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Post by sbjguitars on Oct 7, 2008 0:51:29 GMT
Help Please.  I am a luthier in North Carolina and have very little experience with Nationals. I have a regular customer who brought in his Buddy's old National Acoustic guitar. It is a very strange mix. It has a script national logo ( not the shield or inlay I am use to) Laminated body (the inside of the back is Figured?) Round sound hole( standard Acoustic) block inlays with rounded corners..... and last but not least an electromagnetic pickup with a volume and tone control on the top of the guitar( ah la Gibson/Lennon) The only numbers on this thing are FE 199 , NO 020, 72 B18. The guy that owns it thinks it was made in the 30's or 40's but the construction makes me guess at the 60's, the 50's at the earliest. The original pickup was removed and the owner wants to replace it. Of course he threw out the old pick up long ago, I can custom make a new one but would love to have an idea of what the original looks like. The owner describes a chrome cover and a solid polepeice instead of 6 individual ones. Am I barking up the wrong tree? is it a knock off? It wouldn't be the worst I have ever seen.  Please help  Any info will be great.  sbjguitars@hotmail.com |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2008 12:22:56 GMT
The National headstock script - is a plastic moulded one? Sounds very much like the flat-tops and archtops that National made, with bodies by Gibson (ES-175 and J-50 are typical sort of hybrids) so '50s / 60s sounds about right, as do the round corner block inlays, so I'm thinking this sounds like a National. Not sure about the pickup tho'..someone out there must know more about these than me?
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Post by Mark Makin on Oct 7, 2008 13:55:05 GMT
Hello Sbj
I'm afraid we'll need a picture
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Post by sbjguitars on Oct 7, 2008 20:27:22 GMT
Thanks for the help so far guys I will try to get you some pics.
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Post by sbjguitars on Oct 12, 2008 20:29:05 GMT
I am having trouble putting the photos here. Can anyone who can help please email me at sbjguitars@hotmail.com and I will email some photos. Thanks
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Post by sbjguitars on Oct 21, 2008 1:24:04 GMT
![]() [/img]C:\Documents and Settings\Boyd\My Documents\My Pictures\DSCN1795.JPG[img src="[/img] ![]() "] ![]() [/img] |
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Post by robn on Oct 21, 2008 22:05:24 GMT
Help Please. I am a luthier in North Carolina and have very little experience with Nationals. I have a regular customer who brought in his Buddy's old National Acoustic guitar. It is a very strange mix. It has a script national logo ( not the shield or inlay I am use to) Laminated body (the inside of the back is Figured?) Round sound hole( standard Acoustic) block inlays with rounded corners..... and last but not least an electromagnetic pickup with a volume and tone control on the top of the guitar( ah la Gibson/Lennon) The only numbers on this thing are FE 199 , NO 020, 72 B18. The guy that owns it thinks it was made in the 30's or 40's but the construction makes me guess at the 60's, the 50's at the earliest. The original pickup was removed and the owner wants to replace it. Of course he threw out the old pick up long ago, I can custom make a new one but would love to have an idea of what the original looks like. The owner describes a chrome cover and a solid polepeice instead of 6 individual ones. Am I barking up the wrong tree? is it a knock off? It wouldn't be the worst I have ever seen. Please help Any info will be great. sbjguitars@hotmail.com Here are the photos of the guitar:      |
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Post by Mark Makin on Oct 22, 2008 9:53:28 GMT
Hello sbj
Your guitar is (as you correctly surmise) a model FE 199 and was listed as an "acoustic-folk/electric grand concert guitar". It was made by a Japanese company in 1971 who acquired the "National" name after the closure of Valco in 1968. They were marketed back into the US by a company called 'Strum and Drum'. The FE199 has a spruce top with maple sides and back. In the catalogue, the colour is described as 'honey top with cognac sides'.
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Post by sbjguitars on Oct 22, 2008 21:46:20 GMT
Thank you very much for the info. You have just gave me more info than the owner found in a year of asking around. This helps out alot!!!
Would anyone know any details about the pickup construction. I imagine it was pretty cheap. Anyone have an image cause I might wind up winding a replacement and I would like to know what the cover looked like. Also do you have any idea what something like this might be worth? My first guess was mabye a couple hundred bucks but the owner belives it should be worth alot more.
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Post by Mark Makin on Oct 23, 2008 9:18:04 GMT
Hello again sbj In 1971, this guitar was issued at $82 - hardly a fortune! Unfortunately, they come from the first period of Japanese copy guitars when the understanding and quality of instruments was not good. I would suspect your estimation of a few hundred dollars is correct. There may be a certain collectability value now - after all- even these are pushing 40 years old! Don't get carried away though with the "National" connection - technically, there isn't any! Here is a copy of the 1971 catalogue page. Not much more to say really.  Best Mark |
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Post by sbjguitars on Oct 25, 2008 2:23:28 GMT
Thank you again for your help. I do not know where I could have found this info without you. I will try to frequent your site and offer any help I can. Thanks again, Boyd
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Post by mannieg on Jul 13, 2014 9:20:51 GMT
I also have an FE 199 it's no. 495 and you are the only person besides myself that I have ever heard of owning one! It's kinda weird almost like meeting a long lost cousin...lol!
Mine us exactly the way you described yours, down to the bare pickup mount and empty volume/tone/jack holes. The figuring you can see on the inside of the back is something that I took note of myself.
My National was gifted to me many years ago by a dear friend who has since departed, and I if I remember ccorrectly he told me that it was given to him by a friend who acquired it sometime during the late '60s by allegedly driving his truck through the front window of a pawn shop after hours!!...
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Post by hungar74 on Mar 31, 2017 15:25:50 GMT
Well I guess there are three of us. I too have one that I purchased new around 1971. However, it doesn't have the National label, but it is the same guitar model FE199.
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Post by bluesguitar55 on May 29, 2017 14:10:47 GMT
I also have that exact same guitar number 1115. My girlfriend bought it for me in Peoria Illinois around 1971. I still play it and it is a very nice sounding guitar but I also took the pickup off and the controls a long time ago.
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Post by hawgwash on Mar 21, 2018 6:17:38 GMT
That’s a classic thread if I ever saw one - nice
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