May Bell faux resonator guitar from 1935

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a vintage May Bell acoustic guitar from 1935 pretending to be something it isn't. Given the twin mesh-covered soundholes and the large circular steel plate covering most of the top of the guitar, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a resonator guitar. However, take a closer look and you'll see that the bridge is not mounted in the middle of a cone - in fact you can see that it's a wooden bridge mounted straight onto the wood of the top which simply would not be present underneath the plate on a true resonator guitar. So, it's a guitar in disguise. In a way, it's the 1930s equivalent of a solidbody electric acoustic with faux soundhole.

G L Wilson

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