Unusual old National/Supro

ICBM · April 2017

A friend of mine just bought this… it's a 60s National Folkstar, made from 'Resoglass' (fibreglass).

It's a rare enough guitar anyway, but from the research we've done online, this one is even more unusual, possibly unique…

First, although National and Supro (and Valco) were all the same company really, every other one we can find is badged Supro, not National - and almost every one has dot inlays and not blocks, and no neck binding… we've found a couple of black examples (they came in both colours) with the blocks and binding, but a different headstock shape - and also different from this one, which is not quite the same as the Supro version.

Second, every one has three-on-a-strip tuners. This has Grovers, and although they may not be original, it never had the strips either - there are no extra screw holes. Also oddly, there are a couple of chips out of the wood where the machineheads have been drilled through, but these have been repaired *under* the finish. And yet, the tuner holes themselves are unfinished inside, implying that they were done afterwards! Most puzzling.

As an actual guitar it's not bad at all - certainly quirky and not quite like a normal resonator, but it has a fairly decent tone in a sort of ratty bluesy/Jack White kind of way, and it plays quite well. There's no truss rod - apparently they have some sort of aluminium tube in the neck, which can be very difficult to fix if it gets kinked, but this one appears to be OK - there's some uneven fretting but it isn't too bad if the action stays a bit higher. The neck angle is adjustable using the three screws on the back.

So what is it? It's clearly not a modern put-together, but it doesn't correspond to any standard Folkstar we can find. Custom order? Factory job to use up left-over parts? The previous owner claimed to have had it from new in about 1965, which isn't at either the start or end of the production run (1958-68) so that doesn't seem likely either. If anyone has any other information it would be much appreciated!

Strangefan · April 2017

Wow that's right up my street what a cool looking guitar,

Lewy · April 2017

I'd post this on Michael Messer's forum. If he doesn't know there's a good chance Mark Makin (total reso authority) who visits there occasionally will.

Shark_Eyes · April 2017

The really odd thing is, I can't find an example of that headstock logo. There's version with the word national coming out either side of the shield, but they either say "Reso-phonic" or nothing, there's versions that say "trade-mark" but the word national is within the shield on those examples.

ICBM · April 2017

Lewy said:

I'd post this on Michael Messer's forum. If he doesn't know there's a good chance Mark Makin (total reso authority) who visits there occasionally will.

Thanks, that's useful.

Shark_Eyes said:

The really odd thing is, I can't find an example of that headstock logo. There's version with the word national coming out either side of the shield, but they either say "Reso-phonic" or nothing, there's versions that say "trade-mark" but the word national is within the shield on those examples.

Exactly - nothing seems to quite correlate with any known example! But it is definitely original, and old. I honestly wonder if it's some sort of prototype for a National-badged deluxe version that never made it into production, or something.

KKJale · April 2017

Shark_Eyes said:

The really odd thing is, I can't find an example of that headstock logo. There's version with the word national coming out either side of the shield, but they either say "Reso-phonic" or nothing, there's versions that say "trade-mark" but the word national is within the shield on those examples.

Actually this National badge does rock up on certain lap steels, eg the Dynamic (one of my favourite designs)... small pic, but you get the idea.

http://i.imgur.com/t5Jfp4h.jpg

WezV · April 2017

If you need to take the back off at any point it might confirm if the neck has ever been replaced, its missing the covers from the holes but that is not unusual

I wouldn't take it off just to confirm that though - I am not even sure how the back is being held on here as there are no screws, possible just glued together since access can be gained through the resonator hole.

Some internal pics would be interesting.

ICBM · April 2017

WezV said:

If you need to take the back off at any point it might confirm if the neck has ever been replaced, its missing the covers from the holes but that is not unusual

I wouldn't take it off just to confirm that though - I am not even sure how the back is being held on here as there are no screws, possible just glued together since access can be gained through the resonator hole.

Some internal pics would be interesting.

I'll probably get the chance at some point - it will need a bit of fretwork to make it fully playable. The body appears to be glued together, yes.

According to the seller, her husband bought it new in 1965 so I think a replaced neck is unlikely, although you can never completely trust sellers! Apparently it was covered in decades of dust when it was sold, so I certainly don't think it's anything that's been bodged together recently. I'm not sure if that neck type was used on any other model either.

WezV · April 2017

It is likely a friday special using up parts - you can never be sure, but its always handy if you can find another example so you can fully rule out the rebuild question

richardhomer · April 2017

Ideal for any Jack/Bukka White tribute acts out there....

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Unusual old National/Supro

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