Description
Bacon & Day Senorita Special 1933The Bacon Banjo Co. of Groton, Connecticut was compelled by popular demand to enter the guitar market in the early 1930?s. Whether any of Bacon?s guitars were ever completely built in Groton is somewhat of a mystery. There clearly are later examples of guitars with Regal Chicago built bodies that were finished and decorated at Groton. Some claim that Bacon did not have guitar building facilities but there do exist Bacon guitars from the early to mid 1930?s that have unique and distinctly different build styles from any known Regal guitar. Body shapes and sizes, bracing configuration and even the marks of the builders themselves seem to point to the idea that these guitars were designed to be different. Most records from the Groton facilities were swept away by the 1938 Hurricane and whatever pieces were left, including the name, was picked up by Gretsch.This Senorita Special is a 15? round soundhole archtop with an unusual body depth of close to 5? measured at the apex of the top and bottom arches. Its lower serial number and earlier Grover tuners would likely place it in the early 1930?s. The thin, highly arched spruce top is X braced, while the solid mahogany back has a pronounced crown with substantial crossbracing holding the contour. This might have been a prototype. Interior bracing bears numbering and pencil marks by the builder and an old typewritten label declares it a ?Senorita Special? by the Bacon Banjo Company, Groton, Conn.Courtesy of D. Buettner
