But the instrument has no real value beyond whatever it might fire up in the hearts of suckers like you and me.

[muziekschuur]

I like her.... Just investigate somewhat further. She looks purty.

[drbob1]

Back in the day, before there was China or Mexico or even Japan, there was Chicago! Kay and Harmony had large plants that built guitars to order for various stores, mail order firms, each other... The quality depended on what the customer ordered. Your guitar is pretty typical of a low end guitar produced for mail order: maple fretboards were cheaper than rosewood (or it could even be birch), the top is carved spruce, which makes it not the absolute bottom of the heap (which would be birch ply) but the painted binding puts it on just the next rung. By appearances I couldn't say absolutely which company built it, but I'd guess Kay. I had one that was almost identical.

Now for the electronics. I'm not 100% sure that was born as an electric. The pickups were just screwed to the top, and there's no place for the wires to enter the guitar from the neck pickup and a very small hole in an awkward place to the bridge pickup. It is possible that the wiring went under the pickguard and entered thru the F hole, but then why have the knobs on the guitar body?

Anyway, it's worth $100 at best, so you can mod away without worrying about damaging a true collectable. How's the action BTW? Most of these don't have adjustable truss rods and were strung with heavy strings, so the action gets pretty high...

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

Originally Posted by drbob1

Back in the day, before there was China or Mexico or even Japan, there was Chicago! Kay and Harmony had large plants that built guitars to order for various stores, mail order firms, each other... The quality depended on what the customer ordered. Your guitar is pretty typical of a low end guitar produced for mail order: maple fretboards were cheaper than rosewood (or it could even be birch), the top is carved spruce, ...

Why do you think that it is carved (scraped), rather than steam-pressed? (Not arguing, asking.)

[drbob1]

Actually a good question. I didn't think that spruce was amenable to steam pressing unless it was a laminated top, and I didn't think they did laminated spruce. I'd love to know, am I wrong?

[jun3machina]

seriously thank you so much for all the interesting feedback. the action is killer (in a good way) no more than maybe 2 quarters thickness from the neck if that. i had read that most of the kays had really bad action, and was surprised this one is like it is. i have a les paul epiphone, and ibanez and my brother a fender electric and they're all more action that this...this plays like butter under the fingers... it's been played a lot. just put new strings on it...there are literally indentations on the neck from someone putting hours and hours onto this. interesting that it might not be an electric/acoustic like i thought. it has a great sound to it and easily can ring up to 3 separate notes clearly on just a finger slide. the personality and sound of the instrument was what sold me. i dont care if it's worth anything or not. but if it is something y'all think i could electrify, i'd be up to trying it. so thank you for the comments....really helping a gal out here. keep them coming!

[drbob1]

If I were going to electrify it, I wouldn't want to affect the vibration of the top. So, a pickup actually mounted on the pick-guard would be perfect. Something like this:

Pickguard mount pickup

You'd also need to add a pickguard of some sort...

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

Depends upon what you mean by 'electrify'. Originlly, the arched top guitars were amplified using pickups that mounted to the pick guard, sometimes with a bar running from the top of the neck down to the bridge for support. Some had controls which clipped to the pickguard, some to that support bar. Here's some examples. www.VintageArchtop.com


But now we've got these Archtop Guitar Pickup - Fishman Transducers, Inc. and all the various piezos and contact transducers...

[jun3machina]

immense help!! thank you both!

[drbob1]

It's an interesting thought. I'm probably a heretic, but I've never enjoyed the acoustic sound of an archtop-always seemed a bit plonky and dull compared to a good flat top. So using a piezo to amplify that less interesting sound never occurred to me I was definitely thinking Charlie Christian or P90 for that one...