Fantastic playing & sounding acoustic archtop jazz guitar, built by London-based luthier Dick Knight in ca. 1952
Dick Knight was very well known in his day, having done the set-up and repair work for stars such as Paul McCartney (the only luthier allowed to work on the Beatle bass at the time), Rolling Stones, and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.
Knight also built a number of acoustic guitars, mostly flattops, and a limited number of archtops. This is an archtop guitar of the highest quality. Fully carved woods (no laminate). Rosewood fingerboard, with mother-of-pearl inlays. Beautiful curve on the front and back. I've never seen a guitar as beautiful and deeply curvaceous as this one ! Large body, 46cm / 18” wide, just like a Gibson Super 400, or the old New York era Epiphone Emperor. It rivals such guitars in looks and sound.
The round sound hole is intended to give a sound that lies between a flattop and archtop. If you play jazzy chords, it sounds like an archtop. If you play open chords, it will sound like a flattop. Guitar has a huge volume and plenty of projection anyway.
Some specs: Nut width 42,2 mm (1-21/32”) Scale length 63 cm (24-3/4” ; same like modern Gibson ES models etc.) Thickness neck at 1 st fret ~25 mm (~1”) Width of body 46 cm (18-1/8”) Length of body 54,5 cm (21-1/2”)
Recently it was perfectly restored, new bindings (original bindings were celluloid and thus completely perished over time). There seems to be a scratch in the neck, near the heel block, see pics. But I dont think it is a break, as the (beautiful) laminated construction of the backside of the neck would not allow any crack to progress. It is super tight anyways. As is the rest of the instrument.
The lacquer, tailpiece, and tuners are the originals. The neck has a nice round profile, but is not overly clubby as some old guitars are. It is dead straight and the action is low, set at 1.8 mm measured between the top of the 12th fret and the treble side e string. The medium jumbo frets are brand new, also, so it plays excellent. In terms of price, I looked carefully at what this is worth. I can find two other Dick Knight guitars for sale currently. If you're looking in the USA, you'll find one at Guitarsnjazz for $12,500. There is one for sale in France for €11,500 (Vintage Guitars, Rennes). So my price is relatively very low. That's not because there's anything wrong with it, again, it sounds and plays perfectly well.
Unfortunately I have not been able to find a suitable suitcase yet. If you have one, or know of one, let me know ;-)
