A HISTORY OF BROADWAY GUITARS

The Bell Music catalogue of September 1962 shows the aforementioned Broadway Plectric 1921 and 1922 models but also two new Broadway solid electric models were made available; the Broadway Plectric 1923 and the Broadway Plectric 1927.



The Broadway Plectric 1923 (the single pickup model) and the Broadway Plectric 1927 (with two pickups) were two models fitted with the “new Broadway tremolo arm” as an optional extra. The price for the Broadway Plectric 1927 model was around £25, so still within the budget of many aspiring guitarists of the time. The vibrato assembly was hidden under a chrome cover plate, which is often missing on surviving models, as illustrated in the photograph above.

The Broadway Plectric solid’s vibrato tailpiece, was a rather primitive unit fitted in the UK, after importation of the guitar from Japan. Confusingly, these vibrato units are stamped “Made in England,” which tends to make people think that the whole guitar was in fact made in the UK. This was not the case and Broadway Plectrics continued to be manufactured by Guyatone in Japan. The Plectric1927 also has 'Broadway' stamped into the vibrato footplate on some models. The vibrato tailpieces were clearly outsourced to a number of suppliers, so some variation in stamping is to be expected.



Apart from the added vibrato unit, which replaced the chrome ‘ashtray’ cover, the specification on the Broadway Plectric 1923 and 1927 models were exactly the same specification as seen on the Broadway 1921 and 1922 models.



In keeping with the rest of the Broadway Plectric range, the guitars were fitted with tuning machine heads of a simple open-backed variety. They were individual machine heads (not 6 in a row), held onto the headstock with two screws and capped by a white plastic tuning button. The shaft of the machine head posts protruded through the headstock, with no ferrule bushes. A white plastic truss rod cover was for decorative purposes only, as with other Broadway models, there was no truss rod to adjust the neck! The guitar's action could only be set by raising or lowering the bridge, by adjustment of the thumb wheels. Over time, Broadways do tend to develop a poor action, often rather high, with no immediate remedy once the bridge has been lowered as far as it can.