This is the guitar I learned on. For the first two and a half years this is what I played.

The guitar belonged to my father who played a little bit. It seems to have been around the house as long as I can remember, although I don't know for sure when or where he got it. I don't know if he bought new or used, although I would guess used.

I'm unable to find any definite information about Marvel guitars in general, but it seems they were made by the Peter Sorkin Music Company in New York. I can't find any picture anywhere that matches my guitar. Since I started playing in 1964, it's at least that old, though, as I said, I remember it being around long before that. Purely as a guess I'd say it was made in the 1950's, possibly early '50's. It has no serial number that I can find and no internal label.

The pickup is an Electromuse Eyebeam String Pickup. Electomuse apparently made Hawaiian style lap steel guitars in the '40's, and were one of the first with a practical electromagnetic pickup (Wikipedia) It never worked from the time I started with the guitar.

It's not obvious from the photo, but the guitar is unplayable as is. The heel of the neck has separated from the body, the volume and tone knobs are loose, and the tuning pegs are disintegrating (as I believe is common with early '50's guitars). Maybe some day I'll get it fixed.