c.1925 Stromberg-Voisinet Tenor Guitar

This very cool-looking tenor guitar is a customer's instrument. It was made by Stromberg-Voisinet (later Kay) in Chicago around 1925 or so. This body shape was only used by this company and in the 1930s became the classic shape for the archtop KayKraft instruments which are famous with blues players nowadays.

My work included replacing a missing upper bout brace, hairline crack fill/repair, fret level/dress, cleaning and setup.

This has a solid spruce top with birch back, sides, and neck. The fretboard is dyed maple veneered with "mother of toilet seat" (celluloid) in a pearly pattern. The bridge looks like dyed maple as well.

Fun "Gumby" headstock. Bone nut. Note that everything is 100% original on this instrument.

Bound board as well.

Fun bridge! I like the top-mounted strings. Makes restringing quick and easy.

Here's the distributor's label in the soundhole.

Fun purfling. The top, back, and soundhole are also bound.

Did I mention the cool pickguard, too?

This tenor has a full 23" scale and per the customer's request set this up with DGBE tuning in steel. With the smallish body this makes it feel very "baritone uke."

Friction tuners.

Sound is punchy, loud, and direct.