National’s Newport 84 debuted in 1962 as the Val-Pro 84, sporting an arctic White finish. A year later, with the name change to Newport, the finish also changed to Sea Foam Green.

Like all the higher models in the map-shaped series, the Newport 84 featured, in addition to one or two pickups, a unit that picked up vibrations from the bridge rather than directly from the strings. Although it seemed to be a preview of the piezo pickups that would we developed for acoustic guitars later in the 1960s, it was actually a throwback to late-1920s pickup designs.

It produced a weak signal, as did National’s conventional pickups. Weak pickups were not the only problem with the Glenwood and Newport map-shaped models. Their bodies were hollow, with two pieces of molded fiberglass held together by a vinyl gasket.

Res-o-glas, as National called it, was anything but resonant, and that, coupled with the weak pickups, made these guitars more enjoyable to look at than to play.