~1998 American Guitar Company Kona (Weissenborn Style) Natural SR-11-34

Year is a guess. This rare beauty has a couple of little dings and scratches, but nothing much at all! The thing that I noticed was the SOUND!!!!!! Man this thing sounds good and LOUD even with old strings!!!! 24 7/8" scale, comes in a Dobro Hard case (different than the one pics were taken with)
From what I saw, this model is called a "Kona" which has a guitar style neck and frets and can supposedly be converted from regular guitar to Hawaiian by changing the nut and bridge insert. The AGC (American Guitar Company) has quite the history--here's what I saw on line: "Posted 1 Jul 2016 "For years, I've resisted the temptation toward self-aggrandizement, but Peghead Nation's (Acoustic Guitar Magazine veterans, like myself) recent publication of this Michael Witcher video has spurred me to comment.

https://pegheadnation.com/instruments-gear/fine-lutherie/american-guitar-company-weissenborn/

Michael's playing an American Guitar Company Weissenborn, AGC being a Phoenix-like outgrowth of OMI/Dobro following Gibson's pinheaded closure of the Huntington Beach factory in 1997. (Not insignificantly to my mind, Gibson's closure came the same day as the Bank of America armed shootout some 60 miles to to the north.)

Along with GM Mike Replogle and product/artist rep Richie Owens, we had started exploring non-resonator Hawaiians and got as far as building a few Kona-style prototypes before Gibson made the first big step toward plunging the proud Dobro brand into scorched-earth insignificance. Before I brought the Kona/Weissenborn model to bear, early attempts were non-resonator spinoffs of the Jerry Douglas model Dobro design.

After the corporate plug was pulled, we weren't ready to abandon this venture. Because no Huntington Beach production employees made the move to Nashville (where Dobro output was more or less nonexistent for months if not more than a year), we engaged ex-OMI employees to keep doing what they'd been doing--albeit under less formal building spaces.

Besides Konas, we branched into Style 4 Weissenborns as Michael W exhibits and a new take on Gibson L-0 flattops of the early 30s. All together, I think we made about 100 instruments of all varieties. Several didn't get finished and were sold off that way 15 years or so ago (and I hear there are a few more still in custody awaiting completion).

Disparate life forces took Mike, Richie and me different directions (we were living in three different cities and two different time zones) and the company passed quietly into history.

Nonetheless, I am proud of the instruments (some cosmetic issues nothwithstanding) and a particular shout-out to Alberto Alcaraz (do I have that right, Mike R?) who did the body building (and yes, in a sense, heavy lifting). I had a mahogany and koa (very limited production) Kona and was later able to get an AGC Weissenborn Style 4 on eBay. The only element missing between these and the originals are 70 years and the je-ne-sais-quoi that distinguishes koa from mahogany.

About two years ago, there was a koa teardrop that lasted a few minutes on George Gruhn's website. It was described as an OMI/Dobro instrument was actually AGC. We bought a small supply of koa from Taylor and built a handful of instruments, of which this was one.

At one point, we were trying to ally ourselves with John Pearse and even shared NAMM booth space one year before they opted not to join forces. There was also a brief alliance with Crafters of Tennessee (Mark and Tut Taylor) that crashed and burned. If you find one with a Crafters label, it very likely is legit. If you find one at all, it's a diamond in the rough.

We were flying pretty close to the sun in calling ourselves American Guitar Company, given Martin's "America's Guitar" slogan. (We were never large enough to cause Martin any appreciable threat or offense.) "American" was a nod to National and we even used a private mailbox on National Boulevard as our business address.

Michael W name-checks several excellent builders in the video (Asher, Bear Creek, Tony Francis, Iseman) and for him to nonetheless feature the AGC guitar is a gratifying touch and confirmation of my pride in these instruments.