Electric guitar
Maker
Harmony Company
Maker
Supertone
(trade name of Sears, Roebuck & Co.)
Date1939/05/11
Place MadeChicago, Illinois, United States, North America
ModelSupertone Amplified Spanish guitar, Grand Concert size, 12 D 2293
Serial No.3024 22 94 (or batch number)
SignedDecal on head: SUPERTONEMarkingsRubber-stamped in black ink on inside of back, below bass f-hole, and on inside of top near bass f-hole, over white cotton cloth glued to inside of top: 3024 22 94
Rubber-stamped in purple ink on inside of back below bass f-hole, inside rectangle: S-39 [Spring 1939]
Rubber-stamped in black in on underside of pickup housing: MAY 11 1939
Die-stamped on underside of potentiometer: CFX2144 2MEG LIN 137654
DescriptionBy the late 1930s, electric guitars were becoming more mainstream, with less expensive versions sold through mail order catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward. This $67.50 Harmony electric guitar sold through Sears, Roebuck & Co. has a cheaper build quality for the body, but the pickup is well made and the design technologically advanced for its time.
Stringing: six steel strings
Soundboard: pressed, arched, two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: wide grain
Back: pressed, arched one-piece maple plywood with inked marks in imitation of narrow curl
Ribs: two-piece, slab-cut maple with inked marks in imitation of narrow curl
Head and neck: maple
Heel cap: none
Binding: white celluloid
Fingerboard: rosewood; 19 nickel-silver frets; mother-of-pearl dots behind 5th, 9th, and 15th frets; two mother-of-pearl dots behind 7th and 12th fret; single white celluloid side dots behind 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th and 15th frets
Nut: bone
Bridge: two-piece rosewood (compensated) with nickel-plated screws for height adjustment
Tailpiece: nickel-plated steel trapeze shape, secured to lower rib with four nickel-plated steel slotted flat head screws
Tuners: two nickel-plated worm gear tuner sets with white celluloid heads
Endpin: missing
Soundholes: f-holes without binding
Pick guard: black celluloid, mounted on guitar with nickel-plated steel bracket and two nickel-plated steel Philip’s head screws
Pickup: electromagnetic pickup incorporating a U-magnet with one pole joined to a metal bar, through which three screws extend into three coils to function as pole pieces. Three further screws through the coil are height-adjustable under the strings. The opposite pole of the U-magnet is in contact with a steel bar mounted closer to the bridge, magnetizing that portion of the strings with the opposite polarity, a feature found on several 1930s pickup designs. The pickup is built into a maple rectangular plate with rounded corners and dark-brown-varnished edges. This plate is affixed with two brass screws into a larger maple box with a U-shaped cutaway, which is in turn mounted on the main maple strut extending between the neck and end blocks. The pickup is covered with a nickel-plated brass plate secured to the maple mounting plate with two nickel-plated screws. The volume control is mounted in the lower treble bout and has a nickel-plated brass, cast knob. See photos in file.
Lacquer: dark red-brown sunburst with craquelure
Linings: kerfed maple
Neck block: masonite with beveled edges
End block: masonite with beveled edges
Top bracing: spruce longitudinal bars between f-holes
Grafts: none
Other: linen glued to inside of top around f-holes; three linen strips glued on inside of back at upper center and lower bouts; large maple strut between upper and lower blocks, with maple block mounts above and below strut, glued to each block, pickup mounted above strut in maple block
DimensionsTotal guitar length: 1004 mm (39 17/32″)
Back length: 491 mm (19-5/16″)
Upper bout width: 278 mm (12-19/32″)
Waist width: 232 mm (10-15/16″)
Lower bout width: 375 mm (14-3/4″)
Rib height (including edging) at heel: 83 mm (3-1/4″)
Rib height, at waist: 84 mm (3-3/16″)
Rib height, at end block: 87 mm (3-5/16″)
Head length: 163 mm (6-13/32″)
Head width, top: 71 mm (2-25/32″)
Head width, bottom: 60 mm (2-3/8″)
Neck length (nut to ribs): 354 mm (13-15/16″)
Neck width, nut: 43 mm (1-11/16″)
Neck width, heel: 56 mm (2-3/16″)
Soundhole length: 153 mm (6-1/32″)
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): high E: 642 mm (25-1/4″); low E: 644 mm (25-11/32″)
Credit LinePurchase funds gift of Jean M. Abramson Estate, 2008
Object number13570
On View
Not on view
