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So a buddy of mine sent me this old picture of his father (that he never met). Does anyone recognize the make of this achtop? I am thinking Stella or Harmony, but name is hard to read, looks like it starts with an “S”. Perhaps someone knows. Thanks!

Maybe a Kay

I'm pretty sure this is the guitar. It's a Supertone archtop. The info I found on this picture calls it a 1950s S40. It's not a 50s model, but older. The f-holes look to be 30-40.

You'll note that the logo looks right, the f-holes correct, and the odd arrangement of the fretmarkers are correct (2 on fret 7).

https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/musica ... 28-84031.s

https://gpguitars.com/products/1940s-ss ... hollowbody
the headstock appears similar to the SS Stewart makes For sure interesting. Dianne is learning more every time and she may be right in that the owner may have embelished the headstock.

hope you find the info

That Supertone logo and 7th fret “double dot” looks like a match! My buddy will be excited. He thought that may be a flower stuck behind the nut. Thanks to everyone for the great help with this!

glad you found your info

The logo is the old Art Deco logo. It reads 'supertone " across the top, then has vertical lines in a deco pattern. It's in gold, so 60-70 years ago, it would be a lot brighter, especially in the sunlight, where he's playing.

Thanks again, everyone. I passed this all on to my friend and he was so grateful for your efforts. He himself is a guitarist and played professionally (local bands) for over 40 years. And like I mentioned, he never met or knew his father, so every bit of information helps him get a better picture. Thanks!

I'm was really glad to help. Never knew my father either, so I understand.

After restoring a Washburn archtop for a client, I fell in love with these old ladies.

I found an old archtop on Ebay, complete with original case, original Black Diamond replacement strings (in the packages), pitch pipe, and a treasure trove of old 1920's music books, Inc. one song played on "Brother Where Art Thou", by Jimmy Rogers. It even had a 96 guitar lessons, addressed to a young boy on December 4, 1941 (you know what happened on December 7, 1941).

It's an old Supertone, dated mid 1930's. I did extensive research on it, downloading old catalogs. They were offered at Sears. In 1940, Sears bought the company, rebranding it Silvertone. So, you know when you see a Supertone, it's pre WWII.

The scientist in me comes to the fore with old instruments. I love researching.

My current subject is the old archtop with inlay that I've just restored. I've got it narrowed down to Italian made for the Japanese market. I'm 90% sure it was made by Raffael Calace. Unfortunately, he sighed his guitars on the top, in the lower bout. My archtop had been refinished, badly.

I agree with ya, Diane, these old archtops have so much character. I fell in love with that 1930 something archtop you just restored. Sure, it isn’t a pre-war Martin, but it displays so much creativity and freedom in its design. They are treasures.