Can you identify this guitar?

[Reesman96]

Just picked this up today and all I know is that it's a Oahu and it was made in Cleveland I believe. Any other info towards maybe a year it was made or what it's worth would be great! Thank you!

[Brucebubs]

This 1935 Oahu Jumbo Deluxe looks very similar.

Bridge - Headstock - fretboard inlay - rosette and trim all look like a match.



Very cool guitar too!

Here's a listing for the guitar pictured; https://www.om28.com/ProductDetail?product=P180516001

[Wade Hampton]

Oahu was a well-known brand of guitars during the 1920's and 30's. Yours looks to be in excellent condition, so it seems clear that it got passed down as a family heirloom and taken care of.

You might be interested to know that the metal device lifting the strings high at the nut for Hawaiian-style slide playing is called (I kid you not) a Hawaiian nut raiser.

Sounds painful, doesn't it?

Oahu guitar with Hawaiian nut raiser

Anyway, I'm sure some folks with greater in-depth knowledge of Oahu guitars than I have will come along and fill us all in on the details. So I'll just add congratulations on finding a very cool instrument.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Wade Hampton]

I found some information about Oahu guitars on the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum in a post written by Russ Young, which I've quoted in part here:

"Oahu-labeled guitars were made for the Oahu Publishing Co. of Cleveland, which called itself "The World's Largest Guitar Dealer" in 1935.

"The Honolulu Conservatory of Music was established in Flint, Michigan in the late '20s by Harry Stanley and his half-brother, George Bronson. Stanley founded Oahu in 1933; Bronson started the Bronson Music & Sales Co. in Detroit about the same time.

"Oahu offered a variety of squareneck and roundneck acoustic guitars -- most were made in Chicago by Kay and Harmony. The most common are inexpensive ($22.50 in 1935) birch guitars with a dark brown finish. More expensive models were available; I used to own an all-mahogany small-bodied squareneck with black-and-white "rope" style binding ($65 in 1935). The top of the line was a rosewood/spruce jumbo with "pearl" inlay (it sure looks like abalone to me!), soundhole ring and top trim. These were $158 in 1935 -- more than $2100 in 2004 dollars.

"Bronson had similar acoustic offerings -- I've also owned a Bronson student-grade squareneck. Both Oahu and Bronson also sold electric lap steels as they gained popularity -- Oahus were generally made by Valco (who also made Nationals and Supros), while some Bronsons were made by Rickenbacher. "


The one you have appears to be the brand's top of the line model.

Here's the link to that thread:

https://umgf.com/oahu-hawaiian-guitars-t55001.html

Hope this helps.



whm


PS: The single most knowledgeable individual when it comes to this particular era is a gentleman in Annapolis, Maryland named Neil Harpe. He specializes in Stella guitars (and is a superb player as well as a collector,) but he also probably knows more than anyone else about these Oahu instruments, as well.

He's a great guy, very approachable as well as knowledgeable, and if you sent him some photos and asked about the guitar he will tell you what he knows.

[Reesman96]

Wow, thank you guys very much for all the information you are truly great people!

[Yrksman]

Thanks for posting the pictures and the responses were fascinating. I really enjoy reading about these older guitars. (Wow my 2000th post!)

[Reesman96]

This and several finger picks we're also in the case

[steve223]

U don't know anything about them but congratulations on a cool old guitar!!

[Dreadfulnaught]

I’ve had two Oahu’s, a lap steel I sold years ago and a Hawaiian guitar I gifted to a friend recently. Neither was as nice as yours. They each had an aluminum pyramid bridge shaped like yours. I bet that if you look inside, you’ll see that it is affixed with two bolts.
I believe they were made by Regal or another Chicago maker but am not sure. They predate Harmony, so Regal or Kay I would guess.

[Monsoon1]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

This 1935 Oahu Jumbo Deluxe looks very similar.

Bridge - Headstock - fretboard inlay - rosette and trim all look like a match.



Very cool guitar too!

Here's a listing for the guitar pictured; https://www.om28.com/ProductDetail?product=P180516001

Wow, just shy of five grand!

[Reesman96]

Just had a music shop in PA tell me he'd give me 300$ for it, think that's a bit low

[Monsoon1]

Originally Posted by Reesman96

Just had a music shop in PA tell me he'd give me 300$ for it, think that's a bit low

Did you click on the link in post #2?

[Reesman96]

Originally Posted by Monsoon1

Did you click on the link in post #2?

Oh yeah haha, I even told the guy how much it was going for on the internet and he tried to bs me by saying there's no demand for something like it

[Monsoon1]

Originally Posted by Reesman96

Oh yeah haha, I even told the guy how much it was going for on the internet and he tried to bs me by saying there's no demand for something like it

Oh sure, I mean who wants an amazing guitar from the early 1900's.

[zombywoof]

As noted that is Kay Kraft-built Oahu Deluxe. The earliest version was a a Style 60 although the model number was changed later on. As there were two distinct versions, you can narrow down the build date down by features. The early guitars built from 1931 to around 1935 were X braced with a deep 4 /12" body and thus the nickname the Oahu "Nick Lucas." Later models were ladder braced. They had larger lower bouts but were only 3 1/3" deep. The factory round neck guitars are far harder to come by than the square necks resulting in a brisk cottage industry doing neck conversions.

Here is Oahu (with non-orginal bridge and pickguard). It is a very early one so still has the asymmetrical Kay Kraft headstock rather than the Oahu headstock.