The guitars of Willi Wilkanowshi are among the most easily identifiable by any maker because their “rolled” edges make them look like violins.

Wilkanowski was born in Poland in 1886 and came to the US around 1920, settling in Boston, where he made violins for the Oliver Ditson Co. Around 1938, he relocated to NY to work for the Gretsch company and, by 1939, he had opened his own shop in the NY borough of Brooklyn.

Although he lived until around 1960, he only made guitars for a short period. Most of Wilkanowski’s guitars had the squat, non-cutaway shape of this Airway model, with body points off the upper bouts. The rosewood pickguard was not his typical shape, but it was no doubt altered to accept the floating pickup.

This example was unusual in that it sported modern “slash” soundholes (probably inspired by the “cat’s eye” soundholes that appeared on Gretsch archtops in 1939) rather than Wilkanowski’s typical violin-style f-holes.