Bacon & Day Ne Plus Ultra Troubadour Model 2M Arch Top Acoustic Guitar (1934)
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Bacon & Day Ne Plus Ultra Troubadour Model 2M Model Arch Top Acoustic Guitar (1934), probably Chicago, serial # 33939, sunburst top, natural back and sides finish, mahogany back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with ebony and celluloid fingerboard, original black hard shell case.
This Bacon & Day Ne Plus Ultra Troubadour is a lovely find, a very rare and spectacular looking arch top guitar. It was built in mid-1934 when the Bacon Banjo Company was struggling with both the ongoing Depression and a collapsed market for banjos. While the guitar itself was made by Regal in Chicago, the decorative touches of engraved painted celluloid and rhinestone are pure B&D. Bacon & Day instruments were always top quality, and this Ne Plus Ultra ranks with the very finest Chicago-made guitars of the era.
Although the Bacon company built many of the finest, flashiest (and THE most expensive) banjos of the 1920's, they had no experience or apparent interest in building guitars. They dabbled with ukuleles and mandolins in the very early 1920's, and in 1923 had even ordered a few Martin guitars with a Bacon stamp but this was not followed up. The company had been able to prosper through the 1920's as it was and as late as 1931 Bacon literature offered nothing but banjos.
When the high-end banjo market collapsed after 1930 Fred Bacon and David Day, older men with decades of experience in the music business, took the expedient route and contracted with outside makers to supply them with guitars to be finished off as "B&D's". While somewhat similar to other Regal-built instruments including the Tonk Bros. Washburn line, these 1930's B&D guitars are always distinctively appointed. Although remembered mostly for budget grade instruments, Regal's factory was capable of turning out very fine product if the customer was willing to pay. Bacon and Day had very high standards, so anything sold under their names had to measure up!
This 1934 B & D Ne Plus Ultra Troubadour Model 2M is a most interesting Bacon/Regal creation, not only extremely striking looking but structurally unlike most other period archtops. The "2M" was the lowest priced model of 4 offered in the the top grade "Ne Plus Ultra" line, listing at $90 with a "Grand Concert" sized body; a "3M" model with a "Grand Auditorium" (16" wide) body was also offered at $100 with the same cosmetic features. Fancier gold plated, rosewood models were offered at $190 and $200 with the same size options. This 2M's 15 1/4" wide body is more wide-waisted than most period arch tops and a hefty 4 1/4" deep at the rim, which combined with the elaborate arching makes for an unusually deep F-hole guitar.
The fairly thin, dramatically arched spruce top is pressed from solid spruce with segmented f-holes not unlike the 1934-period early Charles & Elmer Stromberg guitars. It is lightly braced with an odd combination of very thin transverse pieces and an "A" angled pattern in the middle, which is most unusual for an early F-hole arch top but has held up remarkably well. The back and sides are mahogany, the back pressed into a high arch and reinforced with transverse braces.
The instrument features a deep sunburst finish on the top, with natural mahogany back and sides. The top is triple bound, the back and fingerboard are single bound. The large, unusually shaped Phenolic pickguard screwed directly to the top. The Waverly tailpiece is the transitional style typical of 1933-4 with the option if stringing either over or under the bar, the bridge is an adjustable ebony unit seen on a few other guitars of the time.
The mahogany neck has a soft "V" profile and is fairly thin back-to front, with a 1 3/4" nut width. The rosewood fingerboard features the full B & D package of engraved, brightly painted celluloid fingerboard blocks topped by an extremely elaborate headstock face of finely engraved pearloid with copious multicolored rhinestone decoration. This Bacon specialty was carried over from the company's banjos and would have been done at the company's Groton plant, either sent out to Chicago for fitting or added after the guitars were delivered. This decoration gives the guitar a unique character linked directly to the B & D banjo tradition. The headstock carries with early pattern Grover G-98 tuners with riveted gears.
This "Ne Plus Ultra" line would appear to be Bacon & Day's first serious attempt to compete in the growing high-end professional F-hole archtop market of the 1930's. The serial number is stamped into the back of the headstock and appears consistent with Bacon's banjo numbers of the period, so would indicate a summer 1934 complation date. At the time the direct competition would have been with midline Gibsons and Epiphones. This guitar is quite different from those in both look and sound, and its extreme rarity suggests very few were sold. It is a superbly made and fine playing guitar with a fairly bright punchy tone if not as rich as, say, many period Gibsons. But you sure can't beat the look!
Overall length is 40 1/4 in. (102.2 cm.), 15 1/4 in. (38.7 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 13/16 in. (46 mm.).
This extremely rare guitar remains in all original, excellent playing condition. The finish has some light checking overall, but nothing too serious. It shows a number of small dings, dents and scrapes, mostly notably on the top but no major areas of finish loss. There is one tight repaired crack to the rosewood back, which is somewhat lost in the checking pattern but visible on close inspection. The bottom rim has a small bash mark. The top has some visible stress lines to the arched spruce grain, but none have ever opened into a crack except a small spot off the bass side F-hole that has been neatly cleated.
The instrument is completely stable and excellent structurally; the neck has been very carefully straightened preserving the original inlay, binding and frets which remain fully intact and playability is excellent. This is simply one of the coolest looking arch top guitars of all time; it plays very well with a bright and powerful if not particularly sweet sound. It is housed in the original HSC with a couple of old Bacon & Day String packets still in the pocket. Overall Excellent - Condition.
This Bacon & Day Ne Plus Ultra Troubadour is a lovely find, a very rare and spectacular looking arch top guitar. It was built in mid-1934 when the Bacon Banjo Company was struggling with both the ongoing Depression and a collapsed market for banjos. While the guitar itself was made by Regal in Chicago, the decorative touches of engraved painted celluloid and rhinestone are pure B&D. Bacon & Day instruments were always top quality, and this Ne Plus Ultra ranks with the very finest Chicago-made guitars of the era.
Although the Bacon company built many of the finest, flashiest (and THE most expensive) banjos of the 1920's, they had no experience or apparent interest in building guitars. They dabbled with ukuleles and mandolins in the very early 1920's, and in 1923 had even ordered a few Martin guitars with a Bacon stamp but this was not followed up. The company had been able to prosper through the 1920's as it was and as late as 1931 Bacon literature offered nothing but banjos.
When the high-end banjo market collapsed after 1930 Fred Bacon and David Day, older men with decades of experience in the music business, took the expedient route and contracted with outside makers to supply them with guitars to be finished off as "B&D's". While somewhat similar to other Regal-built instruments including the Tonk Bros. Washburn line, these 1930's B&D guitars are always distinctively appointed. Although remembered mostly for budget grade instruments, Regal's factory was capable of turning out very fine product if the customer was willing to pay. Bacon and Day had very high standards, so anything sold under their names had to measure up!
This 1934 B & D Ne Plus Ultra Troubadour Model 2M is a most interesting Bacon/Regal creation, not only extremely striking looking but structurally unlike most other period archtops. The "2M" was the lowest priced model of 4 offered in the the top grade "Ne Plus Ultra" line, listing at $90 with a "Grand Concert" sized body; a "3M" model with a "Grand Auditorium" (16" wide) body was also offered at $100 with the same cosmetic features. Fancier gold plated, rosewood models were offered at $190 and $200 with the same size options. This 2M's 15 1/4" wide body is more wide-waisted than most period arch tops and a hefty 4 1/4" deep at the rim, which combined with the elaborate arching makes for an unusually deep F-hole guitar.
The fairly thin, dramatically arched spruce top is pressed from solid spruce with segmented f-holes not unlike the 1934-period early Charles & Elmer Stromberg guitars. It is lightly braced with an odd combination of very thin transverse pieces and an "A" angled pattern in the middle, which is most unusual for an early F-hole arch top but has held up remarkably well. The back and sides are mahogany, the back pressed into a high arch and reinforced with transverse braces.
The instrument features a deep sunburst finish on the top, with natural mahogany back and sides. The top is triple bound, the back and fingerboard are single bound. The large, unusually shaped Phenolic pickguard screwed directly to the top. The Waverly tailpiece is the transitional style typical of 1933-4 with the option if stringing either over or under the bar, the bridge is an adjustable ebony unit seen on a few other guitars of the time.
The mahogany neck has a soft "V" profile and is fairly thin back-to front, with a 1 3/4" nut width. The rosewood fingerboard features the full B & D package of engraved, brightly painted celluloid fingerboard blocks topped by an extremely elaborate headstock face of finely engraved pearloid with copious multicolored rhinestone decoration. This Bacon specialty was carried over from the company's banjos and would have been done at the company's Groton plant, either sent out to Chicago for fitting or added after the guitars were delivered. This decoration gives the guitar a unique character linked directly to the B & D banjo tradition. The headstock carries with early pattern Grover G-98 tuners with riveted gears.
This "Ne Plus Ultra" line would appear to be Bacon & Day's first serious attempt to compete in the growing high-end professional F-hole archtop market of the 1930's. The serial number is stamped into the back of the headstock and appears consistent with Bacon's banjo numbers of the period, so would indicate a summer 1934 complation date. At the time the direct competition would have been with midline Gibsons and Epiphones. This guitar is quite different from those in both look and sound, and its extreme rarity suggests very few were sold. It is a superbly made and fine playing guitar with a fairly bright punchy tone if not as rich as, say, many period Gibsons. But you sure can't beat the look!
Overall length is 40 1/4 in. (102.2 cm.), 15 1/4 in. (38.7 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 13/16 in. (46 mm.).
This extremely rare guitar remains in all original, excellent playing condition. The finish has some light checking overall, but nothing too serious. It shows a number of small dings, dents and scrapes, mostly notably on the top but no major areas of finish loss. There is one tight repaired crack to the rosewood back, which is somewhat lost in the checking pattern but visible on close inspection. The bottom rim has a small bash mark. The top has some visible stress lines to the arched spruce grain, but none have ever opened into a crack except a small spot off the bass side F-hole that has been neatly cleated.
The instrument is completely stable and excellent structurally; the neck has been very carefully straightened preserving the original inlay, binding and frets which remain fully intact and playability is excellent. This is simply one of the coolest looking arch top guitars of all time; it plays very well with a bright and powerful if not particularly sweet sound. It is housed in the original HSC with a couple of old Bacon & Day String packets still in the pocket. Overall Excellent - Condition.