1930's/40's Orpheum Terz Style Acoustic Guitar

Here we have a Kay made Orpheum guitar.  She is a little thing only measuring 34.5 inches from head to toe.  The scale length is a shade less than 22" and oddly enough this guitar is 15 frets to the body.  Most of us are used to 12 and 14 frets to the body.  The lower bout is 11" and the upper bout is 8".  As I said, many of these Orpheum products were made by Kay in the 30's and 40's and distributed by William Lange as well as C. Bruno and Son both of NY.  The Orpheum name was later taken over by Maurice Lipsky and morphed into a number of types of manufacturing and distribution after WWII.  Safe to assume this guitar was handled by the Lange's or Bruno's.

I just love these Kay made products.  They all generally require some work upon acquisition, but they are built like tanks and this little thing is no exception.  Sturdy bracing and a super comfortable and chunky neck  have helped to keep this guitar in amazing shape.  Everything on it is straight from the neck to the body.

Once again James Ralston did all the work on this one which included a neck reset, bridge replacement, fret work and some saddle shaping.  When i received this guitar the pin bridge had been removed and was replaced with a floating bridge and tailpiece.  I had an old Kay bridge that fit the footprint exactly and now it is a much better sounding and looking guitar.  I try to keep some of these old Kay bridges around as a lot of them are rosewood and they are chunky and sharp looking pieces.  James took really good care in getting this instrument back into playing shape.  Action is great and intonation is spot on.  This is a great playing guitar.

James had to fill some screw holes as well as rebuild the string slots which had worn over the years.  These bridges are worth saving

Because of its size and scale length, this guitar is tuned G to G(terz style tuning).  The shorter scale leaves standard tuned strings feeling a little floppy.  The terz tuning makes this thing sing.  The tone fits the size of the guitar, but is very becoming and would be a great asset around the recording studio.  Doubling guitar parts with this instrument will have a great effect.  It sings in a different range and though it may never be capable of being your number one instrument, it will have a lot of uses.  It handles both a flatpick or fingerpicking wonderfully.

The guitar is all mahogany except for the fretboard.  It is a beautiful deep color that has a cherry like shade to it.  You have to see it in person to appreciate how beautiful it is.

Here is a video of James playing the guitar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cnMeNjPTvE

Here are some more photos which may shed a little more light on the subject
https://www.flickr.com/photos/30663205@N03/sets/72157650421952022/