Bronson Honolulu Master Jumbo

This striking Bronson Honolulu Master Jumbo is a rare surviving example from the golden age of the Hawaiian guitar craze in the United States. Dating from approximately the late 1930s, the Honolulu Master represented the upper end of the instruments marketed under the Bronson name and combines an unusually large body with elaborate Art Deco appointments.

Bronson was principally a distributor and teaching organization rather than a guitar manufacturer in the conventional sense. Its instruments were commissioned from established American makers, particularly the large Chicago factories of that period.

This particular instrument measures 16¾-inch (42.5 cm) lower bout, a 4½-inch (11.4 cm) body depth, and a 25½-inch (64.8 cm) scale length , 12fret off the body neck. These dimensions illustrate just how large and imposing the model was for its period. .

The Bronson Honululu Master Jumbo sports a spruce top and rosewood back and sides, mahagoni-neck with rosewood fretboard and a rosewood bridge, together with extensive decorative purfling and highly distinctive pearl or pearloid fingerboard inlays. The bold geometric decoration of the fingerboard and the spectacular black headstock face, with its vertical “Honolulu Master” lettering and Bronson signature, are particularly characteristic of the model and perfectly capture the Art Deco aesthetic of the period.. This instrument also displays the elaborate body and soundhole ornamentation associated with the more expensive Honolulu Master guitars. The large natural-finished top is bordered with shimmering decorative purfling, top and back bound with white celluloid, while the bound soundhole and elaborate fingerboard markers set it well apart from the inexpensive student Hawaiian guitars that formed much of the market at the time.

This particular guitar was expertly converted from its original Hawaiian configuration into a conventional round-neck, or “Spanish-style,” guitar on behalf of the previous owner by luthier Thomas Amberger at Cham/Bavaria . Along with the conversion of the neck to a medium fat v-neck,, various repair-and maintenance work was done on the guitar. Cracks on the top and the sides were stabilized and cleated and the guitar was perfectly set up to play. The result is a fascinating combination: a pre-war American Hawaiian guitar with the proportions and extravagant decoration of a top-of-the-line instrument, adapted for modern conventional playing.

I loved to play this ladder-braced guitar on stage for some years, displayed by honest play-wear and some little nicks and scratches on top and body and , of course I am proud of my

“Bronson-Trio” …see below