National Bel Aire for sale

We recently imported this magnificent and very rare 1958 National Bel Aire, one of only a small handfull produced . It is in completely original and almost perfect condition.

The body is a Gibson 175, made by Gibson for National who then added their own neck and those wonderful loud Supro pickups. If you do a Google search on the Bel Aire, the only one we managed to find is this very one.

We would love to keep her but because Mongrel Guitars needs to keep expanding we need the capital and we reluctantly have to find her a good home.

In all our years of searching for rare guitars we have never seen another one and doubt we ever will.

It arrived strung with flat wounds which made it perfect for a Jazz player, however with round wound strings it is a Blues and Rockabilly monster, Like a Gibson Switchmaster on steroids.

OK, there is a little wear here and there but remember this guitar is 50 years old and only has very mild player wear.

Although the truss rod is not adjustable, the action, while a touch high for a fast lead player, is still within perfectly respectable limits.

The neck angle on these can be altered with an adjustment behind the heel but it really is about right.

The top three knobs are tone controls while the lower three are volumes, the single knob lower down is the master volume.

There is a three way switch near the cutaway.

Pictured here is a page from a 1959 catalogue and you can see the price is $295.00 which is $30.00 more than Gibsons Les Paul Standard of that year.

Interested serious players or investors are welcome to contact us for further details.