Armstrong Deluxe Archtop

Well, hello there...

Here's one that took me buy surprise - a woman brought this in for us to restring.  See, someone had pulled all the old strings off at once, causing the floating bridge to fall off.  She told me that it had been her father's, and that it was "nothing fancy..."
 

I covet.

Yes, nothing fancy...and then she reaches into a gig bag and pulls this gorgeous vintage archtop.  Wow!  This has got to be one of the coolest archtop guitars I've ever seen!  The finish is quite fetching, being a few shades darker than your usual sunburst - I'd call it a "sweet tea-burst."

The Art-Deco headstock stencil says "Armstrong Deluxe," but everything else screams "Harmony!"  This would have been one of the nicer guitars they made, likely  from around the late 50s to the early 60s.  Uncle Freddie was kind enough to come over from next door to take a look, and he commented that it looked similar to the "Cremona" series, mostly because it has a spruce top and maple back and sides.

Speaking of the back - yes, it looks like curly maple, to boot!  But looks aren't everything...luckily, with the intonation properly set and a fresh pack of strings, this thing sounds as rich and vibrant as it looks.  The woman said that her son had been learning how to play on this one - man!  Somebody out there has earned my guitar envy....

Harmony Acoustic Archtop

Here's a little something I picked up at the South Carolina Guitar Show.  It's a Harmony Archtone acoustic archtop from about 1951.  I've been looking for one for quite some time.  Although these are quite common - Harmony must have cranked out a blue million of them in the 50s and 60s - most of the survivors are hanging on by a thread, barely playable, and usually in need of a neck reset.  This one is a fine player, though, and a looker to boot!  Though the pickguard has been replaced, the funky "green flame" finish is in amazing condition.  I've also heard that these archtops were made with a solid birch top, unlike some later budget pressboard guitars that followed.

Great for snappy folk-blues and actually quite passable for low-budget jazz comping, a good clean Harmony archtop is getting to be hard to find, so  I just had to snatch this one up.

Amps, amps, and more amps...

We've just taken in some very cool amps on consignment.  This one might be the crown jewel - a blackface Fender Bandmaster.  Slam this thing with a pair of humbuckers and it produces a ferocious broken glass roar worthy of the snottiest punk riff.  In addition, the amp is in fine cosmetic shape, without any cigarette burns or missing hunks of tolex (you know, like my amp. Sigh...).

A Silvertone Twin Twelve head and 2x12 cabinet.  This one didn't stick around very long; a customer snapped it up just this week but I still had to show it off.  Very clean, especially for a Silvertone, and complete, a rare treat considering how often the head and cab are found separate.

A Fender Reverb Unit.  Here's the secret to true surf-rock righteousness.  Hook this tube-powered reverb tank up in front of the amp and then get ready to Shake N Stomp.  This is a re-issue, not an original, but it still drenches your guitar and your formerly sad, non-reverberating amp in a tidal wave of springy goodness.

Another cool sighting - the guy that bought that Twin Twelve brought this sweet electric Kay archtop in to show off.  A hollowbody Kay through a Silvertone amp!  Ah, what lewd sounds these two will make together...

1958 National Belaire

Here's another one that a friend brought in to show off- a 1958 National Belaire.  As most guitar geeks can tell you, the body is actually a Gibson-made ES-175 body, with the National/Valco guys providing the neck, hardware, and most importantly, the pickups.

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The National/Valco stuff may cause a few guitar snobs' noses to tilt skyward, but the slimmer neck is very playable, and the stylish headstock and inlays have a cool retro appeal that the more staid, old-world archtops are hard-pressed to match.

Now, if there's one thing that the Valco folks knew, it was how to make fat, funky single-coil pickups.  This baby has three of 'em.  The brass pickup covers also darken the sound considerably, although the fact that the strings probably haven't been changed since the Carter Administration doesn't help.  We're going to spruce this one up a little, and then we'll see how she sounds!