1930s Regal Harmony Custom Kraft All Solid Birch Archtop 000 Size Project Guitar

Description: Here's a cool old 1930s archtop project for someone. Custom Kraft branded guitars such as this one were made by both Harmony and Regal and perhaps others as well but this one was made by Regal, the headstock, neck shape, and body shape are all dead giveaways. This would have been a lower end model it it's day as is evident by the faux spruce grain painted on the top and faux flamed maple painted on the back. The top, back, and sides, are all made of solid birch. The top and back would have been pressed into the arch shape rather than carved, another budget feature. The back has ladder bracing like you would find on a flattop, and the top is ladder braced as well rather than tone bar/parallel braced. Most of the braces are loose inside the guitar, the back will need to come off to get this one back up and running again, but the lack of binding on this guitar will make that job quite easy. So while this is certainly not a high end jazz box, it is still really a good quality instrument and would make a great bluesy, folksy, type guitar, which is what I love these old budget archtops for. These are lightweight, resonant guitars, that create a nice warm, woody, dark, tonality when fixed up. The guitar is in all original condition with the exception of the missing bridge, pickguard, one tuner post and gear, and the fact that someone has previously worked on the neck heel... I don't think they ever had the neck off or changed the angle, but it looks like someone sunk a screw or bolt through the neck heel into the neck block (there is a round hole in the neck heel that is filled with some sort of filler, see pics). I imagine the screw is still inside and is likely what has caused the side crack on the treble side of the neck heel. As can be seen in the photos. There are numerous cracks throughout the body that will need to be repaired. They are all still tight enough that I think they could be coaxed into closing up quite well but ymmv. The only thing I did to this was clean up the fretboard grime and give the guitar a wipe down with a damp rag. The fretboard is radiused, there's a bit of wear to the board but nothing super deep, the frets are medium sized and have some wear but minimal, the neck/fretboard itself is very straight, so overall I don't think a full refret is necessary with this one, just a leveling, polish, and oiling of the board. There are bits of white paint here and there on the instrument, it's funny how often I see this on old guitars, people like painting around guitars I guess.. Anyway, I think it looks cool personally, goes with the half worn off white painted faux binding. Overall I really dig the look of this guitar and should probably just work on it myself but I always tend to buy more projects at one time than I can reasonably take on, so this one is on the sell as-is list for the time being. Specs/Dimensions:Top: solid birch, press arched Back and sides: solid birch, press arched back Neck: mystery hardwood, likely poplar Fretboard: ebonized hardwood, looks like maple to me Bracing: ladderScale: 24-7/8"Nut: a hair over 1-3/4" Upper bout width: 11-1/4"Waist width: 9"Lower bout width: 15-11/16"Body length: 19-7/8"Depth at neck block: 3-1/4" at side not including arches Depth at tail block: 3-3/8" at side, not including arches Case: no case included, will be well packed. This is being sold as-is, without return. Please understand this before bidding and ask any questions should you have any before bidding. I do my best to go into lots of detail and describe my items to the best of my ability and honestly but I make no guarantees to have found every little thing that may or may not be wrong or in need of repair. Please examine the photos thoroughly and if you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to reach out and message me before bidding.

Price: 300 USD

Location: Callander, Ontario

End Time: 2025-01-20T18:29:36.000Z

Shipping Cost: 75 USD