1950s Favilla 00-18G Clone Classical Guitar

I'm not sure what this model would be in Favilla literature from the time, but it's basically the New York company's take on a mid-50s Martin 00-18G classical and even has the same sort of waist-style, though the Favilla detailing (rosewood binding and "browns" in the purfling) recalls earlier 1930s Martin guitars and the build, overall, is lighter and "airier" in tone like a Favilla baritone uke. It makes a great flamenco or folk-style instrument. The craftsmanship (in terms of details) is an awful lot like a Favilla 00 steel-stringer I worked on recently.

Anyhow, it's a fairly rare box from my point of view since most of these old Favilla classicals are seen from the 60s-on-up and tend to have heavier, glossier finishes over time. This has lovely weather-check and finish-cracking/flaking to it and it's, of course, got that nice "faded yellow" look, as well.

The guitar is crack-free, though I had to reglue all the back braces, reglue the bridge, reglue the main top brace, level/dress the frets, restring it, and give it a good setup. One seam was also burst, too, and needed regluing.

The top is solid spruce with lightweight fan-bracing and the back, sides, and neck are all solid mahogany. The binding is rosewood with wood purfling and the board and bridge are both Brazilian rosewood, too. The nut and saddle are original and bone.

While the nut is the regular 2" across and the board is flat, the neck profile is very manageable with a shallow C/D shape to its rear.

Here's some pics during repair -- note how many clamps I needed to get that bridge nice and pat. The two smaller clamps at the soundhole edges are clamping the main ladder brace below the soundhole.

Cello clamps for the burst seam...

...and some wood-block shims for shoving those braces back down to the back of the guitar for gluing.