Majestic / Harp Guitar By Gaetano F. Puntolillo (#1784) / 1920 / Natural / Guitar
This beautiful, ca. 1920 'Harp' guitar weighs just 6.20 lbs. Two-piece carved straight-grain spruce top with a 5/16 inch marquetry border and a marquetry bound 3 1/2 inch diameter sound-hole, inlaid with variegated woods of conventional design. Original specific-shape tortoiseshell pickguard affixed to top. Two-piece mahogany back with 1/4 inch marquetry center strip and brown pyralin edging. Mahogany sides. Two-piece mahogany neck with maple and walnut center strips, a nut width of 1 3/4 inches, a scale length of 24 1/4 inches and a thick profile. Rosewood fretboard with 18 thin frets and highly decorative and very intricate abalone position markers as well as a vertical center white stripe. Walnut faced (front and back) 'slotted' headstock with 'banner-style' "Majestic" inlaid in mother-of-pearl and engraved in black. Rear facing, six-on-one-side strip tuners with ivory oval buttons. The six-string, sub-bass 'Harp' neck is a hollow extension of the body (with a marquetry-bound diamond-shaped soundhole) and has a walnut faced, 'slotted' headstock with rear facing, six-on-one-side strip tuners with ivory oval buttons. Six-string guitar with bone saddle on walnut base. Harp guitar also with bone bridge on the same walnut base, both with original? ivory pins. The extreme length of this instrument is 42 inches, the body length is 19 3/8 inches, the body width is 14 1/2 inches, and the body depth is just under 4 1/4 inches. The guitar neck has been expertly re-fretted with the correct gauge thin fretwire. The top has several expertly repaired cracks and there is also an expertly repaired crack on the bass-side of the back and a small piece (7/8 x 1/2 inch) chipped away on upper bass waist of the top. Inside the sound-hole is the original rectangular pale green printed label with "Established 1900 / Phone Canal 3644 / Mandolins / G.F. Puntolillo / Manufacturer of / Majestic Banjos / and High Grade Musical Instruments / Guitars / 35 Spring Street / New York City". Overall this nearly 100 year old harp guitar is in excellent plus (8.75) condition. There is no case with this instrument. This actual guitar is from the famous Chinery collection and is featured in the book. "Gaetano F. Puntolillo was a New York-based inventor who used the Majestic brand for his instruments, primarily banjos which tend to date from the 1920s. This rare harp guitar is based on Chris Knutsen's design, popularized by the Larson-made Dyer instruments". (The Chinery Collection, p.29).
Fretted Americana , USA
We specialize in acquiring and offering the finest specimens of American vintage electric guitars with particular attention to those in their complete, original state. We are the only dealer to embrace a written code of ethics (in Terms & Conditions). We encourage you to read it.
HOW WE WORK
We want to inspire and win your trust and confidence. You don't want to have any negative surprises upon receipt of an instrument that you've invested yourself as well as your money into. Nor do you want any untoward surprises should you decide to sell it in the future.
To that end, every guitar that we offer is catalogued to a degree and depth of detail that is fast becoming the standard in the trade. When we declare an instrument to be completely original, it is. If it is not, we tell you exactly in what manner it has been altered.
We photograph each guitar at many angles to provide you with the broadest, clearest sense of its appearance. We will, upon request, provide you with images of all electronic components, inside and out.
Each guitar we acquire is skillfully and painstakingly dissected by David Brass, who is a trained luthier as well as a dealer and collector. All parts, no matter how small, are meticulously examined. We have an enviable reference library of wide breadth and scope that we refer to when necessary for crucial facts. The instrument is put under a black-light: original finish or refin? Even the most skillfully masked ding is uncovered. David then fastidiously reassembles the instrument. It is then cleaned with the finest products available for wood and metal.
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CODE OF ETHICS
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To that end:
We meticulously inspect in detail every guitar that we offer. We check the finish, all of the electrical components, serial numbers, etc. With over thirty years of experience collecting and handling vintage guitars and our enormous reference library, we bring to bear all that is known about guitar manufacturers, models, and annual production.
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