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Location: Omaha, NE | Al (or anyone else) have any ideas about this? This belonged to my great-grandmother. She won a "grand gold medal" with it at a WCTU gathering in the Pacific NW sometime back in the 1910's. My mom has a photo of her with the guitar, as well as the medal and a press clipping from her hometown paper.
There are no markings on this, other than "8870" on the inside. The neck has come disconnected, the machines were replaced somewhere along the line, and it looks like it an amateur attempted to reglue the neck. The fretboard is severely cracked and worn, but the body itself is in suprisingly good shape.
Here are some snaps:
http://omaha.smugmug.com/gallery/1238322/1/58016174
For most of my life, this guitar was propped against the wall in my grandma's living room. When she died a few years ago, it was sent to me. I have had it in my closet for since then.
Can anyone here shed any light on what this might be?
TIA
Jeff |
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January 2005
Posts: 640
Location: boulder | That is a sweet looking guitar for almost 100 years old. Interesting that it has a tailpiece on a flatop soundboard. I wonder what sort of bracing it uses. two companies sort of lay claim to using X pattern bracing first on their flatops (martin and also larson).Around 1910 is when, I believe, they started doing this. color of wood seems sort of reddish which seems more sitka then appalhacian (what martin used prewar WWII)...good luck, cool story...mike |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | A 12 fret slothead......sweet. |
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Posts: 2177
Location: the BIG Metropolis of TR | nice looking old 12 fret slothead.... |
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Location: the BIG Metropolis of TR | Stephen beat me to the draw.... |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Great minds think alike! :D |
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Location: the BIG Metropolis of TR | Yup! :D |
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Posts: 474
Location: Anchorage, Alaska | I have 2 that are very similar that my grandmother gave to me. One has a date of 1897, the other 1898. Both have some major issues as they were stored in the rafters of my grandmothers garage for decades. They were made in California by Charles Hoffman who was a pretty well know artist, carver, and furnature maker way back when... |
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Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | well I have owned many similar guitars over the years. they all have martin style headstocks and could have had a label on the inside at one point. the fact that it has numbers stamped into it indicated to me it was probably a mail order guitars. montgomery ward, sears, etc.
probably made by harmony or kay larsen brothers maybe most of the major companies burned a logo into the top back or side of the headstock or in the end block. no stamp just numbers indicates it was probably not a great guitar BUT many of these guitars were made with superior woods back then and can sound great. the fact that it has a tailpiece and not a pin bridge also indicates it was most likely a cheaper model |
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November 2005
Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | Al:
The $64,000 question is whether it is worth having it restored (to playability, not to any kind of presentation quality), or do I just call this one a wallhanger.
I like the idea of getting it playable, but honestly, if it is going to sound like a crummy, small, cheap guitar (which it probably is), then I don't think its worth the bother.
Any thoughts?
Jeff |
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Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Doesn't matter if it's a cheap guitar or a pre-war Martin, the cost of man hours remains the same, so unless you can do the work yourself it's not worth paying a skilled repair person to work on this. Al's right, it's a mail order guitar, looks a little like a Stella, but it's not, could be made by any number of period manufacturers. Despite that, guitars from this era used solid woods exclusively, so it wont necessarily sound cheap. It wont sound like a modern flat-top either, given the tailpiece and probably ladder bracing. Jack the action up a little higher, put on some mediums and it'll make a killer slide guitar. |
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December 2001
Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | I concur with my UK conterpart. Solid woods are solid woods but a cheap guitar will always be a cheap guitar. I often sell these as is to wannabe luthiers and guys that are into period collecting. some of them actually sound pretty good most of them sound like snot. but remember that the stella was a staple of the blues performer for many years so someone out there liked that sound or it was all they could afford.
IMHO only worth restoring if you want to preserve the memory, if you want a killer guitar to play hang it on the wall and move on but what the hell do I know? I am just an idiot that tries to sell guitars for a living. |
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Posts: 5329
Location: Cicero, NY | Originally posted by alpep:
...but what the hell do I know? I am just an idiot that tries to sell guitars for a living. I may be the only one but that never fails to get a chuckle out of me, Al. :D |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Put it on ebay...
or
Give it to a friend.... |
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December 2001
Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | Originally posted by Weaser P:
Originally posted by alpep:
...but what the hell do I know? I am just an idiot that tries to sell guitars for a living. I may be the only one but that never fails to get a chuckle out of me, Al. :D |
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Posts: 803
Location: Avondale, AZ | quote:
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Originally posted by Weaser P:
quote:
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Originally posted by alpep:
...but what the hell do I know? I am just an idiot that tries to sell guitars for a living.
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I may be the only one but that never fails to get a chuckle out of me, Al.
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there is always a bit of truth in humor That;s funny. |
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My grandma's old guitar