1900s Farstone (Harmony) Tailpiece Parlor Guitar

Overview: While the only branding on this guitar is an interior label that reads Farstone, I am almost certain that this was a model made by Harmony around 1900-1905 or so. The Sears catalog at the time was full of similar tailpiece guitars which were intended for steel strings and most of them were Harmony-made boxes much like this guy. My evidence is in the construction, neck feel and joint design, body outline (a form used on Harmony makes through the '20s), scale, and finish styling.

Tone: It's woody, punchy, snappy, and has oodles of volume. Fingerpickers will like that reserve power and flatpickers will love that if they back off a bit you can get some of that Kalamazoo/Oscar Schmidt sort-of vibe but when you dig-in you can get a gypsy-jazz, saucy sound that really cuts.

Interesting features: It's lightly-built, has simple but effective decorative touches, and sounds great. I like the fancy purfling and rosette details, for sure, and the fact that the stuff is also used on the back edges and backstrip. The bridge is mildly-more-decorative than normal because it's actually a '30s Kay archtop bridge repurposed for this guitar. The back and sides are painted to look like Brazilian rosewood but they're not.

Repairs included: I gave it a neck reset and helped repair some seams and loose back braces and Jose gave it a level/dress of the frets, cleaning, fit the replacement bridge and made a new, compensated saddle for it, made a new bone nut, and set it all up. I tweaked the tuners a bit to keep them from rattling in the buttons as well. It's playing spot-on and ready to roll.

• Weight: 2 lbs 9 oz
• Scale length: 24 1/4"
• Nut width: 1 13/16"
• Neck shape: medium V
• Board radius: flat
• Body width: 12 5/8"
• Body depth: 3 3/4"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid birch
• Bracing type: ladder
• Bridge: floating, compensated
• Fretboard: ebonized maple or similar
• Neck wood: poplar
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 52w-11
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium/low

Condition notes: It has two or three hairline cracks along the center seam of the back -- all tidied-up and sealed. There's a lot of small scratching/scuffing from use and storage throughout the finish. The fretboard has a variety of tiny hairline cracks from dryness but it's all stabilized. The bridge and nut and saddle are replacements but the rest is original. We've added side dots. There are old seam repairs to the back/sides seam.

It comes with: Sorry, no case.

Consignor tag: DVDN