The Steel Guitar Forum

1936 was Sears’ 50th anniversary, and to celebrate Harmony was commissioned to create a very special lap steel. The Golden Jubilee and Silver Jubilee. Cast aluminum with a 25” scale.

I was fortunate enough to find one for sale, and it arrived at my door today. Very cool. The pickup is not as strong as modern pickups, but it sounds really good, especially with the tube amp turned up.

Supertone 2290. The "Golden Jubilee" name was applied to a number of items in the 1936 Sears catalog for the company's 50th birthday, but was never part of the model name of this instrument.

The guts of mine - showing the horseshoe PU.

That headstock is seriously cool.

I have one of those too--but I didn't get that great case with mine! It's always been one of the coolest lap steels out there in my eyes. Like yours, mine doesn't have a very strong pickup, but it sounds very good.

Dave

Sears originated in North Redwood, MN.
The depot agent wound up with a railroad car full of watches to sell and this was the start of Sears.
Erv

Noah Miller wrote:Supertone 2290. The "Golden Jubilee" name was applied to a number of items in the 1936 Sears catalog for the company's 50th birthday, but was never part of the model name of this instrument.

Thanks Noah, that’s good information. It has become known as the “Golden Jubilee” though, having been commissioned by Sears as a catalog item for their Golden Jubilee year. It is not uncommon for a vernacular name to become more used than the manufacturer’s designated product name over time.

It sure would be nice to own the whole set, with the Spanish and the matching amp!

Sound sample. The pickup seems very microphonic, but still sounds pretty good.

https://youtu.be/SSPrGbzoa0g

Nice one, Allan! I love the look of those.

Very cool, now to find that amp!

I'd buy it just to look at that wild headstock !

Chris Boyd wrote:I'd buy it just to look at that wild headstock !

The headstock is a lower case "H" apparently for Harmony, who built the guitar for Sears.

Dave

Thanks for pointing that out David...I missed it completely!

Harmony was owned by the same folks who owned Sears at the time. Oddly enough, I have not found any Harmony catalogs featuring this model. The Spanish guitar was sold as the Harmony 1248, but never the steel.