NEW LISTING - 28​/​08​/​2024! - ACOUSTIC BLUES VINTAGE PARLOR - HARMONY AIRLINE STELLA H8286 CHICAGO, USA 1954 ALL SOLID BIRCH, LADDER BRACED GUITAR - VTG1480. Overhaul​/​Restoration Completed, All Solid Birch, Ladder Braced, Entirely Original,. Great Playing, Condition, Character & Bluestone. The Airline branded, Harmony USA made, H8286 is of identical All Solid Birch, Ladder Braced 12 Fret to the body construction as the iconic, long-running Stella H929 (1945-1970), with the same floating bridge​/​tailpiece configuration.....just different finishing The tested neck joint appears stable, and the angle is good, enabling the retention of full originality, avoiding the need for corrective action, which often includes fingerboard re-levelling, re-finishing and re-fretting. It has the 1 3​/​4"​/​44.5mm. nut width, and 24.25" scale length which are standard for Harmony Stella guitars. The flat profile fingerboard has "deco" banded position markers, rather than the stencil painted ones typical of most Harmony Stella models. Condition....entirely original...finish & colour as you would expect to find on a guitar of this type, at nearing 60 years old, that has been used....you know what they say about it being the good guitars that get played! Inevitably there is good honest edge wear, marking & localised finish loss to the painted bindings and other edges and minor surface chips​/​scratches, together with some finish loss to the deco fingerboard, but nothing ugly or detrimental for a vintage Stella. Workshop overhaul​/​limited restoration now completed.... * Fingerboard overhauled, Original Thin Brass Frets retained, gently stoned​/​levelled, re-profiled, and polished. "Banded" Deco Fingerboard Finish retained....shows wear marking up to fret #4, but this is retained as the Maple fingerboard is hard, and is not "diveted"....the wear being just through the original factory finish. * Also noted are a small area of previous filling on the treble side of the neck, and also small filled former screw holes (assumed from previous pickup attachment) either side of the soundhole, and treble side rear bout. Really minor cosmetically, and not of any concern structurally or playing-wise. * Original Dyed Maple wooden nut has been adjusted and re-fitted. * Original Dyed Maple one piece floating bridge​/​saddle retained as-is...colour faded from the original "Ebonised" finish looks great to me....I could have re-applied Ebony dye, but I think that it has a really good vintage​/​aged look as-is. * Original tailpiece in good and sound condition....original sound black endpin matches tuner buttons. * Machine head tuners are the original 3-on-a-plate sets, which typically of the '50s Waverly pattern tuners Harmony fitted have black buttons. Quite clean and bright for age, and working fine, with just very slight bend on two keys, not in any way affecting satisfactory operation. I have added vintage-type bootlace tuner ferrules​/​bushings, which were not factory installed until late in the '60s. * One small detail missing....the "Airline" headstock name logo...replacement decals can be bought inexpensively, in either waterslide, vinyl or metal form, if buyer requires. Action is spot-on for one of these shorter scale parlors at 2.75mm.​/​3mm. @ 12th. fret. A set of 12-54 Light gauge Bronze set-up strings have been fitted....but other options may be available for delivery. No case with the guitar, but I should be able to put it in and old period-type covered pressed board case (not necessarily a good​/​correct fit) or may be able to supply a Hiscox hard case with additional factory cushion pads fitted to hold the small body....please enquire. I have not been able to find any useful YouTube demos of either the Airline H8286 model, but in my Vintage & Traditional Guitars website I have used clips of Stella H929, H927 and the branded Regal R200 models from the wide selection of the various models which Harmony produced, all of the same construction, all based on the original H929, with, if you like, different "paint jobs" that you can see on YouTube. The embedded link in my website is to YouTube clip...."Guitar rag - 1964 Stella parlor guitar" by "wsbluesbox" of some very nice playing on a Stella H929. Two further clips are linked in the website details for you to check out. I have restricted the wording here to a basic outline, so please do fully research the details provided on my VTG website, and contact me for any further information in order to fulfil your purchase. Thank you, Bob Chaffer, Vintage & Traditional Guitars. *** Very Extensive Description Details on the Vintage & Traditional Guitars Website.....please ensure that you check the full description carefully. Additional photos also available on request.