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  #1  
Old 07-09-2016, 08:30 AM
sunbgroove sunbgroove is offline
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Default 1800s? PARLOR GUITAR.... REVIVAL!

Hi all,

I have a very old Parlor that I am trying to identify. I know very little about these but plan to restore this unique piece. Some of the features include:

Brass tuners with riveted (not screwed) gears

Ice Cream Cone neck heel

12 frets

ebony pyramid bridge

Any help nailing down the identity would be greatly appreciated!


Thank you!











Last edited by sunbgroove; 07-18-2016 at 07:40 AM. Reason: Pictures not posting
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Old 07-09-2016, 09:02 AM
Taylorplayer Taylorplayer is offline
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Default 1800s PARLOR GUITAR? Need assistance identifying.

Contact Steve at www.vintageparlorguitars.com He is da' man!
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Old 07-09-2016, 09:47 AM
sunbgroove sunbgroove is offline
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Thank you for the link.. I checked his site - great collection of guitars!
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Old 07-09-2016, 09:52 AM
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Oh boy! ... if only that thing could talk.
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Old 07-09-2016, 10:00 AM
sunbgroove sunbgroove is offline
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My thoughts exactly! There is so much glorious play wear on this thing!
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Old 07-09-2016, 11:54 AM
BradleyS BradleyS is offline
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Can't help identify, but I sure can admire it. Best with the restoration.
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Old 07-09-2016, 11:59 AM
sunbgroove sunbgroove is offline
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Thank you! I am anxious to hear and play it. My goal is to preserve as much of the originality as possible while bringing it back to playing condition.
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Old 07-09-2016, 12:09 PM
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Ed-in-Ohio Ed-in-Ohio is offline
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Cool guitar! Good luck with the restoration.

It's often not easy tracking down some of the builders of these... Here's why!
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Old 07-09-2016, 12:11 PM
00-28 00-28 is offline
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From the pictures, I'm having a hard time identifying the back and side wood. Looking in the soundhole, it looks like stained Birch. The outside looks like the wood character is painted or stained on for a rosewood appearance. The hint of this comes from the chip or scrape on the back where the wood looks quite blonde. It is also hard to tell if the guitar has binding or the edges are just worn exposing the unfinished wood. Whatever it is, looks like a fun project.


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Old 07-09-2016, 12:48 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Mike wrote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by 00-28 View Post
From the pictures, I'm having a hard time identifying the back and side wood. Looking in the soundhole, it looks like stained Birch. The outside looks like the wood character is painted or stained on for a rosewood appearance. The hint of this comes from the chip or scrape on the back where the wood looks quite blonde.
I agree with Mike - this appears to have painted wood grain imitating Brazilian rosewood on the back and sides. The fingerboard is quite possibly birch, as well - whatever it is, the pigmentation has clearly worn off on those parts of the fingerboard that have received the most use.

This could be from either the 19th or 20th Centuries, as this style of guitar was made well into the 1930's. From what I've seen, painted faux rosewood on guitars was probably most common between about 1890 and 1910, so that's when I would bet this guitar was made. But that's just speculation on my part, and shouldn't be taken as anything more than that.

Mike continued:

Quote:
Originally Posted by 00-28 View Post
It is also hard to tell if the guitar has binding or the edges are just worn exposing the unfinished wood. Whatever it is, looks like a fun project.
Well, on the back the "binding" is just unpainted birch or beech or whatever that wood is. It's too regular and consistent to be accidental or the result of the paint being rubbed off there. If that's what had happened, there'd be some spots where the paint remained.

So the faux "binding" around the faux "rosewood" back is just where they had the back masked off while it was being painted.

It should be clear by now that this was never an expensive instrument. But that's okay, it makes up for it in soul!

Sunbgroove, could you take a closeup photo of the large chip on the back where the lighter wood is showing from underneath? As I scrolled through the pictures you did provide that's the one I wanted to see the most.

Anyway, as others have said, this looks like a fun project. Please keep us posted on your progress.


Wade Hampton Miller
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Old 07-09-2016, 12:54 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Something I just now noticed looking over the fretboard is that the frets are modern style T frets rather than the bar frets you'd expect to see on a really old guitar. That doesn't mean they're the original frets, of course, it might have been refretted with the more modern style fretwire. Still, it's kind of interesting.


whm
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Old 07-09-2016, 01:01 PM
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Is the bridge one-piece, or six ... as in one separate piece for each string?
Not that I claim any expertise, but I'm surprised to learn they used laminated wood b&s back then.


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Old 07-09-2016, 01:13 PM
MC5C MC5C is offline
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The fret wire brings up an interesting question. Mr Google says that modern T fret wire was patented by Clinton F. Smith in 1927. I know that people used bar frets prior to that. Was there an interim step? What kind of frets do Gibsons or all the Chicago made guitars prior to 1927 have? I never thought to look closely at any pictures, and my oldest guitar is 1935.
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Old 07-09-2016, 01:53 PM
sunbgroove sunbgroove is offline
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Thanks for the input, guys! I am attaching photos of the requested areas. The binding is not painted on. The top has purfling rings inset from the edge. Upon closer inspection of the back of the guitar, it looks like rosewood color is actually a VERY thin veneer. The spot chipped away shows the wood underneath. The appearance of binding on the back is the wood underneath the veneer, perhaps sanded away to simulate the binding.

The frets appear to be brass, if that sheds any light. I would not be surprised if a re-fret was done at some point due to the extensive play wear on the guitar.

BTW, the neck is 3 pieces, ice cream cone heel and the head is grafted on, similar to an 1850's Ashborn, but they used a unique diamond joint, which this does not have.

The bridge is a one piece "pyramid" type.






Last edited by sunbgroove; 07-09-2016 at 02:00 PM.
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Old 07-09-2016, 04:50 PM
sunbgroove sunbgroove is offline
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Forgot to mention that the guitar was built with ladder bracing and it has markers at the 5th, 7th, and 10th frets.

Last edited by sunbgroove; 07-10-2016 at 08:32 AM.
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