Antique Vintage Early circa 1850-1880 PARLOR GUITAR, RARE SURVIVOR

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Antique Vintage Early circa 1850-1880 PARLOR GUITAR, RARE SURVIVOR:
$695.00

The guitar has the ice cream cone heel and bird\'s beak neck/headstock joint typical of 19th century guitars, some of which were made in the United States. According to my research the narrow waist, rounded upper and lower bouts, rectangular pin bridge and wooden peg tuners date this guitar to around 1850. If you are unfamiliar with the bird\'s beak headstock/neck joint and are interested in knowing, I suggest looking at John Greven\'s amazing demo: The neck/body joint is a straight traditional dovetail joint. On the inside of the back there is a signature in pencil which says (to the best of my ability to read it) \"B Melier 1880\" which could be the maker, repairer or one of the owners of the guitar but at least tells us that the guitar was built in 1880 or earlier. The neck is mahogany, The headstock is probably Maple, the fingerboard is Rosewood, the reproduction bridge is Ebony, the top is solid Spruce, the back is solid slab cut Maple and the sides are flamed Maple. There are three small repaired side cracks which have been glued, cleated, and refinished. The saddle and nut are bone. There are four original ebonized tuning pegs and 4 replacement ebony pegs, all of which have pearl dots inlayed into the end which show on the end where the strings are wound. There are pearl fret markers at the 5th, 7th and 12th frets, Ebony bringe pins and end pin with pearl dots. Bracing is Spruce in a modified fan style. The neck is not perfectly straight but there\'s plenty of saddle and the sound is strong and mellow. Beginning with 10th fret and on up the neck there is some buzzing on the frets. There is a long top crack which was repaired long ago, and is stable. There are chips of lacquer gone around the headstock, and signs of wear on the pumpkin-colored Spruce top. Linings are solid bent spruce instead of kerfed linings, and the top and back are both radisued. There are three filled screw holes on the butt end of the instrument: evidence that a tailpiece (this was a common practice around 1900 and following to correct for a potentially bellied-up bridge when steel strings were used on a guitar designed for gut strings) was added and then removed at some point. Here are some dimensions: overall - 35 1/4\", 9 1/4 upper bout, 6 3/4 waist, 11 3/4 lower bout, 1 7/8 nut, 2 5/8 depth at the heel and 3 1/8 at the butt, 16 1/2 body length, 4/32-6/64\" string clearance at the 12th fret, body and neck meet at 12th fret, 23 3/4 scale. Original black laquer neck finish and clear lacquer top finish are present but have been overcoated with nitrocellulose lacquer. Sides and back have been refinshed with nitrocellulose lacquer. Frets are brass. I put La Bella Folk/Nylon ball-end strings on the guitar, and I suspect that the original strings were gut.

There is no case, so I will pack the guitar very carefully in a sturdy carton with full insurance. I have included all the information I can think of, but I will be pleased to answer questions. The 6 pegs in use will be labeled by string and removed, and two spare pegs (1 original and one new)will also be included. Thanks for reading to the end of the description.