-----------------------------------------------
*** UPDATE - 17/11/2024 - METAL TAIPIECE NOW SOLD - HRMONY WARTIME WOODEN TAILPIECE - REDUCED PRICE @ ONLY £35.00!
-----------------------------------------------
Harmony Archtop & Flattop guitars produced with wooden tailpieces fitted during wartime shortages included various Archtone, Monterey, Broadway, Patrician & Stella models, and possibly others....see below.
*** Photos - First image of the trio of '30s/'40s/50s USA tailpieces currently available, next two photos of Harmony Wooden tailpiece, and then fourth and fifth images, for further illustration, are of the same type wooden tailpiece on my "Wartime" Harmony Broadway H955.
Next two photos of the metal tailpiece, followed by library photo showing this type tailpiece fitted as original on a Kalamazoo KG21 archtop, plus three further library images, illustrating that this type tailpiece was also fitted originally to flattop guitars from that era!
-----------------------------------------------
*** Please do check carefully that these pieces are correct for your guitar before purchase....no fixing screws included.
---------------------------------------
HARMONY WARTIME WOODEN TAILPIECE - AP3/1 - REDUCED PRICE: £35.00.
---------------------------------------
DIMENSIONS: Overall Length: 134mm./5 1/4": Max. Width: 65mm./2 6/16": Overall String Spacing: 55mm./2 5/32".
HISTORY & BACKGROUND: It is usually stated that the various styles of wooden tailpieces which Harmony used in response to wartime metal shortages were fitted from 1944 to 1946, but I believe that they in fact came into use sometime in 1943. They were fitted to a wide variety of the range of guitars Harmony were making at the time, both flattop and archtop, including many parlor models.
The "Wartime" versions of Harnmony-made archtops produced with the various styles of wooden tailpieces, during this period, that I have seen, included Archtone H1215, Cremona VN H1300, II H1302, IV H1304, VI H1306 & VII H1307, Monterey H950, H952, H996, H1327 & H1456, Broadway H955 & Patrician H1403, H1407, H1411, H1414, H1415, H1450, H1453....probably others. Also some Harmony-made Stella & other models were produced with similar wooden tailpieces during that period.
*** THIS TYPE OF WOODEN TAILPIECE WOULD NOT OF COME FROM ONE OF THE UPPER END HARMONY ARCHTOP MODELS, WHICH HAD DIFFERENT STYLE TAILPIECES....PLEASE DO CHECK CAREFULLY THAT THIS TAILPIECE IS A CORRECT FIT FOR YOUR GUITAR, BEFORE PURCHASE!
------------------------------------------------
VINTAGE 1930s - 1950s "DECO" METAL TAILPIECE - AP3/2 - SOLD.
------------------------------------------------
LATE 1930s/EARLY 1940s USA ACOUSTIC GUITAR TAILPIECE - GIBSON & KALAMAZOO, KAY/ DEL ORO/ VAQUERO GUITARS & OTHER BRANDED MODELS. - AP3/3 - PRICE: £35.00. - SOLD.
--------------------------------------------------
Other listings for the same press steel tailpiece link them with Harmony, Silvertone, Regal and even Supro, Dobro & National but I have no actual evidence of their use on these brand's guitars.
Search Tailpiece No.707/6804 on this link for https://www.snathanieladams.com/2019/06/vintage-acoustic-guitar-tailpiece-encyclopedia.html....period 1930s/'40s, also indicates use on Regal & Tonk Bros. guitars.
- one of these tailpieces with heavily tarnished gold finish is currently available on eBay USA at the remarkably high fixed price of over £118 + shipping cost to UK + UK VAT & Import Duty. I have tried to price mine in the real world, but such a rare item that no records of previous sales can be found.
CONSTRUCTION/FINISH: Stamped Nickel Plated Steel.
DIMENSIONS: Overall Length: 112mm./4 1/2": Max. Width: 80mm./3 3/16": Overall String Spacing: 51mm./2 1/32": End Fixing Plate: Width: 45mm./1 3/4": Depth: 35mm./1 3/8".
HISTORY & BACKGROUND: Prior to removing this tailpiece from the Gibson L-50 I could not believe that it would be a factory fitted original unit. However, viewing only the 3 original screw fixing holes, and no signs whatsoever that the tailpiece had been changed prompted further research. The L-50's serial number dated it to 1942, by which time it is assumed that wartime metal shortages would be becoming noted.
In fact by the following year it is noted that Gibson were fitting part wooden tailpieces on L-50s, so the speculation would be that possibly in late '42 they would have used what was on hand at the time, on this particular L-50, in the form of the tailpieces they were routinely fitting to their similar, but budget priced, manufacture Kalamazoo archtop models at that time.
Photos here include a library image of this style tailpiece as fitted originally on a Kalamazoo KG21 archtop, in addition to the wartime usage by Gibson fitting these tailpieces as original on their own L-50 archtops....three further library images now unearthed, again from Jake Wildwood's Blog, illustrate that this type tailpiece was also fitted originally to flattop guitars from that era....images of C.1940 KAY-MADE DEL ORO "MINSTREL" TAILPIECE GUITAR!
-----------------------------------------------
*** PLEASE DO CHECK CAREFULLY THAT THIS TAILPIECE IS A CORRECT FIT FOR YOUR GUITAR, BEFORE PURCHASE!
HARMONY WARTIME WOODEN TAILPIECE - AP3/1.
Very good condition. The specific model guitar this was removed from is not known. Entirely intact and sound, but lacking any screw fixings in place when it was removed. Cosmetically very good for age, with just a little age-related wear to original Stained/Ebonised finish, as you would expect, to give the correct vintage look. No fixing screws included.
LATE 1930s/EARLY 1940s USA ACOUSTIC GUITAR TAILPIECE - AP3/3.
Very good condition, as removed from 1942 Gibson L-50 archtop acoustic guitar, in order to replace with a period/model correct trapeze tailpiece. Entirely intact & cosmetically very good for age, with just a little age-related tarnishing/marking, as you would expect....removed from a 1942 Gibson L-50 archtop, where it was original fitment during wartime restrictions. No fixing screws included.
