Cool National Guitar

axiology

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This is a new ebay acquisition of mine - a 1960 National Debonaire. It's a real closet classic in almost perfect condition. Apparently bought for a young woman by her parents in 1960, played for a year or two, then put away until it was sold to me by her daughter after her mother passed away recently. The pickup is not a humbucker, but a big single coil with a couple of magnets to the left of the coil inside the pickup cover. The outer two pickup screws adjust the pickup height. It came with a Bobby Lee No-Mishap guitar strap(not the one in the picture) and original faux Snakeskin textured guitar case. I love the style of this guitar. It sounds good and plays well too!

1960_National_Debonaire.jpg


Andrew
Guild 2002 Rockabilly
Guild 1978 B302-A Bass
 

Guildmark

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What a gem! I think we'd all love to hear what it sounds like.
I keep waitng for something like that to happen to me. Kinda like Leo Kottke's song "The Student Prince", about a long lost honey of a guitar he discovers - "What unbeatable sound! So easy to play!"
Congratulations!
 

axiology

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Guildmark said:
What a gem! I think we'd all love to hear what it sounds like.

Thanks, That may be possible, I've been working on a simple instrumental tune with it to get an idea of how it records. Sounds good to me - - a good clean rythym sound, and lightly overdriven through my Fender HotRod it sounds good on leads, it has a growly, almost gibson sound on the wound strings, similar but not the same as my Gibson es135. It, of course does feedback when the volume is turned up, and the p/u is a little bit microphonic. Maybe I need to dip the p/u in wax to eliminate this. Anybody ever done that?

A little more info. If you do pick up one of these old Nationals - there is no adjustable truss rod, so the condition of the neck is important. The neck is bolt on, with adjustable neck tilt. Apparently National bought at least some, if not all their hollowbody bodies from other manufacturers. The National Belair model is known to have a Gibson es-175 body. The origin of this Debonaire body, I'm not sure, could be Gibson, maybe even Guild!? The tuners are Kluson Deluxe batwing or butterfly style made specifically for National guitars, and the other brand names made by Valco - Supro and Airline.

cheers
Andrew
Guild 2002 Rockabilly
Guild 1978 B302-A bass, etc.
 

Guildmark

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That would be cool!

Regarding wax: At the top of this page click the Search function. Type in wax and pickups in the keywords line, then click SEARCH. Many threads on the topic with good information! I sure learned a lot on the subject! Too bad I don't own an electric guitar.
 

axiology

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There's one of these National Debonaire's for sale on Ebay right now. They show up a couple of times a year and usually go for about $600. It doesn't have the "batwing" style tuners, though. A very nice instrument IMO.

Andrew

Guild X160 Rockabilly
Guild B302-A
Guild Peregrine Custom
National Debonaire
etc
 

axiology

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Hey Coastie,
Like I said, there's one up for sale on Ebay right now, the seller spelled the model "debonaire" wrong calling it a "debonnaire" in the item title, so you'd have to do a search using the wrong spelling to find it. The pickup is the same as those used on Supro guitars, both brands were made by the same company.

Guild X160 Rockabilly
Guild B302-A
Guild Peregrine Custom
National Debonaire
etc
 

coastie99

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axiology said:
Hey Coastie,
Like I said, there's one up for sale on Ebay right now, the seller spelled the model "debonaire" wrong calling it a "debonnaire" in the item title, so you'd have to do a search using the wrong spelling to find it. The pickup is the same as those used on Supro guitars, both brands were made by the same company.

Guild X160 Rockabilly
Guild B302-A
Guild Peregrine Custom
National Debonaire
etc

One on Gbase too......... $900.

I need a few other (Guild) things first !
 
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