What kind of guitar is this?

[toseikai]

Hi everyone,
My dad bought a guitar at a garage sale which had no label on the headstock or inside of the body. It looks like the previous owner made a bunch of adjustments, e.g. there's a gaping hole at the bottom of the guitar and I'm not sure whether the pick guard is standard. Here are some pictures (there are two pages):

http://imgur.com/a/ekJ07/1

Does anyone know what kind of guitar this is?

Thanks for the help,
James

[VintAxe]

toseikai,

I am far from an expert on old archtop guitars but I do have a couple of thoughts on your instrument to pass along.

When I started scrolling through your pictures my first hunch was that the guitar was a Harmony. The tailpiece, the non-continuous, unbound f holes and decorative top binding all reminded me of early Harmonys.

However, I got stopped cold when I saw that open-book headstock. To my knowledge, Harmony never mimicked the Gibson headstock style on their archtops.

Clearly, someone has set out to mimic a Gibson archtop at a budget price. If you can get a mirror inside you might check to see if the top is actually carved or pressed. If it is carved you should see tool marks, if it is pressed it should be smooth. My guess is that the top is pressed but if it is carved it would be a better quality instrument than I anticipate.

[toseikai]

I couldn't find a mirror small enough to fit into the body, but running my fingers on the bottom of the top, I could feel that it was smooth. What a shame! It sounds very good, almost better than my Martin 000-15, so I thought it was something expensive. Oh well! At least it sounds good.

[viking]

l have had a few and l have seen some that were made by regal but the shoulders look like a kay built. back in the day the builders all worked with each other not like now. l cant see the front except in bits so l might tell if you did a pic of the front complete