Stromberg G-100

1940

Stromberg, a family that has left its mark on the history of jazz and North American lutherie. Founded by Charles Stromberg in 1906, they produced only about 600 instruments until 1955. They helped shape jazz as we know it today. Their guitars are highly prized by collectors today, as well as players, for their exceptional sound quality. The G-100 model presented here, for example, features double tone bar bracing, a design developed by Elmer, the youngest son of Charles Stromberg, recognized as the most gifted luthier in the family and certainly one of the best of his time. This guitar features a spruce top with a beautiful, tight grain, and laminated maple back and sides. The finely engraved headstock features Stromberg’s delicate signature, surrounded by small decorations, as well as a banner indicating the “G100” model. The fingerboard is bound with binding and adorned with large mother-of-pearl block markers, in the style of high-end archtops like the Gibson L-5 or certain luxury Epiphone models. And it’s essentially the same type of feel and sound as on this kind of high-end prewar model. A very powerful, straight yet enveloping sound, rich in harmonics. The sustain is pretty incredible, I think, and very precise too. The pickguard and bridge have been replaced, a common feature of these old archtops. A crack at the F-hole on the lower side has been repaired; it has been stable for a long time. The playability is perfect, the action is very low, no fretting, the neck is straight, and the frets are of a very good level. Comes with a vintage Lifton case. It deserves it.