Airline Parlor Guitar

 

Here is a little Airline parlor guitar.  She is the sister of the Stella/Harmony H927.  Bought this guitar on the cheap, put a few bucks into it to set it up right, and I can hardly think of a time when I put my hard earned money to such good use.  The big challenge on these guitars is to find one with a straight neck.  Remarkably this one has a neck that is as straight as you will find.  It came to me in pretty good shape but I had to have a new compensated saddle made to lift the strings off the fretboard a bit.  When I got it the action was way too low for me and the strings were clanging all over the place.  It plays great now with D'Addario lights on it.  Such an incredibly fun fingerpicker with that ladder braced bark and volume.

Most, if not all of these guitars came with a floating bridge or a fixed bridge that was pinless.  A fixed bridge with pins does a world of good for these guitars.  You get a good string break angle and the tone will dynamically improve.  This bridge was installed by the last owner and is serviceable, the new saddle really made the difference.  The prior owner also put a Wenge(African hardwood) pickguard on it as well as a rosewood nut.

The real fun of these guitars comes when you place them side by side.  This Airline guitar is the same as the Stella H927.  Both were made by Harmony and simply distributed to different retailers.  The Airline was sold solely by Montgomery Wards, the Stella's were a little more ubiquitous.

                                                                

Here they are side by side.  The Stella is on the left, Airline on the right.  They measure the same from head to toe.  The upper and lower bouts measure the same.  The body depth on the Stella is about1/16th of an inch deeper and when measured at the waist, the Stella's waist is 1/4" wider.  The mass of the Stella neck definitely exceeds that of the Airline and you can see the difference in these last two measurements in the photo.  The body and neck are visibly larger on the Stella.  That Stella isn't set up to play like the Airline, but I would love to hear Ry Cooder play slide on it!!!  It is loud and an old timey, blues machine.  Someday I will set it up like the Airline with a fixed bridge.  It will be a killer!

Fun, fun guitars.  Just make sure you ask the right questions before purchasing and pay the right price.