1850s Stauffer-Style Fancy Double-Cutaway Parlor Guitar

Overview: Friend of the shop Mike Brown brought this beautiful beast in some time ago for repairs. He has a rolling "various slots for repair schedule" open with us and this got priority for him and Ancel did all the work to bring it up to snuff. Anyhow, it looks a lot like some early Martin and Stauffer designs, but due to the bracing style and internal construction I think it was built by a German firm that built in the same style and could have been made anywhere from the 1820s through the 1850s, rather than a "true" Stauffer. In any case, it's obviously a "presentation piece" sort-of instrument with scads of (missing, unfortunately) engraved pearl and fancy trim throughout.

Interesting features: It has a "clock key" adjustable neck gizmo for starters. After that, the double-cutaway look is extremely elegant. It's ladder-braced and built from solid spruce over rosewood. The braces are rather tall and the top is rather thin, so despite looking like it has a stiff build, it has good volume for its size and a nice, even tone as well. These instruments were intended for gut strings and do well with modern classical guitar sets but should never be strung with steel.

Repairs included: The biggest lift on this guitar was fixing an insanely-warped neck. Ancel did this through a ton of planing/leveling the board and then a refret with jumbo wire which could also then be leveled and dressed to bring the neck into straight submission. After that, it needed a big replacement bridge plate to help correct a badly-cracked top under the bridge, a replacement ebony bridge (he made an almost point-to-point repro -- amazing work, I was very impressed by his skills continuing to evolve leaps and bounds), various brace and crack repairs, and setup work.

Consignor tag: MKBR (not for sale)