1960s Truetone “Fun Time” 5DC9510 Harmony-Built Redburst Parlor Guitar – “Baby Mama”

Some guitars spend 60 years in a closet. “Baby Mama” looks like she spent them riding around in the back of a farm truck. Built by Harmony in Chicago for the Western Auto catalog, the Truetone 5DC9510 was the smallest and least expensive guitar in the range. Marketed under the cheerful “Fun Time” name, it was designed to put an affordable American-made guitar into the hands of beginners at a time when fifteen dollars still meant something. Thousands of kids learned their first cowboy chords on little parlors like this one.

Baby Mama wears all the classic Harmony DNA proudly. The familiar redburst finish, white painted faux pick guard, painted sound hole rings, chunky neck and quirky five-dot fret markers make it unmistakably one of Harmony's wonderfully simple catalog guitars. The Truetone crown logo on the headstock gives it just enough personality to stand apart from its Harmony Stella cousins. 

Like many 60-year-old Harmony-built parlors, it retains that unmistakable dry, woody ladder-braced tone, full of vintage character. This example is relatively clean, showing the usual wear and tear for an instrument of this age. There is some residual discoloration beneath the bridge footprint, a patch of old transfer marks on the center of the back, a small paint chip on the bass-side rim, and a small nick on the edge of the fingerboard. These are purely cosmetic and do not affect playability. The action currently measures approximately 3.8mm on the bass side at the 12th fret. 

If you appreciate honest American catalog guitars with plenty of stories left to tell, this little survivor delivers exactly the kind of charm that made Harmony one of the largest guitar builders in the world.

She may have started life as the cheapest guitar in the Truetone catalogue, but 60 years later she's still doing exactly what she was built to do – making music.

SPECS

Make: Truetone “Fun Time” 5DC9510 Parlor Guitar 

Nickname: “Baby Mama”

Year: 1965

Color: Redburst w/ white painted faux pickguard, body border and sound hole trim

Serial No.: None 

Made: The Harmony Company, Chicago, IL, USA

Scale: 24"

Frets: 18

Body: Birch

Neck: Poplar with non-adjustable steel reinforcement

Fingerboard: Ebonized maple

Markers: Painted five-dot pattern

Nut: Black synthetic

Nut Width: 1-3/4"

Tuners: Kluson three-on-a-strip, single-line

Bridge: Nickel-plated trapeze tailpiece, hardwood bridge 

Overall Length: 36"

Body Length: 17-1/2"

Upper Bout: 9-1/2"

Lower Bout: 13"

Depth: 3-3/4"

Case: N/A 

Strings: Martin MA535 Custom Light phosphor bronze – .011, .015, .023, .032, .042, .052 

Note: This is a vintage instrument and shows normal wear consistent with age. Please refer to the listing photos for the cosmetic condition of each individual item prior to clicking the “Gimme!” button. Items are sold “as is”, no returns. Thank you for respecting that. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions, and have a Fun Time kinda day.