What is this?

[MATT]

I am new to this site and have a question about an old acoustic guitar. It is a small body guitar with no name on the head stock. on the body there is a painting in black and gold of a bucking horse and people sitting on a fence. My grandmother says that is was bought used in the 1930s by my grandfather. I asume it is a cheaply made guitar but I am still curious.

I will try to post some pictures later today. Thanks in advance for the help.


-Matthew

[MATT]

Sorry guys, pics are still to come. I went to use the camera and it died,
I swear its posessed

[Spud1950]

What you have is known as a Cowboy guitar,mostly cheaply made guitars with stencil painted western scenes. There are people who collect them. They were pretty popular from the 1930s to the early 1960s. A lot of companies made them and a lot were sold through mail order outfits like Sears and Wards. As far as the painted scenes,there are tons of variations. Harmony , Kay and lots of lesser known companies made them but while some are branded, many have no manufaturers identification on them and it takes a knowledgable person to identify the brand by the scene that's painted on the guitar. Here's a website about them. There's contact info,so if you can get a picture of yours,they might be able to identify it.

[MATT]

Thanks, I will try to send them a picture. I was told it was bought in Nova Scotia used. Hopefully I will be able to determine its origin with the help of the link you supplied. The inside braceing is in pretty bad shape on this guitar, does anyone know if these things are usually reparable.

thanks,
-Matthew

[Spud1950]

It can be repaired,but whether it's worth it is another question.That sort of repair can be pretty spendy and a lot of those cowboy guitars aren't really worth very much money. Most of the cheaply made generic ones I've seen for sale in nice condition had asking prices of $100-$125. I saw a Harmony made Sears Supertone Gene Autry Roundup model in nice condition for sale for $175. Bottom line is you'd have to know what the guitar would be worth compared to how much it cost to fix it. From what I can gather, most people collect them more the graphics then they do for the playability. They're interesting looking "wall hangers".

[VintAxe]

Hey Matt,

Here is a link to a video of an Arkansas dealer showing off his cowboy guitar collection on a local news show. You might find it interesting.

[MATT]

Thanks for the link, thats a great collection that guy has. A bit of a trip from Toronto though. By the way spud I assumed the repainrs would be expensive, but its more for the sentimental reasons as it was my grandfathers guitar and he has now passed away.

What a guilt trip

thanks for the help guys

-Matthew