 H1307 - Cremona VII
Acoustic archtop - Wine red shaded
Production year(s) : 1935-1951 (other years possible, not verified)
Top of the Cremona line, carved spruce top, flamed maple back and sides. Wooden tailpiece and pickguard, downgraded tuners during wartime, because of the lack of metal at the time. One is seen with different shaped "straight" f-holes. Early models (thirties) have a narrower, tortoise engraved headstock, and "stars" fret markers.
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| Top wood | Spruce
| | Body wood | Maple
| Carved top - All solid woods
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5 comments | Add your comment ! - h1pst3r - 2006-03-12
I own a H1307 (Cremona) but it is branded as a Weymann (a maker of fine bajos at in the early 20th century).
A wonderful guitar with a woody tone due I think to the incredibly thick carved spruce top BUT she can bark due to the solid flamed maple back and sides. The neck is a thick V, has the center line inlay up the center of the brazilian rosewood fretboard (flanked by block inlays) and, is fully bound on the sides. The headstock is overlaid with brazilian rosewood and has extensive MOP inlays. The back of the headstock is also veneered and sandwiches the full triple bound center line that comes up the fretboard -- amazing craftsmanship.
The neck is pulling a little, but the action is still very very nice and the neck dead straight. The tone of these guitars is unmatched. They can be so subtle and complex with light picking with a plectrum or fingers but then just dig in and scream with lead mid-range or wall of sound rhythm voices. I hate the word, but "mojo" really is the only way to describe it -- Not only like you found the voice of Mississippi John Hurt embodied in wood, but because you can get that fat Wes sound with your thumb, a David Nelson bluegrass lilt with your fingers, a full pop acoustic rhythm with a pick and a just about everything in between.
I use elixir 10s on all my archies and really nothing sounds better (I just tried flats but cut'em off). I own a 1325 monterey, two 1407 patricians, a Broman King (actually another cremona), a Kraftsman 17" cutaway and the Weymann 75 (actually the 1307 pictured here). I love the high-end catalog guitars and think you need to grab'em and bring them back to life to keep the history alive
I will post pics soon, thanks for keeping this site going. I have learned a TON here.
Cheers -- get me at h1pst3r-AT-gee-mail-dot-com - Lerxst - 2006-12-24
I have a guitar similar to yours, it is a Broman King. I was hoping to find some information about it, so I guess I did. Awesome guitars by the way. Rock on.
Mills cygnus231 [at] hotmail.com - Justin - 2012-03-01
I found an old cremona in my grandfathers basement and it is a model H1307...identical to the first few pictures! the stamp inside is 4280...Awesome guitar, the neck is bowing a bit so i play on light guage strings...still sounds amazing. - Gary H. - 2012-07-31
I recently acquired an H1307 with original case. Not only is the top carved, but the tone bars are carved into the same solid piece of wood making it a monolithic structure. When re-setting the neck, I discovered that the sides are SOLID and not plywood! The tuners are Kluson "patent applied for" in gold finish. The tailpiece is the identical shape as the rosewood wartime model, but is a solid block of cast aluminum. The date stamp is faded badly, but is visible as 37 under ultraviolet light. The headstock is the elaborate m.o.p. inlay pattern, so the statement that the 30's models had tortoise inlay with star position markers may be correct but cannot be interpreted to exclude other possible patterns. - Drew - 2013-05-01
I have a model H1307, a fellow band mate (banjo player) rescued it from the dump one day and gave it to me! A luthier friend in Floyd VA repaired the cracks & I now play it daily, it sounds great with a slide!!!
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