Standel 510-S DELUXE 1967 - SAM KOONTZ Hand built. Ultra Rare.

STANDEL  ·  MODEL 510-S DELUXE

Built by Sam Koontz — 1967

Double Florentine Thinline·  Serial No. 1030-BB

From the International Guitar Museum — the largest Standel collection in the world

“Quality Speaks for Itself.” That was Standel’s motto, printed on the label inside this guitar — and with a Sam Koontz instrument, it isn’t marketing. It’s a fact you feel the moment you pick it up and realize when you play it. In the “ES, Electric Spanish” marketplace you will not find a more significant instrument than the Standel (Koontz) vintage guitars. DO NOT MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY.

This is another exceptional Standel from the RICHARD DAVIS COLLECTION NOW housed in the IGM (International Guitar Museum). Mr. Davis: “ I’ll say plainly what I’ve said before: Standel guitars are the most underrated and undervalued instruments in the entire vintage market, but I do not believe that will stay true for much longer” — and here is why.

Why This Guitar Matters — The Koontz Story

Most players know “Standel” as an amplifier name. Bob Crooks founded the company in Temple City, California in 1953, and after an early, short-lived attempt at guitars with Semie Moseley (later of Mosrite), he partnered around 1967 with the Harptone company of Newark, New Jersey. Harptone brought in a New Jersey luthier named Sam Koontz to design an entirely new line of hollow and semi-hollow guitars — and to build the production line itself, including some of the machinery used to make them.

That detail matters. Koontz was not a factory hand. He was a master archtop builder working in the direct lineage of John D’Angelico and Jimmy D’Aquisto — a name now spoken in the same breath as those legends and Elmer Stromberg. He had already designed for Framus and done design work for Martin. At Harptone he essentially ran the first true custom guitar shop, and the Standel line was his masterwork.

The numbers tell the rarity story: only about 300 Standel-branded guitars were built across roughly eleven models between 1967 and 1969, before the company collapsed financially. A handful were later rebranded “Harptone,” which are “ultra rare and even more valuable than the rare “Standel” branded guitars.  Koontz then left in 1970 to build under his own name in Linden, New Jersey, producing fewer than 200 instruments — guitars played by Pat Martino, Harry Leahey, Howard Krive, Vic Cenicola, Joe Cinderella, and Wayne Wesley Johnson — before his death in 1981.

Here is the part collectors are missing: a Koontz-branded archtop today sells for $18,000 to $25,000 and rarely surfaces. A Standel was built by the very same hands, with the same materials and the same eye, just a few years earlier — “and it can still be acquired for a half that price”. The market simply has not connected the two yet. The guitar historians have. One noted writer, surveying everything Koontz ever made, named the Standel 510-S — this exact model — as his favorite of them all.

These guitars were unlucky in their timing. Introduced just as solid bodies were surging back, they were “lost” almost as soon as they appeared. Had they arrived a few years earlier, they would be household names today.

About This Guitar

A fantastic-playing, double-Florentine-cutaway “Barney Kessel”-style thinline. Light, beautifully balanced, and equally comfortable seated or standing. Like the rest of the line, it uses a partial center block — glued to the underside of the neck but stopping short of the back — which tames feedback while letting the body breathe more acoustically than a classic ES-335. Paired with the legendary Rowe/DeArmond single coils, the tone and balance are simply gorgeous.

Specifications

Maker / Year

Sam Koontz at the Harptone factory — 1967

Model

Standel 510-S Deluxe

Serial No.

1030-BB

Body

Arched flamed maple top and sides; flamed maple back; double Florentine cutaway; partial center block

Neck

Mahogany, slim fast-playing profile; joins body at the 16th fret

Fingerboard

Indian rosewood with pearl dot inlays

Headstock

Signature Koontz inlaid headstock with the distinctive center “valley” scoop

Pickups

Two Rowe/DeArmond “Deluxe integrated” single coils, individually adjustable pole pieces

Controls

3-way pickup toggle

Hardware

Grover tuners; adjustable compensating roller bridge

Binding

5-ply body binding; 3-ply bound f-holes, neck, and headstock

Finish

Sunburst

Measurements

Nut 1-11/16″  ·Lower bout 16″  ·  Body depth at side 1-3/4″

Condition

In very good condition with honest play wear — dings, dents, and scrapes from a life of being used. Frets are very good. The finish shows usual checking and the binding has the usual fine line cracks, all fully intact. Includes original case.

Provenance Statement

This specimen is offered directly from the exhibit collection of the International Guitar Museum, Durham, North Carolina.

From the Richard Davis Collection. This instrument comes from the Richard Davis Collection — one of the world’s largest and most deeply curated private assemblages of vintage and custom instruments: more than 900 guitars and 200 amplifiers spanning 225+ brands from 12 countries, assembled over 27 years of purposeful, scholarly collecting, and home to the largest gathering of Standel/Koontz guitars anywhere. This is not inventory that passed through a dealer’s hands. It is a documented piece from a single, serious collection — selected, authenticated, and preserved by one curator.

Why provenance matters now. The market has spoken decisively on what documented provenance is worth. At Christie’s landmark Jim Irsay sale in March 2026, instruments with documented collection history realized $94.5 million — 136% above estimate — confirming what serious collectors already knew: a guitar’s story, chain of custody, and the collection it comes from are inseparable from its value. Single-owner pieces from major curated collections command meaningful premiums over otherwise comparable instruments, and that gap is widening.

Institutional-grade documentation. This instrument is accompanied by a formal Certificate of Authenticity and a transferable Title of Ownership registered with the International Musical Instrument Registry (IMIR), Luxembourg — providing clear chain of custody and documentation of a standard normally reserved for museum deaccessions.

When you acquire from the Richard Davis Collection, you receive the provenance with the instrument. That value transfers with the title — and it does not expire.

This is a chance to own a genuine Sam Koontz masterpiece — before the rest of the market does the math.

Available exclusively from the professionally curated, internationally renowned Richard Davis Collection — accompanied by Certificate of Authenticity and Title of Ownership issued by the International Musical Instrument Registry (IMIR).

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY

Rare Vintage Guitar Authentication

Authentication No. IGM-1967-510S-1030BB

Standel Model 510-S Deluxe

Built by Sam Koontz, 1967  ·Serial No. 1030-BB

This certifies that the instrument described above is an authentic Standel Model 510-S Deluxe thinline electric guitar, designed and hand-built by master luthier Sam Koontz at the Harptone factory, Newark, New Jersey, in 1967. One of only approximately 300 Standel-branded guitars produced between 1967 and 1969, it is an original example built by the same hands responsible for the celebrated Koontz archtops now ranked alongside the work of John D’Angelico, Jimmy D’Aquisto, and Elmer Stromberg.

This instrument has been examined, authenticated, and documented by the International Guitar Museum and is accompanied by a transferable Title of Ownership registered with the International Musical Instrument Registry (IMIR), Luxembourg. It has been maintained in climate-controlled, museum-grade conditions and presents in very good original condition throughout, consistent with honest period play wear.

Certified this 13th day of June, 2026.

James Richard Davis

Founder & Curator, International Guitar Museum

— OFFICIAL SEAL —

International Musical Instrument Registry