Your shopping bag is empty
Go to the shop
Up for sale, a 1950s Bacon Belmont archtop in excellent condition and in perfect working order, loaded with the original DeArmond Dynasonic pickup pair and complete with a hardshell case. Made by Gretsch in the USA, this premium archtop features a carved spruce top with parallel tonebar bracing and heavily figured curly maple back and sides, with a 16" lower bout width and 3 1/4" body depth.
The spruce and maple tonewood combination yields plenty of detail and immediacy, with the warmth and breadth of the fully hollow body. The Dynasonic pickup pair offers a clear and smooth sound with bell-like trebles and plenty of woody percussive cut. The pickups compliment each other well, offering a blend of upper midrange definition and sweet fundamental warmth. This Bacon Belmont is an excellent choice for complex Jazz chord voicings, Jump Blues or a variety of Rock-centric genres. Weighing 6lbs, we've had this Bacon Belmont professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar with 11-49 roundwound strings, easy-playing action and accurate intonation.
The maple neck has a substantial C-shaped profile carve with round shoulders, measuring .915" deep at the 1st fret and 1.015" at the 9th. The bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard features pearloid block inlay and original medium jumbo fretwire with fret edge binding. The frets have plenty of meat, showing only light wear beneath the plain strings on frets 1-5. The guitar plays cleanly up the 25 1/4" scale with a straight neck, and the bone nut measures a full 1 3/4" in width. The headstock has a nigh-flawless two-ply plastic veneer etched with "Bacon Belmont" lettering, and the guitar is fitted with a replacement set of vintage-style tuners with butterbean buttons. There is some finish checking along the seams of the headstock wings, all perfectly stable and flush.
All of the electronics are original and function as intended, and the control array includes a Master Volume on the treble side upper bout, individual Volume knobs for each pickup, and a Master Tone control. All of the original transparent DeArmond barrel knobs are intact, as is the original elevated transparent tortoise pickguard. Hardware includes a modern rosewood bridge with compensated saddle, and the guitar benefits from a professional neck reset in its lifetime, with modest room for further adjustment on both bridge thumbwheels. The original chrome-plated trapeze tailpiece rounds things out, and is notably clean.
The Blonde gloss nitro lacquer finish exhibits heavy lacquer checking, with a repaired center seam on the back and light touch-up along the seam. The finish highlights the prominent curfly flame figuring across the back and sides, and cosmetic wear is limited to very light buckle rash central to the back, and some additional finish scuffs and minor marks on the body as a whole.
A modern Gretsch-branded black tolex hardshell case is included.
The spruce and maple tonewood combination yields plenty of detail and immediacy, with the warmth and breadth of the fully hollow body. The Dynasonic pickup pair offers a clear and smooth sound with bell-like trebles and plenty of woody percussive cut. The pickups compliment each other well, offering a blend of upper midrange definition and sweet fundamental warmth. This Bacon Belmont is an excellent choice for complex Jazz chord voicings, Jump Blues or a variety of Rock-centric genres. Weighing 6lbs, we've had this Bacon Belmont professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar with 11-49 roundwound strings, easy-playing action and accurate intonation.
The maple neck has a substantial C-shaped profile carve with round shoulders, measuring .915" deep at the 1st fret and 1.015" at the 9th. The bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard features pearloid block inlay and original medium jumbo fretwire with fret edge binding. The frets have plenty of meat, showing only light wear beneath the plain strings on frets 1-5. The guitar plays cleanly up the 25 1/4" scale with a straight neck, and the bone nut measures a full 1 3/4" in width. The headstock has a nigh-flawless two-ply plastic veneer etched with "Bacon Belmont" lettering, and the guitar is fitted with a replacement set of vintage-style tuners with butterbean buttons. There is some finish checking along the seams of the headstock wings, all perfectly stable and flush.
All of the electronics are original and function as intended, and the control array includes a Master Volume on the treble side upper bout, individual Volume knobs for each pickup, and a Master Tone control. All of the original transparent DeArmond barrel knobs are intact, as is the original elevated transparent tortoise pickguard. Hardware includes a modern rosewood bridge with compensated saddle, and the guitar benefits from a professional neck reset in its lifetime, with modest room for further adjustment on both bridge thumbwheels. The original chrome-plated trapeze tailpiece rounds things out, and is notably clean.
The Blonde gloss nitro lacquer finish exhibits heavy lacquer checking, with a repaired center seam on the back and light touch-up along the seam. The finish highlights the prominent curfly flame figuring across the back and sides, and cosmetic wear is limited to very light buckle rash central to the back, and some additional finish scuffs and minor marks on the body as a whole.
A modern Gretsch-branded black tolex hardshell case is included.
