Terry Best - Cathedranola Guitar

Terry Best - Cathedranola - Unique!
Click a pic to view it full size in a new page. -- Updated 12 May 04 --

Here is a Cathedranola the belonged to Terry's Grandfather, Nelson Best. This guitar is unique in several ways. Number one, it has a slotted head. Most Cathedranolas (in fact, everyone that I have seen up to this point in time) have solid heads. However, this is the same scale as a "faux reso", and they did have both solid and slotted heads. The guitar has a 1 7/8 " wide nut with 18 frets. So, here we have a "faux reso" size guitar that is labeled "Cathedranola."

Number two, this guitar is known to be from 1933 or earlier. All of the literature that I have found and read about these instruments says that they were made from approximately 1933 - 1935. Terry's Grandmother believes that Nelson purchased this guitar at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, as he attended it. Also, there is a signature inside the guitar showing that repair work was done to this guitar by Nelson's father, George, on Dec 2, 1933. This would, if the dates of manufacture given in the existing literature are accurate, make this one of the very early instruments of this type.

All in all, a very nice addition to the knowledge base of the Slingerland instrument family. My thanks to Terry for sharing this with me and allowing me to share it with you! Terry tells me that he will be pulling the coverplate off in the future and taking more pics of this guitar.