~1932 Harmony Supertone Koa
Description
Harmony Aero Bridge Vita-guitar Koa c 1931 | $1650 | (v2534) If Harmony would have stopped production after issuing its Vitatone/Aero bridge line of guitars, their products would be spoken of in guitar circles in hushed, hyperbolic tones. But they didn't, and went on to manufacture zillions of 'other' guitars that today elicit more of a 'meh' than a 'wow'. This example is both a rare and interesting guitar for a number of reasons. Aesthetically it exudes a quiet beauty (has that ever been said of a Harmony guitar before!). Second, it sports the historic 'aero bridge'. Third, the back and sides are a fine grade of Hawaiian koa.
Let's explore the bridge first. It's often reported in guitar circles that the airplane bridge was a marketing gambit by Harmony to cash in on the epic trans-oceanic solo flight of Charles Lindbergh in May of 1927. This historic flight caused not only a stir in the fledgling aero industry, but made a huge splash world-wide that lasted decades and jump-started our modern aero industry. A recent search of the 1927 issues of Music Trade Review (MTR) reveal advertising for the Roy Smeck-endorsed 'vita' line of Harmony instruments. In the 1920s, multi-instrumentalist Roy Smeck was the 'Wizard of the Strings', extremely popular, and signed to an endorsement deal with Harmony to market the Vitatone line of instruments. Additionally, a search of U.S. patent records show that Theodore A. Gast filed a patent for a new design of a guitar bridge on February 1, 1928. His drawings submitted to the patent office show the airplane bridge shape, but no mention of Lindbergh is made; the word 'airplane' is not even mentioned in his filing description. The same is true when reading the MTR advertisements of the era. Gast states that the purpose of his bridge design is to strengthen the top between the bridge and sound hole to avoid the resultant 'sag' from string tension. So the question arises: Was Harmony somehow acutely tuned in to the May '27 Lindbergh flight, was the bridge design in the shape of an airplane a nod to the Lindbergh hype, or just happenstance? In Gast's patent he mentions that "The exact shape of the bridge is immaterial .. but by giving it an ornamental appearance the attractiveness of the instrument is greatly enhanced...". It's been reported by another writer that the 'vita' line was already advertised as early as February of 1927, pre-dating Lindberg's flight. If this can be confirmed, it's clear that the airplane shape is, indeed, ornamental, happenstance .. but more likely a nod to the growing "aero mania" of the era.
The back and sides are a beautiful grade of Hawaiian koa. The top is spruce. The top and sound hole feature a generous amount of inlaid abalone, b/w trim bound with faux tortoise. The back is also trimmed in b/w purfling and tortoise celluloid, and sports a decorative back seam strip, too. The bridge is the afore mentioned 'aero' bridge in rosewood. The neck is mahogany topped with an ebonized fingerboard which features Harmony's high-end pearl inlays. The neck is also bound in white and faux-tortoise celluloid. The head stock is overlaid with Brazilian rosewood veneer and sports a pearl inlay. The tuners are a higher grade set of Waverlys. About one third of the Supertone label remains inside the body (the rest is in a baggie). Overall, this is about as fancy a Harmony as one would expect.
The lower bout measures 12 3/4 and this would be a 'standard' or 'concert' size in the catalogs of the day. Scale length is 24 3/16". The neck measures 1 13/16" at the nut and is carved in a soft 'V'-shape. String spacing is 2 3/8" at the saddle. Body depth is 3 9/16" at the end pin. Action is set at a comfortable 5 & 6/64"
There were no apparent prior repairs. We recently: reset the neck; glued and cleated two top cracks; glued a back crack; leveled and dressed the frets; cleaned and lubed the tuners. The guitar retains it's original components including nut, saddle and end pin. The only replacement parts are the six period-appropriate bridge pins. The waist of the treble-side bout has an impact ding about 1/2" wide. The finish shows a patina from age and various nicks, dings and scratches from time and wear. Overall, a wonderful and rare survivor!
The guitar plays well and produces a fairly unique sound due to its size and koa components. Bright when played without picks, and pretty punchy with a thumb pick or flat pick. Great for old-timey and country blues picking.
Comes with it's likely original soft Geib case in good condition.
Check out the sound clip!
Let's explore the bridge first. It's often reported in guitar circles that the airplane bridge was a marketing gambit by Harmony to cash in on the epic trans-oceanic solo flight of Charles Lindbergh in May of 1927. This historic flight caused not only a stir in the fledgling aero industry, but made a huge splash world-wide that lasted decades and jump-started our modern aero industry. A recent search of the 1927 issues of Music Trade Review (MTR) reveal advertising for the Roy Smeck-endorsed 'vita' line of Harmony instruments. In the 1920s, multi-instrumentalist Roy Smeck was the 'Wizard of the Strings', extremely popular, and signed to an endorsement deal with Harmony to market the Vitatone line of instruments. Additionally, a search of U.S. patent records show that Theodore A. Gast filed a patent for a new design of a guitar bridge on February 1, 1928. His drawings submitted to the patent office show the airplane bridge shape, but no mention of Lindbergh is made; the word 'airplane' is not even mentioned in his filing description. The same is true when reading the MTR advertisements of the era. Gast states that the purpose of his bridge design is to strengthen the top between the bridge and sound hole to avoid the resultant 'sag' from string tension. So the question arises: Was Harmony somehow acutely tuned in to the May '27 Lindbergh flight, was the bridge design in the shape of an airplane a nod to the Lindbergh hype, or just happenstance? In Gast's patent he mentions that "The exact shape of the bridge is immaterial .. but by giving it an ornamental appearance the attractiveness of the instrument is greatly enhanced...". It's been reported by another writer that the 'vita' line was already advertised as early as February of 1927, pre-dating Lindberg's flight. If this can be confirmed, it's clear that the airplane shape is, indeed, ornamental, happenstance .. but more likely a nod to the growing "aero mania" of the era.
The back and sides are a beautiful grade of Hawaiian koa. The top is spruce. The top and sound hole feature a generous amount of inlaid abalone, b/w trim bound with faux tortoise. The back is also trimmed in b/w purfling and tortoise celluloid, and sports a decorative back seam strip, too. The bridge is the afore mentioned 'aero' bridge in rosewood. The neck is mahogany topped with an ebonized fingerboard which features Harmony's high-end pearl inlays. The neck is also bound in white and faux-tortoise celluloid. The head stock is overlaid with Brazilian rosewood veneer and sports a pearl inlay. The tuners are a higher grade set of Waverlys. About one third of the Supertone label remains inside the body (the rest is in a baggie). Overall, this is about as fancy a Harmony as one would expect.
The lower bout measures 12 3/4 and this would be a 'standard' or 'concert' size in the catalogs of the day. Scale length is 24 3/16". The neck measures 1 13/16" at the nut and is carved in a soft 'V'-shape. String spacing is 2 3/8" at the saddle. Body depth is 3 9/16" at the end pin. Action is set at a comfortable 5 & 6/64"
There were no apparent prior repairs. We recently: reset the neck; glued and cleated two top cracks; glued a back crack; leveled and dressed the frets; cleaned and lubed the tuners. The guitar retains it's original components including nut, saddle and end pin. The only replacement parts are the six period-appropriate bridge pins. The waist of the treble-side bout has an impact ding about 1/2" wide. The finish shows a patina from age and various nicks, dings and scratches from time and wear. Overall, a wonderful and rare survivor!
The guitar plays well and produces a fairly unique sound due to its size and koa components. Bright when played without picks, and pretty punchy with a thumb pick or flat pick. Great for old-timey and country blues picking.
Comes with it's likely original soft Geib case in good condition.
Check out the sound clip!