1934 Blue Duolian

Here is a fun one. I purchased this guitar with the intention of restoring it. It’s a 1934 12-fret Duolian with rolled f-holes. It originally had a silver/gray “frosted duco” finish, which was removed and refinished in a steel blue. Other than the finish and tuners, it’s all pretty much original. Even the original paint is on the body under the fretboard. The rolled f-hole style is the last production model of the 12-fret series and not many were made. So it is cool when you find one. The story goes that the rolled f-holes help stiffen the top and improve the tone. Not sure about that yet.

Anyway, when I got this guitar, I had to rethink my plans. It just looked too cool. Most of the time I see goofy refinishes on these guitars. Most common, is just spray paint it black. Or worse (in my opinion) have it chrome or nickel plated, because you really want a Style 0, not a Duolian. I digress. Back to the guitar. The blue is just a great steely color with no gloss. And the decals are awesome. I think the flag decal only has 48 stars on it. It just looked right the way it was. So the refinish isn’t going to happen. It needed a decent size dent taken out (I got most of it). And the fretboard was a bit funky, so that will have to go. Add a neck set and new set of black button StewMac Golden age tuners and that should do the trick. This is it before the work has been done. Got to love the decals!