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  #1  
Old 01-13-2022, 11:01 AM
Jingler Jingler is offline
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Default Old Classical Identification Help

Acquired this old classical some time ago. Never gave it much thought until a friend mentioned he wanted some nylon strings. Upon closer inspection I realized this thing may be older than I thought. Initial conclusion was Japanese made from the 60's or 70's, but the ancient looking glue and internal construction have me second guessing that. There is a stamp inside the sound hole that is barely noticeable, and impossible to decipher. In cursive there's a branding that starts with a W and beneath that "by Ma.....". Almost looks like it could be Martin, though that seems unlikely.

The construction is a bit unusual with x-bracing on the back and ladder bracing on the top. There's also some identifying numbers stamped on the heel block. Pardon the mess of images as I tried various camera filters in an attempt to better highlight the stamp. The tuners do not appear to be original and the sides appear to be solid Brazilian rosewood. Thank you.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/be9MQCGDRcvWB1tr7
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Old 01-15-2022, 01:01 PM
OPJ77 OPJ77 is offline
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The outside looks much older than 60’s or 70’s as well, imo.
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Old 01-15-2022, 07:02 PM
quindecima quindecima is offline
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I cannot recall any Japanese headstocks similar to the one yours has and the bolt holding the bridge (I assume) on looks recent. and the numbers stamped into the wood do not belong to any Japanese guitar I have ever seen. During the late 60's and the 70's the Japanese were building extremely fine instruments, this does not approach any that I know of also the Rosette is unlike any Japanese that I have ever seen.
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Old 01-15-2022, 09:14 PM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jingler View Post
Acquired this old classical some time ago. Never gave it much thought until a friend mentioned he wanted some nylon strings. Upon closer inspection I realized this thing may be older than I thought. Initial conclusion was Japanese made from the 60's or 70's, but the ancient looking glue and internal construction have me second guessing that. There is a stamp inside the sound hole that is barely noticeable, and impossible to decipher. In cursive there's a branding that starts with a W and beneath that "by Ma.....". Almost looks like it could be Martin, though that seems unlikely.

The construction is a bit unusual with x-bracing on the back and ladder bracing on the top. There's also some identifying numbers stamped on the heel block. Pardon the mess of images as I tried various camera filters in an attempt to better highlight the stamp. The tuners do not appear to be original and the sides appear to be solid Brazilian rosewood. Thank you.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/be9MQCGDRcvWB1tr7
The top crest of the headstock is traditionally considered as a maker's "signature" so I took a look at a couple hundred classical guitar peghead images using a Google image search.

This one doesn't have a remotely close match and is unique enough that I would be fairly certain that it was done by an individual builder. I wouldn't put a lot of importance on the stamped numbers or any branding, as you sometimes see someone make a guitar using re-purposed wood parts from a discarded instrument. The individually glued lining blocks are very crudely done, and you will normally see a much neater job done by small shop production guitars.

The body shape doesn't look consistant to any of the accepted shapes used in the early classical guitar shops, although the shape does look like it was probably built on a solara in more or less a freestyle shape.

Enjoy it for what it is.
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