Up for sale, a 1940’s Sonata Professional archtop in excellent condition. One of the lesser known brand names used by Harmony for smaller chains and even individual music shops, little is known about the origins of the Sonata name, although the Harmony build quality is unmistakable. More ornate than many “student” archtops produced in this era, this guitar boasts wide herringbone-style binding around the spruce top. Paired with maple back and sides on a 15 1/2” wide body, we chose this guitar for our inventory here at Mike & Mike’s because of its particularly sweet, detailed, and midrange forward tone. The classic acoustic archtop cut and detail is on full display with this guitar, and the low end holds together quite well even with more complex chord voicings. Professionally setup and strung with 12-53 phosphor bronze strings, the Sonata Professional is ready for stage and studio use.
The neck features a fairly chunky V profile that stays relatively consistent in depth as you move into the higher registers of the fretboard, boasting a 25 1/2" scale length and hand carved 1 11/16” wide bone nut. The rosewood fretboard retains the original slender vintage fretwire, which only shows light uniform wear in the first position, with no notable wear further up the neck. The guitar plays cleanly in all registers with no buzzing or dead spots, and the neck has been professionally reset in the guitar’s lifetime, with a new plastic heel cap. On the headstock, the “Sonata Professional” silkscreen logo is present, along with the original individual open back tuning machines and newer white buttons. While there is some wear through the finish on the headstock face adjacent to the original tuner ferrules, the graphics are completely intact.
In terms of hardware, both the original nickel trapeze tailpiece and carved rosewood bridge are intact. The bridge has limited room for future adjustment, but thankfully the action is comfortable in all registers. The original sunburst finish is present and fades from a rich brown center to deep black at the edges of the body. There is notable wear in the pick path, and assorted small nicks and finish scratches on the body as a whole, with faint buckle rash on the back. There is only one very slender and professionally repaired crack on the back running parallel with the grain on the treble side of the center seam near the rear strap button.
While the original blue/gray chipboard case is present, it’s included only for the sake of originality, and is very fragile and separated along all of the seams.
Please check out our shop "Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar" on the web, and feel free to call us directly with any questions at 206.399.8518.
Shipping in the continental USA will be $60, fully insured and shipped via FedEx Ground. We will happily ship WORLDWIDE, but please contact us for an accurate international shipping quote before bidding or buying, as cost varies by buyer location.
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