Radio-Tone Hawaiian Guitars These
odd little ( 3/4-scale ) hollownecks were made during the 1920s & 30s |
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These turn up on Ebay from time to time & as they're not really considered "Vintage Collectable" they're quite cheap to buy.
I got one, more out of curiosity more than anything else, and I just love that old thing! |
They're
quite crudely made & I've heard the sound described as "a
can of worms"... Many feature a crude "resonator" disc in the soundhole. The "resonator" ( paint-tin lid?! ) doesn't make it any louder, and when you play it softly doesn't affect the sound at all, but when you "dig in" you get a subtle "buzz" to the tone, which sounds quite like a gently overdriven tube amp, certainly more bluesy than hawaiian sounding. The short scale isn't a problem with intonation, it's just like playing with a capo'd regular guitar. |
"F-hole" version
with Knutsen-Style offset peghead
There's many variations to be found still in existance, differing body depth, headstock shape, tuner, bridge & tailpiece style.
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It's possible that the friction peg versions were the later 30s ones, the ones with geared tuners were definately from the 1920s.
The
reasoning behind this assumption is that the onset of the Great Depression
era & economic downturn led to cheaper construction methods/materials
etc. |
The only difference I can see is the lack of fretboard markings of any kind & the "regular" fold-placement of the stamped tailpiece, making the scale-length even shorter (yikes!) |
I think maybe the "smoking gun" guitar is actually a Radio-Tone from the 20s & the "1907" on the label is just a serial number. The photo of the back of the Luauii on The
Knutsen Archives strongly
suggests that if the Luauii isn't in fact a Radio-Tone, then it's certainly
a short-scale instrument...
(Linked to from History Page) |
If you have one of these old Radio-Tone guitars, please feel free to donate any pics &/or info if you like... Also soundclips/video of these things knocking out blues, hawaiian or country music would be cool! |
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![]() This is the 1st Radio-Tone I "restored"... Since then I've done another as a 6-string Anandi for a Sitar-playing friend. |