Up for sale, a 1940 Harmony Patrician “Nu-Tone” 1450 in excellent condition, complete with a hardshell case. Hailing from the first year of production, the Patrician series was Harmony’s higher-tiered line of archtops at the time, and this guitar boasts a spruce top, lightly figured maple back and sides, and a maple neck capped by a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, finished in gloss Blonde nitro lacquer.

With a 16 ¼” lower bout width and 3 ½” body depth, this archtop has a prominent acoustic voice with a clear, barking midrange and excellent top end detail. There’s plenty of projection on tap, with trebles that are crisp and immediate and a smooth bark in the low end that retains definition for complex chord voicings. Weighing 4lbs 4oz, this Patrician 1450 has been professionally setup here at Mike and Mike’s Guitar Bar with 11-52 bronze strings and comfortable action.

Neck Specs:

• Wood: Maple
• Shape: Chunky C, measuring .915” 1st fret, 1.070” 9th fret
• Fretboard: Brazilian rosewood, dot inlay
• Frets: Slender, leveled/crowned, no wear
• Scale Length: 25 ¼”
• Nut: 1 ¾”, bone
• Tuners: Open-gear strip

Body Specs:

• Wood: Spruce, figured maple
• Hardware: Brazilian rosewood compensated floating bridge, nickel-plated trapeze tailpiece
• Plastics: Tortoise pickguard
• Marquetry: Tortoise binding
• Factory Markings: FON/model and date stamps (Spring, 1940) in bass-side F hole

The original gloss Blonde nitro lacquer finish exhibits vertical checking, with light buckle worming central to the back, pick wear on top and some localized scuffing around the tailpiece, and various minor dings and scuffs from the past 85+ years. The nitro on the neck profile has palm wear through the gloss, and there’s a cleanly doweled extra strap button mounting hole on the neck heel.

A hardshell case is included.