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I've recently acquired another Celebrity-III, S/N K0426. It is a beautiful red in extremely nice condition. The downside is that it has Gibson pickups,knobs, and a non original selector switch. I have no idea how old the Gibson pickups are, but they do have the patent number stamped on the back.
I find it very interesting how different these two Celebrity-III's are considering they are only 346 pieces apart. K0772 is a model with the Moseley tremelo, K0426 has the trapese tailpiece. K0772 has a 1 X 3 block under the bridge and a similar block at the end of the guitar, presumably the two piece sides come together as well as the rear strap pin. K0426 is very different.
K0426 I believe to be a mid 1966 build. The pots are dated for the 3rd week of February, 1966. I don't know how much inventory Semie kept on hand and what his buying habits were as far as quantity, etc. I hope to learn that some day. This guitar does not have the two blocks that I found in K0772, but it does have a bar running along the bottom of the guitar for the full length of the bout. I also has two bars running along the top of the guitar for the full length of the bout. At the tail end of the guitar, there is a block approximately 1/2" X 3" X 5" attached to the top of the guitar and spanning between the two upper bars.
Until I can study more guitars from this era I can only speculate as to the differences found here. It could simply be that in the beginning they had these "tone bars" and sometime in 1966 Semie decided on a design change either for ease of production, cost savings, or some other purpose. I also wonder if this body was originally slated to be a Dobro body and got used for a Celebrity-III. I'll have to see if Artie will let me take a peak inside his Dobros.
So, have a look inside this baby and let me know what ya'll think.
This image shows the neck pocket. The serial number K0426 is also stamped here. You can see the bottom bar.
From this angle you can see a little bit of the top bar. These two bars run along each side of the pickups for the full length.
This image shows the rear of the guitar. You can see the bottom bar as well as the upper left bar and the block that spans across the two.
In this image you can see all three "tone" bars as well as the block that spans across the top.
Here we can see the bottom bar where it comes up to the neck pocket area. You can see the end of the neck, in the pocket.
Here we can see the upper tone bar as well as the neck pocket area.
This is my favorite image. It shows all three bars very clearly. The daylight you see is from the neck pocket.
