Ken Lelen

Ken Lelen
Ken Lelen sings great American ragtime, jazz, swing and pop tunes in his concerts and plays vintage acoustic guitars for an authentic, back-in-the day sound.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

2015  Concert  Schedule     —    FINAL
Feb   12       Pine Run, Doylestown PA                                   —     Legendary Love Songs
Mar   19       Country House, Wilmington DE                          —     Juke Joint Jive
Mar   26       Burlington Public Library                                —     Vtg Songs + Vtg Guitars
                   7 pm, 22 Sears St, Burlington MA 01830
                   781-270-1690  —  www.burlington.org
                   Sponsors: FOL, FCU, Herb Chambers
Apr    22      Greendale Men's Club                                       —     Legendary Love Songs
                   9 am, 128 Providence St, Worcester MA 01604
                   508-799-1232  —  Worcester Senior Center
Apr    23      Overlook, Charlton MA                                       —     When Love Was Nifty
Apr    24      Whipple Senior Center                                      —     Big Band Idols
                   1 pm, 182 Green St, Weymouth MA 02191
                   781-682-6140  —  Weymouth Elder Services
May    5       Chelsea, West Milford NJ                                     —     Juke Joint Jive
May   18      Springmoor, Raleigh NC                                     —     Hollywood Souvenirs
May   19      Cypress, Raleigh NC                                           —     Broadway Mementos
May   20      Bermuda Village, Advance NC                            —     When Love Was Nifty
May   21      Oaks, Orangeburg SC                                         —     Hollywood Souvenirs
May   22      Carlyle Place, Macon GA                                    —     Broadway Mementos
June  19      Maplewood, West Yarmouth MA                          —     Sunny Side of Street
June  21      Fox Hill Village, Westwood MA — Dad's Day       —     Big Band Idols
July   15      Homewood, Frederick MD                                   —     Speak Easy Jazz
July   16      Shannondell, Audubon PA                                  —     Radio Ramblers
Aug   21      Senior Citizens Club, North Plainfield NJ             —     Big Band Idols
Sept    2      Heath Village, Hackettstown NJ                          —     When Love Was Nifty
Sept  18      Lake Prince Woods, Suffolk VA                          —     Folk Song Boomers
Sept  25      OceanView,  Falmouth ME                                  —     Folk Song Boomers
Sept  27      MaplewoodWest Yarmouth MA                          —      In The Mood
Sept  28      Holden Senior Center                                       —      A Fine Romance
                  1 pm, 1130 Main St, Holden MA 01520
                  508-210-5570  —  Holden Council on Aging
Oct     6      Wesley Enhanced Living, Doylestown PA            —     Big Band Idols
Oct   13      Village @ St Barnabas, Gibsonia PA                    —     Big Band Idols
Oct   13      Springhill, Erie PA                                              —     Broadway Mementos
Oct   19      Pomperaug Woods, Southbury CT                      —     When Love Was Nifty
Oct   20      Arbors, Manchester CT                                        —     Hollywood Souvenirs
Nov    1      Road Runners Club, South Plainfield NJ                —     When Love Was Nifty
Nov    2      Shannondell, Audubon PA                                    —     When Love Was Nifty
Nov    4      Meadowood, Lansdale PA                                     —     When Love Was Nifty
Nov    9      Lakewood Manor, Richmond VA                           —     Big Band Idols
Nov   10     CypressRaleigh NC                                             —     Hollywood Souvenirs
Nov   11     Bermuda Village, Advance NC — Vet's Day          —     A Fine Romance
Nov   12     Oaks, Orangeburg SC                                           —     When Love Was Nifty
Nov   16     Springmoor, Raleigh NC                                       —     Broadway Mementos
Dec   11     Road Runners Club, Bound Brook NJ                    —     Big Band Idols
Dec   26     Stonebridge @ Montgomery, Skillman NJ            —     Tin Pan Alley Cats
Dec   27     Applewood Estates, Freehold NJ                          —     When Love Was Nifty 
                      __________________________________________________________________
                                      ©  2015 — Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved

Friday, July 24, 2015

One fine guitar — the Roy Smeck Professional
         Unusual auditorium guitar with Aero bridge and Cuban mahogany body
                               Played by a Philadelphia man for 65 years
                               Recently restored for concert performance 
                                       _________________________________ 
                                              © 2015 — Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved

                                                                                                                                                                             PIX: KL
Tom Crandall, New York City luthier, with c. 1935 Roy Smeck Professional.


This Roy Smeck Professional, made by Harmony Co. of Chicago in the late 1930s, recently came into my life and hands. It is a rare model (H1251) that was owned and played for 65 years by one man — Gilbert A. Rand (1925 – 2005) of Philadelphia.

The instrument was made with quality woods, including flamed Cuban mahogany on the back and sides, mahogany neck and tight-grained spruce top with 15-inch lower-bout width. It has a rosewood fingerboard with 14 frets to the body and 25-inch scale, maple bridge and firestripe pickguard that mimics a Gibson L-00 guard from the same era. The entire guitar glows with a red-brown sunburst finish across the top, sides and back.

The guitar has its original bridge and plastic bridge pins, but its pot-metal tuners long ago disintegrated. They’ve been replaced with new units. Gilbert Rand apparently used a metal nut extension for Hawaiian-style play for quite some time. Still, today the neck’s 1-11/16-in. nut width and ever-so-slight V shape feel comfortable for standard play.

Aero bridge + Smeck peghead
Two prominent elements on this guitar are an Aero bridge and an endorser's headstock. Both of these features were used by Sears Roebuck Co., Harmony’s owner, to attract customer interest and generate sales.

Set atop some 6-string, tenor and uke models in the late 1920s and 1930s, the Aeros were fully functioning bridges meant to honor a man once called America’s greatest hero — aviation ace Charles Lindbergh. Oddly, the Aero bridges were replaced by straight bridges by 1940 at about the time Lindbergh fell from favor.

Likewise, emblazoned on the headstock is the guitar's model name: "Roy Smeck Professional." The letters are engraved and painted on a pearloid peghead overlay.

This element verified in the public's mind that this guitar was designed by the famous instrument virtuoso. It also honored Roy Smeck — a living musical legend and Harmony endorser for 40 years — from 1927 to 1967. More about Roy Smeck later. 

One special instrument
All told, the large size, Cuban mahogany body, Aero bridge, endorser nameplate, handsome finish and other details mean this guitar was designed to be one special instrument — unlike most guitars Harmony built during the Depression.

In the 1930s the majority of the firm's units were mass-produced, budget affairs. They were standard-sized guitars with ladder-braced tops and all-birch or birch-and-spruce bodies. They were sold by the thousands through Sears mail-order catalogs and by wholesale jobbers to music stores.

To bolster sales during the Depression years, Harmony also gussied up the design of their low-brow instruments. They added custom appliqués, decorative decals, cowboy themes, rustic, romantic and Hawaiian scenes, and painted marquetry.

Some of its most attractive sellers were starter kits for novice guitar players. These included a guitar and canvas case. Occasionally, a silk cord, extension nut, slide bar and picks were added as well. In 1937 Harmony flattop starters ranged from $6.45 to $10.75. Its archtop starters cost a little more: $8.75 to $28.65.

Kay Music Co. of Chicago, Harmony's biggest competitor, offered similar starter kits through Montgomery Ward stores and its mail-order catalogs. Flattop kits started at $4.98 and topped out at $11.98 for a Del-Oro auditorium guitar — reduced from $17.50 in time for Christmas. Kay archtop kits ranged from $9.98 ("Regular $12.98 value! Suitable for Hawaiian or Spanish style playing!") to $19.95 for an Old Kraftsman archtop with "genuine curly maple."

Top with two X braces
Gilbert Rand's Roy Smeck Professional stands well above Harmony's decorative and starter models in several ways. Besides its Aero bridge and star-enhanced endorsement, it is graced with an unusual X-braced top and Cuban mahogany back and sides.

The top, in fact, has two X braces. One is beneath the sound hole in the traditional location. A second X was placed near the tail block between the lower struts of the main X brace.

Here’s how the Roy Smeck Professional is described in a 1935 catalog from Metropolitan Music Co., a New York City jobber that shipped guitars for Sears: 

   Roy Smeck (“Wizard of the Strings”) Extra Auditorium
   Professional Guitar, improved model with famous
   Aero bridge. Beautifully figured mahogany back and
   sides, dark shaded finish. Fine close grained shaded
   spruce top, inlaid and nicely toned to match. Heavy
   celluloid trimmed edge. Steel reinforced mahogany
   neck. White pearlette head piece is hand engraved.
   Long scale, ovalled rosewood fingerboard, celluloid
   bound with neat inlaid position dots. Hand rubbed
   polished finish. Carefully adjusted and regulated for
   ease of playing and full tone quality. Individual unit
   tuning keys. Each $30.00.

The $30 price didn't change during the five years the guitar was sold. However, the cost of furnishing a 15-inch, black hardshell case with plush interior for the guitar rose from $5.19 in 1937 to $7.35 by 1941.

"Beautifully figured mahogany"

Back in the day the figured mahogany on this guitar was called Cuban mahogany and may have come from Regal Musical Instrument Co. of Chicago, said one vintage guitar source. In the 1930s Regal operated a secondary enterprise importing and selling wood supplies to other instrument makers and furniture firms. So it’s not uncommon to see instruments from this era made by Harmony, Washburn and Regal with the same curly Cuban mahogany.
   

































Cuban mahogany has not been commercially available since the 1950s due to extensive logging. Produced prior to that era, guitars like this Roy Smeck Professional are rare and special because they may reveal a close, fine grain and exhibit a curl, quilt or wavy-grain figure. Said to be denser than Honduran mahogany, such Cuban mahogany offers rosewood-like tone qualities, with a well-developed midrange and bass.

Roy Smeck —
longtime prolific endorser 
Shown with electric lap steel guitar, musician Roy
Smeck endorsed for both Harmony and Gibson.
Roy Smeck (1900 – 1994) was a popular musician and virtuoso on Spanish and Hawaiian guitar, banjo and ukulele.

From his days in vaudeville in the early 1920s until the mid-1960s, he made more than 500 recordings for Victor, Decca, Edison, Columbia, Crown, RCA and other labels. In the 1950s and 1960s he was a frequent guest on TV variety shows for Ed Sullivan, Steve Allen and Jack Paar.

Today, the "Wizard of the Strings" is better known as the endorser of the Stage Deluxe (1934 – 1942) and Radio Grande (1934 – 1939), Hawaiian guitars with 2-inch-wide necks from Gibson of Kalamazoo, MI. Though many have had their necks thinned when converted to standard-style for modern players, they still have a higher collector value than their Harmony counterparts, according to Harmony expert François Demont and other vintage dealers. 

25¢ weekly installments
Born August 12, 1925, Gilbert Rand was a teenager when he bought his Roy Smeck Professional sometime before 1940. To get the guitar, he made weekly installments of 25¢ for nearly nine months and paid a total of $39.60 to Dortch Studios of Music and Arts on North Fifteenth Street in Philadelphia.


Gilbert Rand's receipt booklet shows he paid
$39.60 in weekly payments to Dortch Studios
over nine months to pay for his guitar. 

Gilbert Rand took music lessons at Dortch and played the guitar in slide and standard-style throughout his life, which ended October 30, 2005 at age 80. Housed in a period archtop case were Hawaiian music instruction pages, Dortch Instrument Club Member card, handwritten lessons, extension nut, thumb pick, one of the surviving pot-metal tuners, and a c. 1926 Five-Minute Guitar Course instruction booklet.
Article and photo in Nov 1978 Reading Eagle identified Gilbert
Rand (2nd from left) as member of Ind't Order of Odd Fellows

Other than residing at several homes in Northeast Philly during his adult life, little else is known of the man. Only time will tell if we learn more about this special person and his fine guitar. Other than his 65-year stewardship of the Roy Smeck Professional, little else is known about Gilbert Rand’s adult life or family. An article in the Nov, 1978 issue of Reading Eagle and an 1978 IRS Form 990 for nonprofit taxpayers revealed he was a Grand Master in the Philadelphia chapter of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternal service organization.

Playability is now superb 
Today, this acoustic guitar’s playability is superb. The vintage sound is appealing for its bass and mid-range warmth. It throbs smoothly when fingerpicked (crisp, round and soft, with quick-decay on the treble). And it thrums cleanly when strummed or flat picked — crisp, vibrant and even, but not strident. Yes, using words to describe sounds is vain.

In April, 2013 New York City luthier Tom Crandall restored the guitar with the following work:

     •  reset the neck
     •  replaced crumbled tuners with Grover Sta-Tites
     •  planed (12-inch radius) and refretted fingerboard
     •  installed Popsicle brace under tongue of fingerboard
     •  filled and recut the saddle slot, then intonated bone saddle
     •  installed maple pad on bridge plate for secure bridge pin contact.

"These guitars don’t come up for sale often,” said Alex Whitman, Crandall’s business partner. “And they almost never get the repair work they deserve.” 
                                       
             _________________________________

                                           Resources

                                       antebelluminstruments.blogspot.com
                                       harmony.demont.net
                                       theunofficialmartinguitarforum.yuku.com
                                       trcrandall.com


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© 2015 — Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved

Friday, June 12, 2015

Vintage Guitar Photos
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These are vintage acoustic guitars I've played at concerts in the last
16 years at a variety of venues & settings in Solo & Combo formats.
© 2015 by Kenneth Lelen — All Rights Reserved
                                                                     Photo: Sheethal Surendran
Ken Lelen + 1933 Bacon Senorita
@ Whipple Senior Center, Weymouth MA
                                                                 Photo: Sheethal Surendran
Ken Lelen + 1936 B & D Groton 1
@ Whipple Senior Center, Weymouth MA
                                                                             Photo: Tammy Leach
Ken Lelen + 1936 B & D Groton 1
@ The Oaks in Orangeburg SC
                                                                          Photo: Janet Redyke
Ken Lelen + B & J Serenader @ Vernon Public
Library's Ragtime Rascals Concert in Vernon NJ

This c. 1932 Serenader was made by Regal of Chicago for B & J,
a NY City musical merchandise wholesaler. It is a grand concert
acoustic guitar with mahogany wood back & sides, ladder-braced
spruce top in a rare teaburst finish, 14 frets to the body, slotted
headstock and 25
1/4-inch scale. Zowie !!
                                                         Photo: Dan Castro
Ken Lelen + 1936 B & D Groton 1
@ Holden Senior Center in Holden MA
                                                                                                     Photo: Vivian Carey
Ken Lelen + 1936 B & D Groton 1 with Matt Koch on bass
@ Bound Brook Public Library in Bound Brook NJ
                                                                          Photo: Bill Henderson
Ken Lelen + 1912 Grauso auditorium with Matt Koch on
bass @ Florham Park Public Library in Florham Park, NJ
                                                                           Photo: Ralph Shirak
Ken Lelen + 1952 Kay Lonesome Cowboy
@ Huntington Common in Kennebunk ME
Ken Lelen + 1948 Martin 00-17 @
Sun City Hilton Head in Bluffton SC
In the background (l. to r.) are five other vintage Martin guitars:
1923 2-17, 1920 0-18, 1936 00-18G, 1943 000-18 and 1939 D-18.
                                                                           Photo: Nancy Cavallo
Ken Lelen + 1939 Gibson L-0 @ Washington Crossing NJ
                                                                             Photo: Mike Nixon
Ken Lelen + 1936 B & D Groton 1 @ Washington Crossing NJ
                                            Photo: Ralph Shirak
Ken Lelen + 1937 Martin 00-18H @
Huntington Common in Kennebunk ME
                                                                                                         Photo: Mike Nixon
Ken Lelen + 1937 Gibson HG-00 @ Washington Crossing NJ
Ken Lelen + 1930 Gibson L-4 @
John & Peter's Place in New Hope PA
                                                                       Photo: Ralph Shirak
Ken Lelen + 1932 B & J Serenader @
Huntington Common in Kennebunk ME


Ken Lelen + 1936 B & D Groton 1 @
Greendale Mens Club in Worcester MA

                                                                                                                                  Photo: Tim Lelen
Ken Lelen + c. 1920 Galiano @ Washington Crossing NJ
This standard-sized guitar with mahogany back & sides and spruce top
was likely made by luthier Antonio Cerrito in New York City's Little Italy.
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© 2015 Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved