“This Stromberg is so overwhelmingly loud, it’s kind of like a grand piano because it sounds so big”: Why the 1946 Stromberg Master 400 is a jazz guitar to rival anything from Gibson and D’Angelico

“Elmer Stromberg made maybe less than half of the guitars that John D’Angelico produced. The serial numbers go up to 686, but they appear to start around 300. It was a really small operation with Elmer and his father, Charles, sharing a workshop in Boston, Massachusetts. 

“Charles made drums, banjos and ukuleles, but when guitar became the choice for big bands, Elmer just followed the trend. Elmer probably never imagined he’d end up producing one of the better archtop guitars ever made.

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription