Identify friend's potential guitar

[tenorlord]

A friend just came over with a "note cannon" she is thinking about buying.
The guy said it's from 1938.
There's no identifying logo on it.
Wood body, the cover is fairly flat. Two F holes near the neck.
Appears to be made of mahogany.
Biscuit bridge, Spanish style neck.

Now for the BIG clue: Serial number on top edge of machine head: Z1738

Could this be a Regal?

[Mark Makin]

Hi tenorlord
A picture would be useful BUT I'm guessing from the serial number what you are talking about is one of these:



These instruments NEVER had logos but they were sold through Sears Roebuck catalogues around 1935/6 as "Supertones".
The guitar is actually made by the Harmony company and assembled by National Dobro for supply to the catalogue outlets.

It is the same instrument as a Harmony-made National Trojan 14 fret instrument. The neck and body assembly, the resonator and coverplate are all the same. The 'f' holes however are different and finally - the serial number starts with a Z prefix. It never was branded or sold as a National though (even though it is!)
Best
Mark

[tenorlord]

Bingo!

That's it alright. Thanks!

I couldn't provide a picture, she drove away with it.

Besides, I can't figure out how to post a picture here.
The "Attachment:" > Browse... field doesn't do it on it's own, and hitting the picture "add tag" doesn't seem to help. Perhaps if the image were already online?

[Mark Makin]

yes - pictures are a little confusing on here. You need to start a small account at a picture hosting site like photobucket. You can then take the HTML tag associated with the picture and place it into the forum.
Basically, the forum doesn't hold images - they need to be linked to elsewhere.
OK?

[tenorlord]

Now, will this work?

Ah, it does! So it's best to have an image that's already on the web.