Post by mrtwelve on Mar 17, 2023 11:34:59 GMT
Has anyone out there got any idea who made this little parlour guitar? It’s 36.5” long, body 18” long, and 13” wide at the bottom bout, with a 12.3/8” scale, 12 frets to the body. Ladder braced solid spruce top (I’ve looked inside with a mirror and the outer grain matches the inner). Back and sides, hmm, maple or birch I’d guess, again solid (I’ve inspected the grain inside and out), and the back is laddered too. 5-ply w/b/w/b/w binding round top and soundhole, no binding round the back. Nicely aged sunburst finish, faded somewhat - colour is darker under the bridge and scratchplate. Dunno what the scratchplate is made of, looks like an early type of plastic, and I’m not sure if it’s original or retro-fitted. Its 1/4” thick, screwed on with 3 screws with cork washers underneath to raise it from the soundboard.
The soft C profile neck is one piece of what looks like maple, and no reinforcing bar or truss rod, so naturally its developed a bit of a bow - I think of it as a lot of relief! The fingerboard is rosewood, with a beautiful grain, not bound, with three real mop dots at 5, 7 and 12th frets. The frets were covered in a layer of green muck - I thought they were brass! But a few hours scraping and polishing and it turns out they’re nickel. The headstock has been veneered with a dark wood, no idea what. The nut looks original, plastic and shrinking slightly. Action at the nut is a very high 2mm, and an even worse 3.5mm at the 12 the fret. There’s no zero fret, which is making me think American manufacture.
As is so often the case with ancient guitars, someone had replaced the treble side tuners with, of course! bass side tuners of a completely different type, and crucially, size. The originals, with round white plastic buttons, are quite unusual. The shafts are made out of a piece of brass bent into a tube, drilled for the string, and riveted onto the cog on the backplate. Distance between the shaft centres is 1.1/4”, as opposed to the more modern standard 1.3/4”. No idea what make they are, either. The only other tuners I’ve seen that were made like this are on an old flatback mandolin, which I bought years ago, and apparently dates to around 1920. Unfortunately the only tuners I had that would fit - the shaft holes are small too - are a modern set, too shiny but at least have the period look.
The very simple trapeze tailpiece is nailed on(!), and the endpin was missing; the nice folk at Luthier Supplies sold me an ebony one, perfect fit except the holehadn’t been drilled straight. The bridge is ebonised hardwood, with a string guide at the back, the strings sitting on a piece of fretwire (which I’ve also cleaned, straightened, and reseated), and not adjustable at all. (and would look just right on the prewar Harmony I acquired recently...)
It looks and feels and smells like a pre-WW2 American job, but there are no identifying markings anywhere on it. In fact, the only marks are a couple of pencil lines drawn down the inside of the waist, and alongside a brace in the back - ? - could have at least put his initials and a date while he was at it!
The neck bow and the wrong tuners aside, its in pretty good nick for a guitar which I reckon is maybe around 60 (at least) to (more likely) 80 years old, and everything else on it is original. There’s a biggish scar in the varnish behind the first fret, but no lumps out of the wood - looks like a sax or a drum fell on it after a drunken jam (ok I’m a romantic) somewhere in the last century; there’s a fair bit of plectrum/nail wear below the soundhole - the scratchplate is positioned at the bridge end halfway along the soundhole - and a few scratches above the bass side. Otherwise it’s just dirty, with a dull patina that’s taken years to accumulate. I’ve given it a light rub with some Martin guitar polish and that’s brought the old real varnish gloss finish up to a deep and beautiful lustre.
All said, a quality, well-made little instrument, about mid-range quality, it’s well finished and tidy inside, all solid woods, nickel frets. And with plenty of dirt and scratches and scuffs from playing since (probably) the 1930s. This is of course cool, ‘cos any guitar that’s been played a lot is usually a guitar worth playing!
So given the neck bow, I put .009 phosphor bronze strings on, and tuned it to open D, and picked up a nice heavy brass slide... wow, what a sound! I was expecting cardboard box, and got antique pine cabinet, so to speak. Loud and crisp right across the harmonic range, plenty of volume and clarity on the top string, big warm bass end. Hard work fingering any chords, but worth it for the punch, either fingerpicked or flatpicked. Love it, my new go-to blues box.
Any opinions/info would be most welcome!
The soft C profile neck is one piece of what looks like maple, and no reinforcing bar or truss rod, so naturally its developed a bit of a bow - I think of it as a lot of relief! The fingerboard is rosewood, with a beautiful grain, not bound, with three real mop dots at 5, 7 and 12th frets. The frets were covered in a layer of green muck - I thought they were brass! But a few hours scraping and polishing and it turns out they’re nickel. The headstock has been veneered with a dark wood, no idea what. The nut looks original, plastic and shrinking slightly. Action at the nut is a very high 2mm, and an even worse 3.5mm at the 12 the fret. There’s no zero fret, which is making me think American manufacture.
As is so often the case with ancient guitars, someone had replaced the treble side tuners with, of course! bass side tuners of a completely different type, and crucially, size. The originals, with round white plastic buttons, are quite unusual. The shafts are made out of a piece of brass bent into a tube, drilled for the string, and riveted onto the cog on the backplate. Distance between the shaft centres is 1.1/4”, as opposed to the more modern standard 1.3/4”. No idea what make they are, either. The only other tuners I’ve seen that were made like this are on an old flatback mandolin, which I bought years ago, and apparently dates to around 1920. Unfortunately the only tuners I had that would fit - the shaft holes are small too - are a modern set, too shiny but at least have the period look.
The very simple trapeze tailpiece is nailed on(!), and the endpin was missing; the nice folk at Luthier Supplies sold me an ebony one, perfect fit except the holehadn’t been drilled straight. The bridge is ebonised hardwood, with a string guide at the back, the strings sitting on a piece of fretwire (which I’ve also cleaned, straightened, and reseated), and not adjustable at all. (and would look just right on the prewar Harmony I acquired recently...)
It looks and feels and smells like a pre-WW2 American job, but there are no identifying markings anywhere on it. In fact, the only marks are a couple of pencil lines drawn down the inside of the waist, and alongside a brace in the back - ? - could have at least put his initials and a date while he was at it!
The neck bow and the wrong tuners aside, its in pretty good nick for a guitar which I reckon is maybe around 60 (at least) to (more likely) 80 years old, and everything else on it is original. There’s a biggish scar in the varnish behind the first fret, but no lumps out of the wood - looks like a sax or a drum fell on it after a drunken jam (ok I’m a romantic) somewhere in the last century; there’s a fair bit of plectrum/nail wear below the soundhole - the scratchplate is positioned at the bridge end halfway along the soundhole - and a few scratches above the bass side. Otherwise it’s just dirty, with a dull patina that’s taken years to accumulate. I’ve given it a light rub with some Martin guitar polish and that’s brought the old real varnish gloss finish up to a deep and beautiful lustre.
All said, a quality, well-made little instrument, about mid-range quality, it’s well finished and tidy inside, all solid woods, nickel frets. And with plenty of dirt and scratches and scuffs from playing since (probably) the 1930s. This is of course cool, ‘cos any guitar that’s been played a lot is usually a guitar worth playing!
So given the neck bow, I put .009 phosphor bronze strings on, and tuned it to open D, and picked up a nice heavy brass slide... wow, what a sound! I was expecting cardboard box, and got antique pine cabinet, so to speak. Loud and crisp right across the harmonic range, plenty of volume and clarity on the top string, big warm bass end. Hard work fingering any chords, but worth it for the punch, either fingerpicked or flatpicked. Love it, my new go-to blues box.
Any opinions/info would be most welcome!
