Oahu Publishing Co.

Just found this guitar in an attic here in western pa, marked,oahu publishing co,and the name nick manoloff is stamped on it,the owner of the guitar??

ANSWER

These instruments were built by Kay from the 1930s-1960s, however the Oahu trademark has been used all the way into the 1980s. Previously distributed by the Oahu Publishing Company of Cleveland, OH.
The Oahu Publishing Company offered Hawaiian and Spanish-style acoustic guitars, lap steels, sheet music, and a wide range of accessories during the Hawaiian music craze of pre-war America. Catalogs stress the fact that the company is a major music distributor, but the instruments were really built by the Kay Musical Company. They produced a number of Hawaiian style guitars in the 1930s and 1940s, primarily. In the late 1930s, Oahu developed a line of lap steel guitars and amplifiers.

The Blue Book values for most of these guitar range from $250-450. There are, however, a couple of notable exceptions:

MODEL 68K/69K DELUXE JUMBO
- full size Hawaiian body, spruce top, Brazilian rosewood back and sides, round soundhole with abalone rosette, abalone body binding, square neck (68K) or round neck (69K), rosewood fingerboard with vine inlay, rosewood bridge, standard headstock with inlays and three-per-side tuners, available in Natural finish, mfg. 1930s

Excellent $3,500 - 4,250
Average $2,250 - 2,750

MODEL 71K/72K JUMBO
- full size Hawaiian body, spruce top, rosewood back and sides, round soundhole, white body binding, square neck (71K) or round neck (72K), rosewood fingerboard with dot inlay, rosewood bridge, 3-per-side tuners, available in Sunburst finish with floral design, mfg. 1930s

Excellent $2,000 - 2,500
Average $1,200 - 1,500

**Nick Manoloff published a number of how to play guitar guides, books, and sheet music in the 1930's. If you google his name you can come up with all sorts of information.