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1939 Harmony H1248 (Supertone) Spanish Electric

Garrett Park Guitars

This guitar is in our Hall of Fame Collection and is no longer available for purchase.

For your consideration, Garrett Park Guitars presents this 1939 Harmony H1248 Supertone Spanish Electric

This appears to be one of the very first Harmony electric model, shown as a model in the '39 or '40 catalog. It was named "Spanish Electric" to distinguish it from the "Hawaiian" electric lap steels. Similar models were proposed as Supertone models 293 and 294 in Sears catlaogs 1936 and 1937 but were not actually built till 1939.

It is not clear if this is a Harmony or Supertone but in either case it is very early for an electric archtop from Harmony. The pickup is a Big 3 single coil and mounts in a hole in the body. The body is Faux flame maple or birch. This guitar is ideal for a collector, and is one of the more unusual and rare pieces to come through our shop in some time. Fresh back from our repair shop where the neck was reset and the pickup remagnetized.

From Scott Freilich "Those guitars were made between 1939-1941. The were made by Harmony for Sears, and sold under the Supertone name pre 1940 and the Silvertone name sometime after. The pickup has 3 coils and usually very weak magnets. Rick mentioned that he sent the pickup to Lindy to have the magnets re-magnetized. Sears sold a lap steel with the same pickup that came with a matching amp-in-the case. I had an example where the amp was labeled Silvertone and the lap steel branded Supertone. The guitars came in both blond and sunburst, and I think there were 2 versions; a basic model without binding and dot inlays, and an upscale model, usually blond, with binding and fancier inlays."

Serial Number: NSN

Condition: Very Good

Photos of the actual guitar (we love it when people ask us if these are stock photos 

As always we discount most guitars for direct (non ebay.com & reverb.com) sales. Please contact us for discounts.

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