1964 National Val-Pro Newport 84

By the time this guitar was made in 1964, National had racked up one of the most convoluted histories in the in annals of American guitar building. From 1926, the year the company was founded, until 1964, the year this guitar was made, National started making metal bodied resonator guitars; had the founder leave to start making wooden bodied resonator guitars under the Dobro name; started the Supro subsidiary; merged with Dobro and renamed themselves Valco; moved from California to Chicago; stopped making resonator guitars in favor of electric guitars; signed on with Gibson’s distributor which led to some hybrid Gibson/National guitars; and spun off Dobro as a separate company. (National history is actually more complex than this. These are just the highlights.) Throughout it all, they managed to make fine instruments and, in many cases, push the boundaries of guitar design.

Which brings us to this Newport 84. At first glance this looks like little more than an art deco style-inspired solid body, but it is actually made of fiberglass, an unusual material for a guitar then and now. The body is fairly light and has a very slight, acoustic resonance, which is handy because the bridge actually has piezo-crystal pickup built into the Lucite bridge base. Yep, this guitar has built-in an acoustic pickup, a design feature that was years ahead of its time. Sadly, Valco was in financial trouble when this guitar was made and within a couple they had gone bankrupt. That’s too bad because this Newport, along with its sister models the Westwood and the Glenwood are great sounding guitars. This example is priced at $4950 and it is in very nice condition. It’s currently residing Fretted Americana, but wouldn’t it be happier at home with you?

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