Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

What is this guitar? Bo played it on the Ed Sullivan in 1955.

Mitch I think it may be one of the earliest ES-140s. The lack of florentine cutaway does bother me though.

The pickguard and headstock shapes suggest it's a Harmony or similar guitar - such as a Kay, Old Kraftsman, Silvertone and the like. To my eyes, it looks like a Harmony H-61 or comparable model.

Here's the Silvertone version sans pickguard -

http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab18 ... rst/02.jpg

Nice work Peewee. You are very close I believe.

At first, I was thinking Guild M-75 but it also reminded me a bit of a Stratotone, sort of, so yes, Harmony seems a most logical choice.

I posted this question on another forum and got this answer:

"It is a guitar from the United Code factory in NYC, branded either Stewart or Orpheum. United Code made a few archtop models without f-holes for those brands, and this early single-coil pickup may have been made by Franz (same company that made '50s Guild pickups). Despite its black dog-ear cover, it is not a Gibson P-90; up close, you'd notice that it's smaller and the poles are off-center.

United Code is most famous for making Premier guitars during this era. None of their guitars are particularly common."

I think he is right,here is a Stewart/Premier semi hollow body with no F-holes and a Franz made pickup.

Interesting! I have read lots of books on guitars that cover just about every maker but have never heard of United Code.

jps wrote:Interesting! I have read lots of books on guitars that cover just about every maker but have never heard of United Code.

I guess it was a factory in New York that made some guitar bodies for several different manufacturers including Premier and D'angelico. Maybe Bo got this guitar when he went to New York for the Ed Sullivan show?

octagon wrote:I guess it was a factory in New York that made some guitar bodies for several different manufacturers including Premier and D'angelico.

Hmm, I have serious doubts about that one.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw= ... a=N&tab=wi

EVerything about the guitar screams "Harmony" to me.

jps wrote:Hmm, I have serious doubts about that one.

I for one wouldn't discount it right from the start. It is certainly possible. I mean, how many people know Gibson's made guitars for Washburn and some other names?

Instrument manufacturing, the actual production, imo was a mess with dozens of factories creating basic models, that would be branded by someone else. Let's not forget some manufacturers let you put any name on a model if you ordered at least x amount.

The body of this Premier Bantam which was made at the United-Code factory has a similar shape. It also has one of the Franz pickups.

Anyway, seems it's the one pick-up version of a model that was build for a variety of brands!

Here is a similar (2 pick-up) guitar on Ebay

"This is a cool vintage guitar made in he USA in the late 50's or early 60's. This one is missing the logo but I have seen these with both the Premier and Stewart brand names. I think this one is a Stewart."