1960s Sylvia (United-made) Electrified Parlor Guitar

I was given this guitar and so it'll be available at the cost of its parts, work time, and shipping.

I've worked on lots of these United-made, all-ply parlor guitars and they were many aspiring guitarists' first box. None of them bear the name of the maker (United in New Jersey) but a lot of them wear names like Sylvia, US Strad, and whatnot. They're your usual plywood 0-size starter guitar but they have more comfortable necks than comparable Harmony or Kay models and the lightly-built plywood bodies sound far better than they should and are rugged and dependable.

I convert a lot of these to electrics and that's what I've done here -- it has a bridge-position Strat-style pickup from my parts bin and I've strung it with plain-G electric 9s. It sounds neat both plugged-in and behind a mic and the super-springy strings and double usefulness makes it a good practice or "writing" tool.

This came in with a neck totally separated from the body -- as usual -- and I've put it all back together as a functional box. It's now playing on-the-dot and a practical piece of kit.

Repairs included: neck reset (with three bolts hidden internally at the neckblock), a fret level/dress, side dots install, adjustable compensated bridge install, wiring install, pickup routing and install, and setup.

Body wood: ply birch throughout

Bridge: steel

Fretboard: maple

Neck wood: poplar

Pickups: 1x Strat-style

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast)
String gauges: 42w-9 electric unwound G, ok for 46w-10 as well

Neck shape: medium-full C

Board radius: flat

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-small/low

Scale length: 25"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Body width: 13 3/8"

Body depth: 3 5/8"

Weight: 3 lbs 8 oz

Condition notes: the finish has lots of scratches and scuffs, some discoloration here and there, and general wear. The instrument is original save for a new pickup, new bridge, and jack. There's a touched-up portion of the fretboard's finish above the 1st fret where finish had been missing. It's not obvious. The frets are lower in 1st position and near the 12th fret due to the need to level/dress a small amount of warp/twist out of the neck via the frets. I added a screw to the middle of the tailpiece that allows for downpressure adjustments. It dramatically helps the tone on these guitars and I tend to do it on all of them.