Part of the reason I acquired it was because I thought it looked like a piece of folk art. The mystique of guitar manufacturing in that town in the 30's is almost too much for me to handle.Īnywho - This is a damn cool guitar with a colossally funky vibe. One thing we can be sure of is that it was Chicago made. Maybell was a name owned by Slingerland and what seems to be a more prevalent offshoot product of theirs. This is the first Slingerland I have owned, but I have had a number of Maybells over the years and both these instruments have had Regal and/or Harmony characteristics.
Unfortunately, we are going to need a time machine to definitively get to the bottom of this. Some believe they produced guitars themselves but most seem to think they were being built either by Regal or Harmony. But what about guitars? It is still slightly up in the air as to who did Slingerlands' guitar manufacturing. The calfskin production is already in place, you already have a factory, you basically just have to start building shells and hardware. The making of drums was a fairly easy transition for a banjo company(Ludwig should have known this). Play nice - or you may get your ass kicked. This is a nice little business lesson for all you future captains of industry out there. Ludwig basically says F-You, Slingerland says have it your way and proceeds to take over the lead in American drum manufacturing. Slingerland contacts Ludwig and says if you don't make banjos, we won't make drums. Apparently the Ludwig drum company started getting into the banjo business. The story goes that Slingerland was initially a banjo company. The WPA was propping up artists and their work all through this period leading to some of the finest photographs, paintings, sculptures, books and music in our history.Īt this time the maker of this guitar was called the "Slingerland Musical Instrument Mfg Co.", prior to that it was "The Slingerland Banjo and Drum Company" and prior to that is was "The Slingerland Banjo Company". Do we create more art in the midst of despair and turmoil? It was certainly a tough time to be a farmer, but what seemed like a fairly good time to be an artist. At some point we will have to study whether the two are connected. So much despair and yet so much art being created. Time to take a little trip back to the 1930's when Hoover was ousted by Roosevelt and Ludwig was ousted by Slingerland as the country's top drum producer.
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