Recording King expands their Dirty 30’s lineup with the new tailpiece-equipped Harmonella Triple O acoustic guitar.
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As part of the Dirty 30’s lineup, it brings nostalgia-inducing vintage-inspired looks, and has a throaty tone inspired by the affordable department-store acoustic guitars of old.
While the tone of department store guitars were of no interest to purists back in the old days, blues players found them inspiring. On top of being affordable, the semi-distorted throaty voice of these acoustics made them ideal for slide playing and melodic lead lines, and as such they became widely used by early blues players.
Now Recording King is bringing back these affordable blues box guitars as part of their Dirty 30’s line, and the Harmonella Triple O is one of two new guitars from this series.
The distinctive feature of the Harmonella Triple O is its floating tailpiece, based on vintage instruments. The company however improved on the design by using solid spruce for the top, utilizing modern building techniques and traditional X-bracing.
The official descriptions says, “Historically, tailpieces were used on guitars whose tops were reinforced using ladder bracing. These tops delivered a dry sound with very few overtones. Harmonella models are built using traditional x-bracing on the solid spruce top, which, when paired with the tailpiece delivers vibrant gutbucket blues sound with enhanced overtones. The original models were made with steel reinforced necks, but today’s Harmonellas are built with traditional truss rods for easy neck adjustments.“
The neck of the guitar is crafted from nato, and topped by a 20-fret rosewood fingerboard. It follows the standard acoustic guitar scale length of 25.4″, and it meets the body at the 14th fret. It has a bone nut that is 1 1-11/16″ wide and the headstock features a rosewood overlay to complete the guitar’s vintage look.
The Harmonella Triple O’s traditional design is complemented by the classic-style fretboard markers, old-school bound soundhole and matte sunburst finish. Check out the official video demo:
I have to say that the guitar really sounds old school, and as such it may not be endearing to those who play ballads and other musical styles. But it does what it is designed to do really well, sound like a blues box. And with a retail price of $199.99, this will make a nice starting acoustic for a beginner, or a great extra guitar for those that want to dabble with classic blues tunes. For more information, head over to Recording King.
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Recording King made it to our list of great acoustic guitars for under $300!