1880s Edmund Valentine Parlor Guitar

Gorgeous, no? Precious little knowledge is out there about "Edmund Valentine" instruments, but all indications in regards to build, materials, hardware, and bracing style suggest that this is an 1880s instrument or even possibly slightly earlier. There are elements of this instrument that remind me of a number of different makers (Bay State/Haynes, Bauer, Vega, et al.) and I'm assuming that the Valentine mark is just a brand name rather than the builder because I've seen it on a few same-period banjos on the net that look like Buckbee manufacture. If the Valentine mark is just a brand, I have no real idea who actually made this guitar for it.

Regardless, it's a high-quality instrument. The top is extremely-lightly braced in an x-pattern with a single tonebar (this reminds me of period Martins) but despite that pattern it's not going to be happy with steel strings. This was made for gut when it was new and I've restrung it with classical strings. That said, Thomastik makes an ingenious classical-tension set using rope-core steel (the KR116 set) for the cores that allows a guitar like this to sound and handle like its steel-string cousins without adding a lot of tension.

It has evidence of a lot of old repairs (neck reset, several bridge reglues, seam and crack repairs to the sides and back) but it arrived here with some big, open, back-crack damage and in dire need of fuss at the bridge and frets. I've done it all up and now it's playing perfectly and handles easily, too, even if it does have a bigger, v-shaped neck profile.

Take a close look at the pretty purfling and inlay in the instrument -- especially the neat little bit above the endblock on the top. That's very German in its way. Tonally this sounds, well -- like a classical! ...but clear and sweet is the name of the game, here. The x-bracing allows you to strum it a little harder without getting that "woof" you sometimes get with a fan-braced guitar or the boxiness you get with ladder-braced parlors from this time.

Repairs included: fret seating and level/dress, side dots added, bridge reglue, new ebony pins, back crack repairs/cleats to old repairs, brace regluing, and setup work.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid Brazilian rosewood

Bracing type: x, single tonebar

Bridge: ebony

Fretboard: ebony

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: D'Addario Pro Arte light

Neck shape: medium-bigger V

Board radius: flat

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: low/smaller

Scale length: 24 1/2"

Nut width: 1 13/16"

Body width: 13 1/2"

Body depth: 3 7/8"

Condition notes: it has lots of old repairs to cracks -- several longer ones on the sides and near the endpin -- and several on the back that are longer. All are glued pat and reinforced as needed with cleats. The saddle is not original and neither are the bridge pins and endpin, but the rest does appear to be original. There are minor scratches here and there all over but the most "finish-disturbed" area is around the bridge -- evidence of several old bridge reglue jobs, apparently.