1890s George Bauer "Presentation" Parlor Guitar



Update 2024: I've taken new photos and a video for this instrument as it's back here for resale. I've updated the description where necessary. I last had this here in 2017 and it has remained stable in service, exactly as it left, since then. Yip!

Overview: This rare, Bauer-made splurge-fest is pearl-encrusted, x-braced, rosewood-bodied, and over-the-top in all the right ways. It even has that bizarre, middle-eastern-flavored inlay on the fretboard that's extremely common to the era's 5-string banjos, too. This was made in Philadelphia and, at the time, the maker's offerings were the equivalent of Martin and nicer Washburn products.


Tone: It's even, balanced, and full for its size. It sounds gorgeous fingerpicked!


Feel: The nut is wide at 1 15/16" and the neck has a medium somewhat-hard V-shape to it, so it certainly handles like a period guitar. The extra width makes it an easy fingerpicker, however.


Interesting features: Let's admit it, folks -- she's a beaut! Its size puts it in Martin's "size 2" realm, as well, with its 12 1/4" lower bout and 4" side depth. Materials are first-rate throughout with a mahogany neck, solid Brazilian rosewood back and sides, ebony fretboard, rosewood bridge, and a tight-grained, solid spruce top. Check out the headstock "stacking" of veneers -- giving this, again, a banjo-ish decorative style. The thick rosewood veneer has a lovely amount of pearl in it, doesn't it? This instrument sure gives high-brow Washburns from the time a run for their money on the bling-front!


Repairs included: Work progressed slowly on this instrument because I knew that the final effort on it would be to replace a bunch of missing inlay around the top edge. The other work -- a neck reset, fret level/dress, bridge/saddle modification, crack repairs to the sides, and general setup -- was fairly straightforward. Pearl work, however, is one of those things you can't rush. I'm certainly not a "pro" at it, either, but I do have a workmanly way of getting bereft inlay-holes plugged-up. It's now playing perfectly with 3/32" action at the bass and hair-under 3/32" treble at the 12th fret. While this would've been strung with gut (now nylon/classical) originally, it's wearing a set of Thomastik PJ116 hybrid strings that give classical tension and basses but a more steely-sounding treble vibe.

  • Weight: 2 lbs 14 oz
  • Scale length: 24 5/8"
  • Nut width: 1 15/16"
  • Neck shape: medium round V
  • Board radius: flat
  • Body width: 12 3/8"
  • Body depth: 4"
  • Top wood: solid spruce
  • Back & sides wood: solid Brazilian rosewood
  • Bracing type: x
  • Bridge: ebony
  • Fretboard: ebony
  • Neck wood: mahogany
  • Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass, hair-under 3/32” treble (fast, spot-on)
  • String gauges: classical strings (Thomastik PJ116 hybrid at the moment)
  • Neck relief: straight
  • Fret style: lower/smaller

Condition notes: It's all-original save the new bone saddle and the bridge pins. There is mild wear and tear to the finish as well as weather-checking/crackle and a few repaired hairline cracks -- one medium-length one in the side at the waist and a couple small ones on the back. The bridge originally had a fret saddle, but I reconfigured it to a glued-in bone saddle. You can differentiate my replacement pearl bits from the original stuff as mine are shorter and clumsier but get the job done. At a glance, you would not notice. Mine are also thicker front-to-back and better-fit to the inlay channel's bottom (the originals were shimmed up/down to get them level with the top), for what it's worth. Post neck-reset the fretboard extension dips slightly down from the plane of the rest of the fretboard. It looks like it'd been "reglued" in the past, too, as when I heated it up and removed it, it came apart in three pieces.


It comes with: It has a nice, new, hard case (not pictured).


Consignor tag: BSM




























Comments

Nick R said…
Yes, a job well done- and quite a little jewel. I read, somewhere, that those inlays were made in quantity in Germany and shipped over to the USA. I just cannot remember where I read it. I think the Thornward- a Montgomery Ward magnum opus was nearly off the scale, on the blingometer in the early 20th century. When Greg Lake died, there was a photo of him holding his in the obituary I saw. That Washburn owned by Dan Fogelberg had quite extensive inlays on the fingerboard, I seem to recall- while the guitar's body was somewhat unadorned in comparison! My most colourful guitar is a serenade in celluloid from about 1918- made by Lyon & Healy for Montgomery Ward- a Concertone.
Brad Smith said…
Very interesting. Bauer made the Acme Professional line for Sears for a couple of years c. 1902-1903 and they are richly adorned though not as much as this one. And the overall construction was good but simpler (thicker tops, ladder bracing, etc.) to get them at the catalog price point. The German angle is worth following. Another one is that Georeg Bauer was a mason, as one collector told me.
Just in is this addition to the surviving geo. Bauer herd !
Has the usual needs except for the large block pearl is all there on this one thank goodness !
It does need one crescent glued back in .
Tuning keys are getting cleaned , but they are good too !
Got lucky all around I'd have to sayhttps://photos.app.goo.gl/wRBcgkyG1pPeJvtm9 !
Brad Smith said…
Very cool Bauer...any pics of it fixed-up?
Anthony said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anthony said…
I edited my previous post-
I have a Tonk Bros. Sterling with identical dash purfling and pearl inlay around the top and rosette as this one- minus the neck/fretboard inlay. It has x-bracing. I understand Mama Tonk was a Bauer- and the Tonk Brothers worked for her brother Julius Bauer in their early days- wonder if there's any family relation to George Bauer?
Clay Mangum said…
Sears catalogue 1912 has the version with less ornament. Same edge pearl and woods but fretboard has simpler inlays. Bauer made only a braced guitar. Any found with X brace are modified as many old guitars have been converted. The one I have has the Sears blue 1912 label. It has z or horizontal top braces. No cracks, no inlay has moved or fallen out. The construction is heavier than Martins. I have a 1930 Martin 0-21 that sounds better than any 1931 and up models. Small changes were made on Martins to strengthen their bodies to withstand steel strings. The Bauer sounds typical of other ladder braced guitars with perhaps a better tone, not as good as Washburn and American Conservatory, The first 20 years 1884-1907 were the best sounding guitars. Martin had only X braced except for some guitars made for other brands. The X sounds pretty strange with nylon strings but those old Washburns had the best sound until steel strings replaced gut. We all know how good X bracing sounds with steel strings. The 1928-1930 models were much lighter than 1931-1967 as changes to the models to strengthen also has a damping effect. Metal rods added to that darker sound. Rosewood bridge plates did to. Thicker bracing, lacquer replacing shellac all took their toll on Martin sound, Not to say that Martins all sound good, some like 1930 were special.
Clay Mangum said…
Excuse my omissions and errors. I am a 1948 model made for metal, mainly lead.