Very glad to know how this very special instrument is going to be cherished with such respect.
These are the humblest Nationals, I fell in love with this model, like the wooden Triolians they stay in the shade for a long time because they wasn't considered like "real Nationals" by not being shinny.
They don't even put the sheild decal on them, and they saved four screws instead of nine to make them cheaper.
I still wonder if only that can really cut the costs...
(Just for laughting, will you believe mine have an new NRP shield added when I found her...)
Mine got the small square holes made to fit a "hooks on plate" coverplate, another attempt to cut the cost but not very efficient and they came back to the screw on scheme.
Does yours have these holes (you can see them without dismantle anything).
If significant amount of Sears Duolian shows these square holes it may explain how they find a way to recycle these "hooks-on" bodies?...more easely than to turn upside-down a standard coverplate, and to drill new holes between the square ones, some examples exist, it's fantastic to see how they don't waste nothing in these times.
(This fact also tend to believe it was made in 1933).
Sometimes the Phenolic fingerboard can be seen, but like other series, every other options exists (Died mapple or ebony).
Perhaps the necks are made in second choice mahogany, mine looks like yours, superb living grain but not so regular from start to end ?...does it made them recycling materials too?
Another weird feature on these is the number of variations in colour...it seems like all the "Duolian" colours can be found, but also some unique metalic blue with a pearly green varnish (without cristaline patterns), never seen in other series.
(perhaps Michael found here some inspiration for choosing the finish of his "Blues" model ?)
Another very special colour exist, and it's probably the result of the meeting issued in 1933; a super thin muddy cristaline duco, somewhat between green and brown, the paint was so thin that the cristal patterns are very small, and almost all of the surviving examples been stripped or refinished...
This color is not what you can call "attractive", the effect looks more like rust, or mud...
That's why I hope to see how the advert looks like in the 1933 Sears catalog...is it in colour, or just black and white?
If you look a this marvelous picture of Robert Petway proudly posing with his brand new Sears Duolian, you can see how the painting is allready gone.
I bet it's the brownish colour.
In fact it's the kind of colour you may create when you mix many different colors (I've been working as a car painter, and I remember the jar where we use to clean our spraying guns at the end of the day, sometimes it went close to this hard to describe color, ...dithy in fact.
I don't say ugly, but certainly the best attempt to mimic the Mississippi mud.
(Perhaps this brownish colour have some ADN to share with the short lived "B Finish Triolian" because the tone seems pretty close, even if the cristal patterns are very different due to the shortened amount of layers, and this too push on the date of 1933)
And what about this special coverplate ?...was it made specialy for Sears, or is it a remaining stock or early experimentations...why not another recycling idea ?
You can see some of them with the straightening embossed ribs, some don't have them, but showing some weird relief between the drilled holes, and a ligtly irregular surface (clearly made like this)...does these coverplates are test made to achieve the drilling process, or rib stamping tools ?
And they might been stocked somewhere until someone catch the idea to use them, even if not prefectly made.
Perhaps these strange coverplates results of early experiences ?
To get more precise on the name and dates, it seems like some of the post '34 14 frets (mostly in wood-grain finish) are called "Sears duolian" due to this special coverplate, but I wonder if these was ever sold by Sears and Roebuck...because of the National decal.
They choose to not put any decal on the original Sears Duolian, to not tear down the value of the Brand name in the public eyes.
(Missis Swift may have a good pressing service to get rid of these rust stains on his so white wedding dress, Robert Petway knows how a good old dungaree is the best choice to play a Sears)