Guitar Help

[Para]

I just got a guitar from my grandparents estate recently. Very little is known about it and there isn't very much information online about it.

Heres what I know:
-The guitar was my grandpa's or possibly even my great grandpa's guitar and it has been in the family since anyone can remember.

-It has a sticker on the guitar head that says "The Serenader" "B&J NY".

-The sticker from the inside is missing but I don't think that would of mattered a whole lot.

-

B+J was a musical instrument distributor based in New York for most of the Twentieth Century. The company had instruments built for them by many of the factories that we've become familiar with, Stromberg-Voisenet (later to become Kay) among these. The Serenader name was used on a wide variety of guitars and equipment from the 1920's right on into the 1960's.

I can find a little bit of info online but it is just general information about the company and it is a bit lacking on the specific guitar information. Apparently The Serenader was registered in 1926 so the guitar can't be any older than that.

I was wondering if anyone had any helpful information on the guitar. Knowing how old it is, what model (since there seem to be a lot of Serenaders and the styles vary a lot) it is, and roughly how much it is worth. I am not interested in selling it but knowing if it is worth a lot of money or if it is just a cheap guitar would be good to know.

Heres some pictures I took with my crappy iPhone camera.

[Jrecee]

Go on antiques roadshow.

[EllertMichael]

(sorry i couldn't be of any real help)

[KDub]

It is likely a Serenader made by Harmony and distributed by B&J if this similar image from the
Harmony database is any indication http://harmony.demont.net/images/29/Serenader_18.jpg
http://harmony.demont.net/brands.php?id_brand=29

As far as its age I'd venture a guess that it is from the late 50's maybe right at the 60's. This is based on the style and build. It could be older but not too far back from there.

As far as worth they do seem pretty rare but it probably isn't worth a high price. It doesn't seem high on the collectible side of things and it isn't in great condition.

[thekorean12]

From my quick research I would say that guitar is worth $300 in perfect condition. So if you cleaned that one up a little I would think you could sell it for $150-$200.

[puke_face]

Pretty cool man. I have an old parlor guitar that belonged to my great grandfather. I have done research on it for about the last year and a half, and finally found out the make/model and what year it was about 2 months ago. This picture is of one I found on the internet that has a lot of the original parts that my grandfathers doesn't. It's missing the pickguard, strings, and needs the neck reset badly. The paint on it is chipping off, and has some paint that got dropped on it when we moved into a house about 20 years ago. Considering it is a 1925 Stromberg-Voisinet Hawaiian Parlor Guitar, I think it's holding up rather nicely. I'll post pics of it later.

[CRTGAMER]

Some nice guitars! I have an old stuffed toy lion from my Mom, been in the family at least 30 to 40 years. Got to be worth something, but too much emotional attachment. Don't even want to know the money value to avoid the temptation of EBaying it. I don't think the guitars money value is worth more then the fact that both are from a couple generations of in the family. Never sell! A way to keep granddad immortalized.

[puke_face]

Some nice guitars! I have an old stuffed toy lion from my Mom, been in the family at least 30 to 40 years. Got to be worth something, but too much emotional attachment. Don't even want to know the money value to avoid the temptation of EBaying it. I don't think the guitars money value is worth more then the fact that both are from a couple generations of in the family. Never sell! A way to keep granddad immortalized.

Yea, I never planned on selling mine. It was unofficially passed to my father from my grandmother. She got it when my great grandfather died. Dad gave it to me because he said he didn't plan on doing anything with it. I plan on getting it restored to it's original condition. I've heard that the Gibson guitar company has a restoration center somewhere in Tennessee, so whenever I happen to get enough money saved, that will be done so I can either pass it on to my children (if I ever have any) or pass it to my nephew.

[Para]

Thanks for the info guys. I do plan on getting it restored to its original condition out of respect for the guitar and my grandparents. It is a little beat up but overall the condition isn't too bad considering its 50+ years old and just about everyone and anyone in my family has attempted to play it at some point.

I have a music section of my basement which is also semi-tropical themed so this guitar fits in quite well.

My brother has an Ibanez Bass guitar and some cheap acoustic guitar. We share a small piano that I know very little about as well.

My two favorite parts of my musical related things are my drumhead and drumsticks signed by Jason Bonham and my mint condition Gibson SG.

[aaron]

para, you tryin' to sell this thing?