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Post by Mark Makin on Apr 10, 2024 6:21:51 GMT
These tuners are “Harmony Tune-rites”. They are almost impossible to find replacements. In years of looking, I have only managed to find a couple of single gears.
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Post by Mark Makin on Mar 16, 2024 19:50:42 GMT
Hi Andreas, I think you’re right. The neck is probably correct. It could be a ‘Variation 7’ with that back. I could accept the replaced NRP logo. I still think it is strange that, in a group of possibly 9 or 10 ‘spade head’ variation 8 Style 0s that one of them should be an earlier style 7 in that grouping of B series guitars
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Post by Mark Makin on Mar 15, 2024 18:57:43 GMT
I have concerns that this is a replacement neck made by NRP. The inlaid pearl banner logo is NRP style not quite the original 30s one. The serial number B2788 is stamped with dies that are the wrong type font for the B series stamps of the 30s and it falls into the B series list with B2781, B2783 and B2785 that we have recorded - ALL of them are Variation 8 SPADE HEAD headstock guitars. It also should have trapezium bar markers on the fretboard.
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Post by Mark Makin on Jan 14, 2024 16:31:22 GMT
Me too but it’s a necessary evil. I find life in Wellington quite quaint - speaking as a city kid. I’ve only ever known 250k populations or above. One Main Street and 12000 people seems tiny
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Post by Mark Makin on Jan 12, 2024 10:16:48 GMT
Hi Gary So sorry for the delay. I have received all your details and PayPal and it’s all gone to the printers for shipping. I did email you to request a contact phone number as DHL will no longer deliver without one but you probably haven’t seen it. This does sometimes cause a delay because people don’t see the request for a number on the PayPal page of the website so I have to request it later.
As people have mentioned, I am now down in rural Somerset and am struggling with no WiFi. Hopefully by the end of this month , I should be a bit closer to the “land of the living”!
Just get a phone number to me Gary and everything will start moving. My very best wishes,
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Post by Mark Makin on Jan 5, 2024 8:43:20 GMT
The Sonora is exactly the same instrument as the Aragon. Made by Kay in the late 1930s/early 40s. They were issued by the original National Dobro company before the war, not the later Valco company who were responsible for much of Nationals later archtops. The neck, fingerboard markings, headstock and tailpiece are the same as the Aragon. The f holes are in a different place on the Aragon to allow for the cone. The Sonora seems to claim the honour of being the first electric arch top to be fitted with 2 pickups. Thiss became a common feature after the war - about 5 years after this was built. All these early twin pickups, like the 1946 Gibson built Aristocrat that Michael mentions all had volume and sweep knobs to blend the pickups
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Post by Mark Makin on Dec 23, 2023 16:42:34 GMT
The G series serial number list shows two other square necks very close to 1696 and both are square neck Collegians so I should think your guess is probably correct
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Post by Mark Makin on Dec 23, 2023 13:11:12 GMT
Hi Snakehips The main difference is that the body is larger (orchestra size) and more importantly much deeper (4 and a bit inches! ) so the sound is much fuller, bassier and louder than a Trojan. When made in the 30s, they cost $55 to a Trojans $35.
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Post by Mark Makin on Dec 12, 2023 6:57:53 GMT
As Michael says, this is a VERY early single cone silver mandolin from early 1928. The reason for the high coverplate with a large ‘rim’ is because they used the same dies that the previous triplate mandolins needed to seat the t bar. The triplates seem to have stopped around 150. We have 155 as a new single cone style 3, 156 is a Style 2 and 166 as a style 1 so , at the moment 160 stands as only the second single Style 2 we know of.
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Post by Mark Makin on Nov 19, 2023 16:51:13 GMT
Hi Tractorking, 3 piece body Triolians occur in the O series and the P and W series up to around #500. These are late 1929 or early 1930 instruments. The Duolians don’t really appear for another year (Jan 1931 or so).
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Post by Mark Makin on Nov 7, 2023 10:35:20 GMT
Hi Andy Good to see you here. What you have is a straightforward OMI made, Dobro Model 33H. They started making these around 1973 and carried on for around 30 years. They seemed to disappear around 2008. From the serial number, yours would seem to date from 1989. After 1993, the company was taken over by Gibson and eventually moved back east. So yours is one made during the last years of the Original Musical Instrument Company in Huntington Beach, CA.
The R5 at the front of the serial number is a company code designating the exact model. The 309 refers to the 309th instrument made that year. The '89' is the date and the last letter 'B' means 'metal body'. If it was a wood body, it would have a 'D' at the end.
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Post by Mark Makin on Nov 5, 2023 12:41:04 GMT
Hi Toremainn
Yes, it does have a decal - it shouldn't - but it does! ALL of these instruments were built by Harmony (with supplied National parts). They were then supplied from Harmony directly to the trade catalogues like Sears at a particular price point. They were usually known as 'Supertones'. - This was the catalogue trade banner name. They NEVER (in the catalogue) carried a National brand name because they were sold at undercut prices. This would have contravened their deal with National. However, these guitars are pretty much EXACTLY the same as a National Trojan. The only difference is the f hole cutter shape and the Z series serial number. Harmony built the same instrument for National but with different f holes and a T series number. At National's factory, it was fitted with decal, cones and hardware and sold as a NATIONAL TROJAN.
Over many years, we have become used to National's ways of manufacture and have learned that they regularly would add something 'quickly' to an order to get it out of the factory. For instance, a dozen or so early wood bodied Triolians have been identified that were regularly used to fill up orders of 'metal bodied' Triolians. They were painted up to look the same and issued with a serial number from a metal bodied range. This was a quick answer to a problem. ...."10 Triolians you want mate, 10 Triolians you've got!!!" Back then, nobody seemed to be as critical and, without the instant internet, would only buy what they saw in a music shop close to home!
I suspect this 'Trojan' is a similar exception. It was probably needed to complete an order of 'standard' National Trojans and for want of a decal would be pretty much the same thing!! Who would care about a difference in the f holes?
These are just examples of a busy company getting through the day!. It's human nature.
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Post by Mark Makin on Sept 11, 2023 7:43:14 GMT
Serial number is C5575 - the 16th to appear!
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Post by Mark Makin on Sept 2, 2023 6:43:22 GMT
Hi Mendax, this is only the second one of these that I’ve seen. As you suggest, it should be mustard coloured with lilac and purple spray patches. It would have had the anemone flower decals front and back. Like you say, they have a light colour base layer. The first wooden tenors do seem to have necks with a standard banjo head that were later changed to the flat plate Triolian heads. I don’t suppose it has any numbers? The other one didn’t.
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Post by Mark Makin on Aug 10, 2023 8:52:50 GMT
Bob, Robbie ....and me in 1966. I still remember every minute. Photo by ©Mark Makin 1966 Thanks Robbie RIP. Attachments:
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