From it's cat-eye soundholes to it's thirteen layers of binding, the Synchromatic was a visual feast. Luckily for players, it had a sound and playability to match it's red-hot looks.
Built to one-up the Gibson Super 400, the Synchromatic 400 debuted in 1939 at the top of the Synchromatic line. It wa obviously descended from the earlier Model 250, but the 250 never had he Synchro's art-deco style, or it's "Seven Points of Supremacy, as the marketing folks liked to tout.
The Synchromatic's distinctive styling was carried from the 400 down through the Synchromatic 300, 200 and 160 models, differing mostly in the size of the guitar and level of ornamentation. A entry-level Synchromatic 100 was also offered, although it had to do without the styling of the higher-end Synchros.
Roughly speaking, vintage Synchros can be broken into three periods: 1939 - early World War II, late wartime - 1951 and 1951 - 1953.
The later period started losing some of the more opulent features, including the cat-eye soundholes.
While it's life was short and few were built, the Synchromatic quickly became (and remains) a legend among acoustic archtops.
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Sunburst
— Aug 8, 2007 5:34 a.m.