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| 1960's Winston Harmony Copy |
When I was a teenager in 1968 I went to band camp every summer for five days. I wanted to take a guitar with me, but I wasn’t going to take anything that could be damaged. I had saved a little money, so I went to a local music where the salesman tried to upsell me. I explained what I was looking for, a cheap guitar to take to camp, to which he said, “Oh you want a beater.” Yep that is exactly what I wanted,
He showed me this Asian made copy of a Harmony Stella guitar. It was made of the finest birch wood money could buy, This was the same wood used for orange crates. The guitar had ladder bracing and a chunky neck. I bought it for twenty dollars.
Forty years later I walked into Guitar Center and much to my surprised, what appeared seemed to be to be my old beater which was was hanging in the store. The price was no longer $20, but $149. This was a brand new guitar selling under the brand name Recording King.
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| Vintage Recording King Guitars |
At that time Montgomery Ward company ( aka Monkey Wards) first contracted with The Gibson Guitar company to build a line of high end guitars and banjos for sale in their stores. The companies main source of revenue was through their mail order catalogs.
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| Vintage Recording King Guitar |
For the most part Recording King guitars were more affordable instruments that were created during The Great Depression period of the 1930's when no one had money for unnecessary expenses. One of the companies specialties was resonator guitars.
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| Older Recording King Harmonella |
The first the Chinese made instruments they imported lacked quality. To address this issue this company formed a relationship with their Chinese manufacturer by investing in machinery and addressing the quality control problems.
As competition arose between stringed musical instrument companies during the early part of the twenty-first century The Music Link Company goal was to offer quality instruments with stories behind each brand that it owned.
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| The Loar LH-700 |
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| The Music Link |
As a world-wide company, The Music Link opened a warehouse in the Netherlands in 2017 allowing the company to ship instruments across the EU. This distribution plan allowed their instruments to be more affordable in that part of the world. This company does not just wholesale guitars, but other musical instrument such as brass, reeds, percussion, and even sound systems.
In the U.S. The Music Link opened a showroom in East Nashville for promoting artist relations thus encouraging their sales and offering their finest products. However their US base is in Hayward California.
Since the companies inception they have gone from specializing in student quality reproductions of 1930's guitars, to offering very high quality professional instruments with premium pricing.
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| Dirty 30's |
These guitars are quite an upgrade from the $20 "beater" that I purchased years ago. For instance the Recording King models have a laminated spruce top and laminated "whitewood" back and sides. (Whitewood is any kind of wood from a fir tree.)
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| Dirty 30's Series 9 |
However for an extra hundred dollars you could get a Dirty 30's Series 9 which includes a solid spruce top, which is worth the expense.. These start at $299 and depending on the features can sell for up to $449 for the 12 string model with a Fishman pickup system. There is even a parlor model, which is slightly smaller then the size O, and is based on an early Lyon and Healy guitar. One other nice feature of either the Series 7, 9, or 11 of The Dirty 30's guitars is that the saddle and nut are made of bone.
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| Recording King G6 Series |
The Recording King G6 series consist of six different guitars from a Dreadnaught, OOO, size O and three others with cutaways and Fishman electronics. These instruments feature solid spruce tops, with laminate mahogany back and sides. Pricing is from $399 to $499.
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| Recording King Series 11 |
Recording King Series 11 consists of three guitars: A Dreadnaught, a size OOO, and a size O parlor instrument. Each guitar features a solid Sitka Spruce top, with solid African Mahogany back and sides, a satin brown burst finish and Fishman electronics. They are all priced at $549 USD.
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| Recording King Tonewood Reserve |
The Recording King Tonewood Reserve series features 4 models, The All Solid Rosewood model features a select solid Adirondack Spruce top, Back and sides are made of solid east Indian Rosewood. The V shaped neck is made of Mahogany. The body has ivory binding. The nut and saddle are made of bone.
The Tonewood Reserve Mahogany model has similar accoutrements, but with solid African Mahogany back and sides. The Rosewood model retails at $899 while the Mahogany model is $699. Both guitars are available in Dreadnaught size or OOO size.
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| Recording King Tonewood Reserve Elite |
The top of the line for Recording King are the three Tonewood Reserve Elite series guitars. These come in size O, size OOO, and Dreadnaught. All guitars feature a solid AAA Adirondack Spruce tops with solid East Indian Rosewood back and sides. The necks are made of Mahogany topped with Ebony fretboards. Binding is ivory, while the fret markers are Abalone. The body has a gloss finish. This lineup sells in the $1200 range.
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| Dirty 30's Resonator Guitars |
Recording King is also known for it's excellent line up of resonator guitars. Including their wooden body instruments.
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| Recording King Nickel Resonator Guitars |
Recording King also has a line of excellent nickel bodied reproductions of metal Dobro instruments.
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| Road King Pro |
Aside from the fact these instruments are Chinese made, some of the top of the line models revile anything made by Martin or Taylor. Even the Dirty 30's series is an excellent choice for students or Blues players. The shear variety and price point Recording King offers is astonishing.
©UniqueGuitar Publications (text only)
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