Try to Figure This One Out!

[rbe]

Got this from ebay. Some of you may have seen it. A guitar in pieces. What looked like unrelated pieces. 12-fret rolled F-hole body, non-ribbed (early, not 14-fret style) coverplate and a neck with a solid peghead and rosewood board. When I got it, it was pretty clear that the coverplate was not from the body. But what has me stumped is the neck. A solid peghead with the black overlay makes sense on a guitar from around '37. But the rolled F-hole, 12-fret body is more like '33/34. You can see on the body that it has had both the three-hole and five-hole fretboards attached at one time, so maybe it is a replacement neck. All of the holes in the fretboard and neckstick line up properly with the holes in the body, so this neck was on this body at one time. And to make things more interesting, the neck has a serial number on it that would correspond to a '33 rolled F-hole Duolian. So the neck came from the factory and was intended to be used on this body. But have you ever seen a 12-fret solid peghead, basswood neck with a neck stick on any other Nationals? I can't think of any. Tricone maybe? But not this headstock shape. Just to add insult to injury, the fretboard is a 24.75" scale that would typically be found on a 14-fret neck. So this guitar never intonated properly. Also, keep in mind that by the time they got to this style of peghead, the 12-fret bodies had been out of production for awhile.

Any thoughts?

[snakehips]

Hi Rik !

I saw that on ebay too. Interesting !
I don't remember much about the coverplate though - is it a vintage one with pain worn off ?

Looks to me like the body has the original 3 fretboard extension screws, then it has needed a later replacement neck, hence the 5 fretboard extension screwholes.
Perhaps the customer needing a new neck for the guitar requestion the original neck's serial number transferred to the ne neck ?

I'm sure you can make that guitar sing again, with new neck !

I sometimes think that Nationals are like a cat with nine lives !
(In this case, nine necks !!!)

[Mark Makin]

Hello Rik
Is the serial number around C5900/C6000 or higher?? If it fell into this category it could be a Chicago number from 1939 rather than a C Duolian series. Rolled f holes would fit between C5900 and about C7500. If your number is higher than C6000, it is more likely to be a C Duolian number, like you suspect, as there are no numbers much above C6000 in the Chicago series, ....Just guessing at this point!
Best
mark

[rbe]

Hey Mark, The serial number is C61xx. Could be either? It is the 12-fret thing that is getting me. I can't imagine what this neck could have been made for. I know with National, anything goes, but this is one of those interesting anomalies. I am guessing that this isn't something that was "frankensteined" together by someone who happened to have some National parts laying around. Also, if you look at photo, where the fretboard covered the body (silver/gray, not green), you can see that the new neck was on it for a very long time.

[Mark Makin]

Hi Rik
I would suspect it needed re-necking by National in around 1939/40. That would account for the latest flat, Art Deco headstock. I'm not sure if they custom built a neck, modified an existing one or just tried to fit the nearest thing available. Bet there's not many like that!
Best Mark

[Colin McCubbin]

Rik,

Is there any paint discolouration where the neck heel meets the body to indicate it once had a square neck fitted?

[rbe]

Not really Colin. The marks that are there were for the most part made by the neck in the picture.