We did not attempt to straighten it because of the risk of breaking the brass shaft! The G (3rd string) tuner is a little bent, but totally functional. It has a solid headstock with open-geared tuners. The neck has a totally acceptable, slight concave & the action at the 12th fret measures 4.5mm at the 1st ( High E) & 5mm at the 6th (Low E) The neck is substantial in feel, with a deep carve and V profile and a 45mm (1-3/4″) nut width. The only replacement is the addition of a new hand carved bone nut. She has a steel body with rolled f-holes and ivoroid dot fingerboard inlays. She features a Basswood (Or poss Maple!) neck and Rosewood (Or Gumwood) 10″ radius fingerboard, with 14 frets clear of the body (19 frets in total) The frets are in great shape, with little playwear. She looks really cool & full of mojo now in her true reliced state. We had the option to either have her bead-blasted & completely refinished from head to toe, or to simply remove any progressive oxidation & machine wax her to prevent any further progression! We chose the latter & very glad we did, as we’ve since learnt that the Duco Frost finish is a very rare type of finish and much sought after! Also missing was the “National Duolian” decal from the peghead, but we decided to keep it all original & left it off, rather than replace it with a new waterslide. This old gal had been left alone in a garage for over 50 years when we rescued her & the Duco Frost finished body had suffered from some considerable oxidation, but was totally sound, as was the neck & all parts including the original spun cone & biscuit bridge. The serial number is on the top edge of the headstock and is 5439 & the Patent numbers are 1762617 / 1741458. Here we have a really lovely, early Duolian 14 fret steel bodied round (V) neck guitar.

National duolian guitar