# What is it?



## 64phil (Jan 16, 2016)

This is a guitar owned by my late father-in-law. The overall condition can only be described as terrible. It is very worn and the neck is slightly separating from the body. I cannot find any manufacturer's identification on it. The pick guard was obviously added at some point. Also, I have the attached photo of him holding a guitar sometime in the 1940's but I cannot see the wrap around metal string bridge but I am certain that this is the same guitar. Any comments or thoughts of a manufacturer?


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## LanceT (Mar 7, 2014)

No image can I see.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

That's an invisible guitar. Probably mid to late 80's.


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

Odd, I could see the pics earlier on my phone but not on the PC. Looks like a Stella/Kay/Sivertone, something like that.


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## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

I saw these pics earlier and now they're no longer visible. Sorry, no idea what it was.


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## 64phil (Jan 16, 2016)

I can still see the pics. Not sure what the problem is. The image url goes to google photos.

Phil


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

I _can_ see the pics... 

I'd agree with the guess of Kay.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

I believe you can see it if you are signed on to Google photos. Otherwise, it won't show.


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## 64phil (Jan 16, 2016)

Chito said:


> I believe you can see it if you are signed on to Google photos. Otherwise, it won't show.


Got it. Is there another free photo hosting service that works on this forum which does not require viewers to be logged in?


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## Whimpers (Feb 10, 2018)

okay an invisible one of a kind picture


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## 64phil (Jan 16, 2016)

OK, here are the photos that most people could not see. I have upgraded my forum account so that I can upload photos directly from my computer and support the forum at the same time 





  








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## AlBDarned (Jun 29, 2017)

Different pick guard & bridge to the one being held by the fella in that last pic...


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## 64phil (Jan 16, 2016)

I guess the small consensus is that it is a Stella or a Kay? Looking on-line (Harmony guitars database) I would say it looks most like a Stella by Harmony from the 1940's but there are also some early 1970's that are close.


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## Duffman (Oct 29, 2014)

Until I saw the photos I was going to be a smart ass and say it was an Air Guitar..... looks like an old Kay.


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## 64phil (Jan 16, 2016)

Duffman said:


> Until I saw the photos I was going to be a smart ass and say it was an Air Guitar..... looks like an old Kay.


I have been searching but cannot find a Kay that is close to this one when looking at the bridge, pick guard and fret markers.


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2018)

Going by the pickguard, I'd say Silvertone.


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## 64phil (Jan 16, 2016)

laristotle said:


> Going by the pickguard, I'd say Silvertone.


I don't think so. Longer neck, different headstock, different tuners and different bridge. Plus, location of pick guard is not the same.


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2018)

64phil said:


> location of pick guard is not the same


Maybe your FiL's guitar is pre 48?
or he put the Silvertone PG on the guitar?
Did what I could to help.
Happy hunting.


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## 64phil (Jan 16, 2016)

laristotle said:


> Maybe your FiL's guitar is pre 48?
> or he put the Silvertone PG on the guitar?
> Did what I could to help.
> Happy hunting.


Thanks very much. All of your suggestions are possible. I may never know for sure :-(.


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## Lunnen (Apr 28, 2010)

Looks like an old Hensel or R.S. Williams. Canadian made. Nice guitar.


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## Blind Dog (Mar 4, 2016)

Jmo: Stella (by Harmony) -- going on pick guard and slot head mostly -- not saying they don't exist, but I've just not seen many Kay's with the slot head stock. Lots of slotted Stella models have crossed my path. My _guess_ is a Stella model that eventually went from floating bridge/tail piece to glued/modern style. It's def' got an Oscar Schmidt/Silvertone/Harmony/Stella/Kay catalogue type vibe.

I think it may well be an, 'Oh, one of _*"Those"*_ guitars.'

My Those (branded Stella) gets played almost everyday. Its floating bridge makes intonation pretty casual, but action wise it's easily playable to the 12th fret. Sounds warm, open & lush, if not focused or conformity intoned. (I avoid frets 5 thru 9 because of the high end mother of paint markers.) Not real popular with most kids tho.



Your fil's guitar is likely of the ilk it could have been an early choice for,

Leo Kottke
Lead Belly
R.L. Burnside
Kurt Cobain
Ben Gibbard
Michael Hurley
Skip James
Robert Johnson
Blind Willie McTell
Charlie Patton
Elvis Presley
Doc Watson
Leon Bridges
Jesse Edwin Davis
Mason Williams
Neal Schon
Willie Nelson
Son House
Willie Brown
Maybelle Carter
B.B. King[3]
swiped the wiki list of notables who played/or endorsed 'cheap' Those guitars.
_'Those'_ are worth preservation, and playing.

I'm quite sure it's not a Hensel -- he was a luthier, and would likely not paint binding on, and even when he worked for Williams he incorporated his idiosyncratic relief head carving with the model (Barrington, Artist, Midera?, etc.). Williams were retailers, at times making there own instruments, and sometimes having them built to a standard they would guarantee under their name. A quick email/pic's to Royal Ontario Museum would likely be all it would take to officially rule out the possibility it's a Hensel, or made by R.S. Williams' luthiers. Because Williams guaranteed the guitars they had made by other companies, there's usually a stamped number, and interior decal added by R.S. Willaims & Sons -- shield, square, or ?

Jmo. 

EDIT: A shot of the tuners, from the side, might help identify your guitar. And I struggle with the guitar in the b&w photo being the same as the one in colour photo's. Not saying it isn't -- but I am wondering how you can be _certain_? Seems one would have to have been at both photo shoots ... and somebody did an amazing job of removing the glued bridge that appears in the early photo. Is there residual evidence of the old bridge that we just can't see in the photo. And (again) not saying it hasn't been added, but the pick guard does have an original look.


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## 64phil (Jan 16, 2016)

Blind Dog said:


> Jmo: Stella (by Harmony) -- going on pick guard and slot head mostly -- not saying they don't exist, but I've just not seen many Kay's with the slot head stock. Lots of slotted Stella models have crossed my path. My _guess_ is a Stella model that eventually went from floating bridge/tail piece to glued/modern style. It's def' got an Oscar Schmidt/Silvertone/Harmony/Stella/Kay catalogue type vibe.
> 
> I think it may well be an, 'Oh, one of _*"Those"*_ guitars.'
> 
> EDIT: A shot of the tuners, from the side, might help identify your guitar. And I struggle with the guitar in the b&w photo being the same as the one in colour photo's. Not saying it isn't -- but I am wondering how you can be _certain_? Seems one would have to have been at both photo shoots ... and somebody did an amazing job of removing the glued bridge that appears in the early photo. Is there residual evidence of the old bridge that we just can't see in the photo. And (again) not saying it hasn't been added, but the pick guard does have an original look.


Thanks Blind Dog for the very comprehensive response. I am feeling that the guitar in the blk/wht photo is not the same guitar as in the colour photos :-(. I suspect that he picked up this one years later. Maybe it reminded him of the earlier guitar. We will never know since he passed away in 2004. Here is a photo of the tuners. Let me know if you need a better photo.

Phil


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