Harwood mandolins and guitars

[Jim Garber]

Nice one Charles... I would also say that that pickguard was a later add-on. I bet there was never a pickguard on this guitar and i am pretty sure that if there was it was not that one.

Very good condition. Harwood guitars were distributed By Jenkins Music Co. of Kansas City. This was probably made by Regal or Bruno in Chicago around 1920, give or take a decade or so. Has nicely figured Brazilian rosewood back and sides, solid Adirondack spruce top, and ebony fretboards. Body is about the size of a 00 or 000 size Martin. There are some repaired top, back and side cracks but all were professionally repaired and cleated. Original tuners. I think the bridge may be replaced as it looks newer, even though it is Brazilian rosewood as well. The neck was reset, the frets were dressed and the guitar was set up by luthier Dave Sheppard. Plays nicely and has a unique sound with the six string harp neck. Very playable instrument ready to go. Comes with a large, heavy home made wooden hard shell case

[MikeEdgerton]

Bruno, to my knowledge was always a distributor and never a manufacturer. Does anyone have a source that shows that Bruno actually was a builder? I'd beinterested in seeing that.

[brunello97]

Not to sidetrack what is slowly building as a great thread dedicated to Harwood, but following up on Mike's comment here is a link I found to a couple old C. Bruno & Sons musical instrument catalogs.

http://www.archive.org/search.php?qu...uno+%26+Son%22

A little disappointing to find the mandolin page missing from the 1881 catalog, but a lot of interesting instruments nonetheless.

They must of had a wide network of sources for their product lines.

Mick

[barney999]

Hi all. First, thanks to all (especially Bob Jenkins) for all the work bringing forth information about Harwood instruments. It's appreciated !

When I first acquired my Harwood guitar, probably 10 or 15 years ago, there was virtually no info on Harwood. I heard various vague stories, but nothing confirmed. One fellow told me he saw John Cephas playing somewhere (I forget where it was. I think in the midwest) with a sweet-sounding Harwood. (I think that's who it was. I could be wrong about the name, but it was a known acoustic bluesman). The story went that he asked John if he would sell it, and the response was something like, "Hell no". In any event, it's great to see all the information that's been brought to light. The 1895 Jenkins Catalog is a major find.

My Harwood's serial number is 20821. Based on the 1895 Jenkins Catalog, it appears to be either a No.1, 2, or 6. It's a very plain guitar -- no fancy inlays or adornments. The back is one-piece, with a number of hairline-like cracks.

Has the serial number scheme been deciphered yet ? I thought I read somewhere that it might be the 821st guitar made in either 1902, or maybe the 2nd year of production. Can anyone shed a light on that ?

I was also curious if anyone would know its value. I think its in fairly good shape, except the bridge has lifted up and it has a number of hairline cracks in its back. I'm going to be making a major move and I'm limited on what I can bring with me. I'm on the fence about taking it with me, although my wife's not. :-)

Thanks.

- barney

[77hotrocks]

Hi I just wanted to reply to your search for information on Harwood guitars. I have one serial number 18205. Mine has the Harwood New York logo on the head stock. This has been passed down we believe from my wifes great aunt who we think lived in Illinois. We are in are late 60's so I believe she must have aquired it new. It is in fairly nice condition. However I am thinking about having it restored to like new. what are the thoughts on doing such.

Thanks Dennis
573-374-9667

[Bill Snyder]

Dennis, forgive me for pointing this out but you might not want to post your email address or phone number on a public forum.
In about 30 seconds someone can find out your full name and your spouses name and your home address. They don't have to have access to any high prices software or search sites to do this.
By using the edit function you can remove this information from your post and if any member of the Mandolin Cafe wants to contact you they can do it by clicking on your name and using the Private Message function that maintains your privacy.

[bgmando]

Dennis -- If you want to play it, I don't think it needs to be like new but it doesn't take too much to have a good luthier make sure things are solid, work on the nut and if need be the saddle to make things playable. Depends on what kind of shape it's in.
If it plays nice it's good to go for me.
They're not worth tons of money usually $400-$800, so you don't want to get too deep in on repairs unless you just have lots of sentimental value for it and just wish to do so. I would never refinish a guitar.
They do sound nice after some setup work by a good luthier. A light sound but pretty.

bg

[bgmando]

p.s. Post a photo of it front and back if you get a chance.

bg

[77hotrocks]

thanks bg
I took it into my shop and the said three of the frets need reinstalling getting the tuneing rails freed up and a new set of strings, should be ready to go. Its in pretty nice condition. Sounded good the way it was.

Dennis

[mrdogrose]

First post here, just wanted to show my c1900 Washington, produced for Jenkins. It's incredibly responsive. Note the single remaining original tuner button--real bone. Bridge was replaced. It had been a wall hanger for 30+ years--with the strings under tension originally. The pins were missing, & someone had whittled twigs--with the bark still on & jammed them in the bridge. A regular peg would fall through the holes in the original pyramid bridge. The warped top could not be straightened all the way, but it still plays beautifully. My favorite guitar.

[Jimi C]

Wow. That's the only other Washington I've seen online. How did you date it? I have one too. The number on the back of the headstock is 320. I've guessed that mine is pre-1900 but am not sure. (see P.4 of this thread for my previous post). My Washington has amazing tone. I had a luthier do some restoration to it since it wasn't in really good shape when I picked it up but it's my #1 acoustic now.

First post here, just wanted to show my c1900 Washington, produced for Jenkins. It's incredibly responsive. Note the single remaining original tuner button--real bone. Bridge was replaced. It had been a wall hanger for 30+ years--with the strings under tension originally. The pins were missing, & someone had whittled twigs--with the bark still on & jammed them in the bridge. A regular peg would fall through the holes in the original pyramid bridge. The warped top could not be straightened all the way, but it still plays beautifully. My favorite guitar.

[Jimi C]

Here are some better pics of the Washington before I had it restored.

[brunello97]

Nice guitar, Jimi. I'm loving this thread where everyone is contributing images of their Harwoods.

Mick

[KanMando]

Here's a little Harwood mandolin eye candy. This is a Harwood No.46. It's the first Harwood we've seen that exactly conforms to the one shown in the 1895 Jenkins catalog. Thanks to Cafe member "mofiddler" for alerting me to this one.


Bob

[brunello97]

Very nice, Bob. What a round bowl form. I also like the neck joint 'collar' detail a lot. I love these Harwoods, hardly any two alike. Certainly doesn't remind me much of obvious Chicago sources.

Does this belong to "mofiddler" or did he find it online somewhere?

Mick

[Jim Garber]

Here's a little Harwood mandolin eye candy. This is a Harwood No.46. It's the first Harwood we've seen that exactly conforms to the one shown in the 1895 Jenkins catalog. Thanks to Cafe member "mofiddler" for alerting me to this one.
Bob

That is interesting, Bob, but I actually posted one just like it in this post above.

Here is more of that particular one from eBay October 2003. Is there something different from this one? The only thing that does look different to me is the tailpiece -- the jpegs in my files of that tp resemble similar ones on Martin bowlbacks, which of course, really doesn't mean much.

[Jim Garber]

BTW there is another one on CL -- or is this the same one?

[brunello97]

Jim, it looks like the SN on your CL Harwood and on Bob's recent post are the same. The 'fancy' model you posted looks very similar but for the engraved tuners and the location of the SN relative to the Harwood oval on the back of the headstock. Well, I guess the MOP position markers on the FB are different as well. I love these Harwoods. For me, along with Favilla and Ricca some of the most intriguing US bowlbacks.

Mick

[KanMando]

I bought this Harwood from an individual in Springfield, MO who had it listed on Craig's list. It's about a three hour drive from Kansas City. It is the same one shown in Jim's CL post. It does not have the fancy engraved tuner plates like the one in Jim's earlier post. No, it did not belong to "mofiddler", but he sent me a PM to alert me to its listing on the Springfield CL. BTW, Bill Graham came over tonight and we tuned it up to pitch for the first time. The tailpiece is not original, but doesn't look too bad. The strings are bronze and in pretty good shape, and they are chenilled at the loop end. It seems to be holding tune fine, and really started to come alive after about an hour of playing. The seller thought it had not been played for about 60 years. The neck angle is fine and this little gem is fully playable and has decent intonation.

[mofiddler]

Wow... that looks way nicer than I expected when I saw the listing on CL. I was really tempted to increase my collection, but am glad it went to a good home!

[KanMando]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the last reference we have found to the Harwood guitars and mandolins being made by Jenkins in Kansas City was in an August 31, 1910 story in the Kansas City Star about a fire at the Jenkins Store located at 1015 Walnut. The report stated that the guitar and mandolin factory located behind the store was not damaged. I surmised that the factory must have fronted on Grand Avenue, the next street east of Walnut. I have found what must be a photo of that factory.

The tall building in the center is the R. A. Long Building, 928 Grand, built in 1907. The tall white building to its left is the Commerce Trust Building at 922 Walnut built in 1906. What we're looking at here is the intersection of Tenth Street and Grand Avenue, looking north down Grand. The tall white building down the street is the Scarritt building, 818 Grand, built in 1907. In the foreground, facing Grand Avenue, is a two story brick building. If you look closely, above the second floor windows, you can see that there is a sign that says "J.W. Jenkins Sons Music Co." This postcard dates from 1907 - 1915. This is the final Kansas City home of the Harwood factory. The Jenkins store remained at the 1015 Walnut location until its new building at 1217 Walnut was completed in 1932.

Bob

[KanMando]

Here's a little Harwood/Jenkins memorabilia:

[delsbrother]

Bob, have you checked the fire insurance maps of the city? There were several companies (here in LA we had Sanborn maps, and they were instrumental in me finding old Knutsen addresses for Gregg Miner's site); many are available online or through your public library. These maps would list the business along with the physical shape of the building.

[brunello97]

Sanborn maps should be available for most Midwestern cities as well. I believe Keef was able to turn some up for some of Lyon + Healy's sites in Chicago while researching his book on Washburn. Sanborn maps are a treasure trove of information. In addition to building footprint information, they also often make note of factory locations inside, particularly if they involve hazardous or 'flammable' activities. More and more Sanborn maps these have been turning up on line:

http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/spec...sanborne.htm#k

Here is a page of KC Sanborn maps from 1896

http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/...+city+missouri

They are pretty high-resolution scans. Don't know my way around town, Bob, and I got distracted looking for early BBQ establishments

Mick

[brunello97]

Bingo.

Here it is 921-23 Main St. (from the letter Bob posted)

http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/...art=1;resnum=7

"Manufacturing Musical Instruments" is noted on the map.

Fun way to delay going to work on a Monday morning.

Mick