Baxendale '50s Harmony Lariat Cowboy Parlor Conversion

By the mid-'50s, singing cowboys such as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Tex Ritter had inspired a generation of youngsters to pick up a six-string guitar and sing cowboy songs. Seizing on the cowboy popularity, every department store sold guitars stenciled with fitting western scenes.  The Harmony "Lariat" was available from Montgomery Ward from 1957-1958. Constructed of laminate birch, these parlor-sized guitars—with their classic Western stenciling on the top—may have felt like a guitar Gene, Roy, or Tex might play, but they were never built to be functional instruments that would ever tune and play properly. Over the years, most of these guitars have fallen into disrepair and become wall-hangers at best, even though they capture a unique Western vibe. Fortunately, Scott Baxendale and his team of luthiers in Athens, Ga., recognize the potential of these cowboy-inspired guitars and regularly remanufacture them. In doing so, they totally, re-build, re-brace, and re-voice these instruments