1870s Unmarked American-made Spruce/Maple Parlor Guitar

I received this guitar in trade-for-work and it's a fascinating little gem. Its various features suggest it was made in the 1860s or 1870s and it looks like the headstock was reworked at least twice in the past -- the last time in the '30s when it gained its current set of tuners. It probably had a solid peghead with violin-style friction pegs in it to begin-with -- which would have been the choice on fashionable "Spanish" model guitars at the time. That's my guess at least.

Inside, it has a "Spanish foot" on the back near the neck block and it has "Spanish heel" construction (where the neck is also the neck block) at the neck joint. Despite all these Spanish-guitar references, though, the instrument itself is totally American and also stinks of Germanic influences, too. The bracing and lightly-curved ("built under tension") top as well as the solid (non-cut) kerfing and slimmer-top, wider-bottom body shape definitely look like nicer-grade (but typical) German-American guitar builds from the era.

The body depth is unusual, too -- it's 4" at the lower bout and tapers only 1/4" less on the upper bout -- which is actually quite deep for the time. Most guitars were around 3 1/2" or so and tapered more towards the neck.

Its neck is another point of contrast from "usual" guitars at the time as well. It has a fairly steep radius to its fretboard and a slim, comfortable C-shaped rear. It plays more like a modern guitar than most period guitars in this respect as almost all period guitars had flat fretboards. The back of the neck has a diamond-shaped "volute" that seems to also help structurally hold the grafted-on headstock a bit more securely. Its size/shape reminds me of Ashborn guitars but this one has nothing to do with Ashborn makes.

Per its period design, this was made for gut strings and so I've strung it with D'Addario Pro-Arte classical strings in light tension. While one cannot put steel on this, the Thomastik KR116 set or the John Pearse (classical) Fingerpicking sets will give the instrument a steely sound while keeping the intonation and tension of classical strings.

Post-work it sounds and plays great. The maple back and sides and the small-but-deeper body give the guitar more presence and liveliness than I'd otherwise expect from a period guitar. It has a clean sweetness to it that's really fun to fingerpick or strum chords on -- folksinger-style.

Repairs included: fussing with the (bar) fret seating and a fret level/dress, side dots install, minor brace repairs, minor seam repairs, install of a new rosewood bridge, new bone saddle, cleats for two previously-repaired hairline cracks on the lower-bout-top, cleaning, and setup.

Setup notes: it plays like a champ with spot-on 3/32" overall action at the 12th fret. The neck is straight. The bridge is string-through so to load the strings you'll need to pass the string through a hole in the bridge, pull it out the soundhole to ball-up its end (put granny knots through granny knots to do this), then pull-up snug against the bridge plate and up to the tuners.

More setup notes: it has very shallow (low) frets and that was true when it was new -- these had been untouched since it was built. That's really common on older gut-stringers but it's something to consider as if you like to chord a lot up/down the neck your fingering will need to be a little more accurate. As a bonus, though, it means sliding notes is easy as heck. The fret spacing is a little less-than-perfect beyond the 12th fret -- but who cares? I don't know anyone who's going to be playing Mickey Mouse squeaks much up there on an old guitar of this era. 

Scale length: 24 7/8"

Nut width: 1 13/16"

String spacing at nut: 1 5/8"

String spacing at bridge: 2 3/8"

Body length: 17"

Lower bout width: 11 1/4"

Waist width: 6 3/8"

Upper bout width: 8"
Side depth at endpin: 4"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: solid flamed maple

Bracing type: ladder

Fretboard: ebonized maple or similar?

Bridge: rosewood, bone saddle

Neck feel: slim C-shape, ~12" board radius

Condition notes: while the finish is original, there are a few spots where it's been touched-up and there are many spots where it's been worn or scratched over the years. Overall, though, it's pretty dang clean for its age. Many guitars from this time are simply destroyed and their outward appearance is very rough. The bridge and saddle are replacements and the tuners are 1930s replacements. The headstock has been modified over time but it's in good order. The fretboard extension drops away a bit from the rest of the fretboard after the 14th fret. There's nothing wrong with bracing or anything else -- it's just the way it was built or has settled.