Justin Mielke is the owner of this rare Standel guitar. Justin has a real fascination with these rare guitars and it was a challenge for me to restore this instrument. It had an enormous amount of repair work to be done before I even thought about the finish. All went well and Justin has his dream guitar and also was kind enough to send me a little history on the short lived Standel guitar.

Standel is a musical instrument company that produced amplifiers and still does. Standel then got into producing guitars. From 1967-1969 Standel produced about 300 guitars. They had three different "lines" of their guitars; Deluxe Artist, Deluxe, and Standard. The guitars were designed by famed guitar luthier Sam Kootz and were produced at the Harptone Factory in Newark, NJ. Their complete history (even by Standel's own account) is quite mysterious. The guitars were beautifully made, built well, and are quite rare. Prices in 1967 ranged from $385 to $1,200. Today these instruments have appreciated in value considerably and sell for a very respectable prices.