Close-up #25: 1934 Howard SN 7388
Here an uncommon archtop guitar now residing in the highly recommended Dutch
Archtop Guitar Museum – curator Ruurd Feitsma provided these great
photos. Previously the instrument was part of another very nice
guitar collection. The pearl banner on the headstock is engraved "Howard" – a rather obscure brand even for vintage guitar aficionados. No wonder, since only 3 examples of "Howard" archtops are known to exist, this being one of them.
The guitar appears to be a well-made, professional-grade instrument – with a carved spruce top and a lovely figured, 2-piece carved maple back, highlighted by a beautifully applied sunburst finish.
Some time back in the 1980s, this guitar arrived at Gruhn Guitars, the legendary Nashville instrument store; vintage instrument experts George Gruhn and Walter Carter (working for Gruhn at the time, now with his own great store, Carter Vintage) obviously noticed: Some details of this "Howard" archtop looked reminiscent of another, more familiar brand – Epiphone. Gruhn and Carter featured this guitar in their book "Acoustic guitars and other fretted instruments: a photographic history", 1993, p187 (pictured below).
The pickguard and tailpiece are identical to those seen on 1930s Epiphone archtops, ...
... as is the multi-piece neck construction with contrasting center-stripe. The block fretboard inlays are similar to the Epiphone Broadway model. The body shape and dimensions match the 16 3/8" wide "Grand Auditorium" size of Epiphone's top models (until 1935).
These gold-plated single tuners with clipped plates and oval buttons were likely made by Waverly. This type is commonly seen on Epis of the 1931–36 era – in gold on high-end models, nickeled on lower models (some with plastic buttons).
On the other hand: The shape of the headstock and f-holes (1-piece, pointy transition to scrolls) are more Gibson-esque than Epi-style.
But there is more: A look through the bass-side f-hole reveals a stamped number "7388" – identical in style to the SN stamps in Epiphone Masterbilt instruments of the 1931–34 period. Furthermore, the same SN "7388" ...
... is also stamped into the bottom side of the bridge foot – a classic Epiphone feature.
We conclude that this and the two other known Howard archtops were manufactured at the Epiphone factory in New York alongside regular Epiphone models – receiving SNs of the same SN system. SN 7388 suggests the instrument was built in 1934.
Howard archtops never appeared in any (known) catalog or advert. But there are older ads for Howard brand mandolins and guitars – apparently a house brand of the famous Rudolph Wurlitzer Company (see picture below). Examples of Howard mandolins and flattop guitars have surfaced.
I also found this info on Mugwumps.com: "Eugene Howard was the Cincinnati, OH maker of Howard brand instruments c1896-1920s. They were distributed by Wurlitzer, a major wholesaler, with branches in Cincinnati and Chicago. Later, Howard became a Wurlitzer brandname."
We have evidence that the Rudolph Wurlitzer Co., Cincinnati OH, was an Epiphone dealer. So it is well possible that Wurlitzer launched a line of Epiphone-made archtops under their Howard house brand – obviously a short-lived attempt, judging from the few such instruments known.
Apart from "Howard", Epiphone manufactured at least two other house brand lines in the 1930s: "Sorrentino" guitars for the Chicago Musical Instrument Co. (CMI), and "Ideal" brand models for an unknown distributor. Stuff for another story ...
Finally, let's look at the old hardshell case this Howard came in.
The "single diamond" design on the case pocket lid is an indicator that the case was manufactured by the Geib company, ...
... confirmed by a stamp in the covering: "G. & S. Co / Masterkraft / Chicago / Trademark". "G. & S." stands for "Geib & Schaefer", the company's name before changing to "Geib Inc." by 1937. Geib was one of the leading instrument case manufacturers of the 20th century.
If you want to know more about vintage (American) musical instrument cases and their history, Steve Kirtley's invaluable website offers a wealth of information.
(Nov 21, 2016)