Here's a cool old 1930s archtop project for someone. This is a May-Bell model 84, with a solid spruce top (some sources say carved top, some say pressed—unsure which is true, but it is 100% solid wood) and solid maple or birch back and sides. I have owned this guitar model once before, and the previous one had birdseye maple back and sides, but since the back and sides were painted black, I couldn't tell until I was working inside the guitar. This one is quite dirty, so I can't tell much from looking inside the guitar with my phone. Judging from the grain I can see on the back where the paint has sunken in, I'd say it looks flat-sawn and not a fancy back and side set.
These are interesting guitars to me as they are quite different from your typical archtop of the era. The body looks like it was trying to emulate a Martin archtop, with the square-shouldered 000 or OM body shape and full-depth sides like you might find on a 000 or OM, rather than the shallower side depth often found on archtops. These guitars are essentially deep-bodied archtops, if you will, giving them quite decent bass response. The neck, on the other hand, looks like it was emulating a Gibson style with its open-book or mustache headstock profile.
These guitars were sold by the Slingerland company. Some sources claim Slingerland made the guitars themselves, while others disagree. I'm not sure who made these archtops, but I do know some of the May-Bell-branded small-bodied flat-top guitars sold by Slingerland were made by Regal, so it wouldn't surprise me if these were also made by one of the more well-known guitar manufacturers of the day.
This guitar is obviously not in great shape, nor in original condition. The only original hardware components remaining with the guitar are the nut and end pin; the bridge, tailpiece, and tuners are missing. Someone painted the guitar white at some point. I'm unsure of the extent of any damage under the paint, aside from the obvious cracks, which it has many of: one decent-size crack in the top below and to the right of the fretboard extension, a few small top cracks around the f-holes, no obvious side cracks, numerous back cracks (see pics). The braces are loose in some areas and separated in others and floating around inside the body. The neck is still very straight and the angle looks pretty decent, but there is a slight separation and wiggle at the neck heel, indicating the neck joint is a bit loose. Overall, this guitar needs lots of work, but it would be worth fixing if you have the time—these can sound great once fixed up.
Specs/Dimensions:
- Top: solid spruce
- Back and sides: solid maple or birch
- Neck: mystery hardwood
- Fretboard: Braziian rosewood
- Bracing: typical 2 tone-bar bracing for the top, ladder-braced back
- Scale: 24-7/8"
- Nut: 1-3/4"
- Upper bout width: 11-3/16"
- Waist width: 9-5/8"
- Lower bout width: 15-3/8"
- Body length: 18-7/8"
- Depth at neck block: 3-9/16" at side, not including arches
- Depth at tail block: 4-3/16" 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 as they are a part of the description, and if you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to reach out and message me before bidding.