Official Luthiers Forum!

EDIT: The neck block stamp reads "New York" on the lower side of the stamp, this is not a Larson brothers made guitar. If you do happen to know the maker of the guitar then please post here and let me know.

While on my usual rounds looking for instruments and tools I came across this 0 sized guitar. Not as small as a parlor pretty much just a 0 size BRW back and sides piece. I got excited for a bit because I thought I'd run across some reject 20s Martin that had been tossed at some point but the absence of binding anywhere threw that idea out of the window.

Apologies for the flash usage but it was dark as frig in the antique store. Guy had about 10 other cheapo guitars all stacked around it too. I was trying to take photos incognito to not draw attention to it.

















Nut was ebony, 1 7/8 wide. Short scale maybe 24 3/4 ish

only identifying marks were the stamps on the center strip and the neck block.

Neck has obviously been monkeyed with and the bridge had been reglued with gorilla glue. Bridge was pyramid style and had fretwire for the saddle.

I thought it might be a Larson made piece because of the 3 dot fretboard markers that I've seen on several of the Maurer guitars. However the name Maurer is nowhere to be found just those 2 stamps. The neck is broken at the headstock and has extremely fancy actual ivory tuners. The tuners are way fancier than the guitar itself is over all.

Tag price was pretty low, obviously needs work. Any thoughts? I'd like to scoop it up but I'm working on convincing the wife that I need another guitar.

If it's just a random maker from the early 20th century it might be a good candidate for restoration. Headstock is pretty rough and bears the marks of a home gamer refinish at some point.

EDIT: The stamp on the Neck block has the words "New York" written in it, this is not a Larson, I apologize for the thread title.

Neat. Reminds me of some American Conservatory / Washburn stuff I've worked on. You should buy it anyway - looks like a cool vintage instrument.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

New York, must be a Martin...
Larson Bros immigrated from Sweden to Chicago.

Whatever it is... it’s old and very cool:)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

No stamp on the headstock? I love old stuff like that. If the price was right I'd scoop that up for sure.

Well, seriously, there were literally hundreds of builders around the time that was built, has all the signs of being a mass produced instrument, can't tell about the back and sides, kinda looks like walnut.

Fretwire on the bridge suggests cheap, can't tell if it has ladder or X bracing. Nothing about it suggests it is anything but a student model, can't tell if the back is bound or not. Probably not worth much unless that is BRW...

It is definitely BRW, that was one of the first things I checked. Back is not bound.

Bracing is ladder/slant bracing.

Considering if it's a student/cheapo model, might be cool to retop it with a 0-28 style bracing and add some binding all the way around. Would make for a much more usable guitar for your average player.

Still working the wife over on this one, it was the best guitar that he had there, everything else was the typical silvertone 40$ crap

BRW was readily available at the time. Doubt it's worth re-topping and aside from run out, looks like a good top, maybe even German spruce. It also was quite popular in those days.

Lots of cheap instruments/student models at the time, instruments were sold with lessons as a way to get people into stores and playing/taking lessons.

I doubt Martin bracing is going to do much unless the top is really deformed. Absolutely nothing wrong with ladder bracing...

What were they asking for it? The inside view of the rough unsanded sides looks like it could be BZ.

If you could get it for under $100 and it was BZ I’d probably grab it and just use the rimset and back for a totally new guitar.

Offer him $50

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I would not retop that. That top looks fine to me. I would probably make a better bridge for it and keep the old one tho. But that's just me. I like a ladder braced guitar, not everything has to be an X and I'm sure you already have plenty of those

The owner won't budge on the price sadly, 250 is a bit steep in my mind for an unknown guitar, even if it is BRW

Haans, thanks for your input on this one. I think I saw that body shape and got a bit excited while sifting through a bunch of other crap. I've still got to hang onto that pipe dream of finding a Euphonon or a Prairie State (the 19" incher) randomly tucked in with a bunch of other antiques. A man can dream.

I think for this one I'm going to pass since the owner is not negotiable. Thanks for your input folks!