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freeman, a restauration project for you?


t_e_l_e

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That would pose a lot of questions that I'm not prepared to answer. It the guitar valuable enough to keep original? Should it be made a player -if so should it be kept vintage correct (strings, bridge, bar frets, shell or ivory)? Have other repairs or restorations been done - if so were they done correctly?

 

As far as I know, that is not a desirable or collectible brand. It is probably Brazilian, but hard to tell. Don't know what the binding is. Guitars of that era would have used elephant ivory and hawksbill tortise shell - I don't touch either. The coffin case is funky cool, as is the birds beak headstock joint, the ice cream cone heel (and the tuners).

 

Is it worth 1700 bucks? Not to me, but then again, I don't follow the value of this kind of instrument.

 

If someone were to bring it to me I would certainly take on the project of minimally invasive repairs - I would close and cleat the cracks, make a bridge for it (probably out of Braz), set the neck, dress or replace the frets. I would use HHG of course, but make the saddle and nut out of bone (obviously they could be replaced by someone other than me). I wouldn't touch the finish. String would depend on how it was braced - probably knotted gut. I seriously doubt that it would sound wonderful but it could be fun to play.

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the nut looks black, are you sure that it could be ivory? and wouldn't ivory at this time be even more expensive as today? sure there were more elephants, but there were much less ships sailing around the world and no air traffic, so would such a thing be installed on a standard guitar?

 

and if so, it is almost 200 years old, it comes from a different time with different standards and different morals etc...

i wouldn't install a new ivory nut to keep it "historical" correct, but if the original would be still usable, i would not mind using it...

 

i would not spent any money on this thing myself, but i think the "project" is interesting, and if only we talk about it and the stuff.

 

a thing i have wondered my self a couple of times:

you get nowdays strings with every thickness, .010 .011 .013 etc up to wound steel string, how did they produce e.g. these stuff at those times? did they have already different string gauges? with what kind of precision could they produce those stuff? and it must have been a lot of work, and strings must have been expensive...

 

to some extend they were in my youth for me as poor student, but how was this 150-200 years ago? and what did they do in the dessert when a string broke?

 

stuff like that

:)

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Yes, if the original nut was usable I would certainly use it - most of the time when you do a refret or neck job it ends up needing a new nut (I would give the owner back the original in a little plastic bag along with the frets and anything else that came out of it). Obviously it needs a saddle. I'm just saying that I wouldn't go out seeking "period correct" materials because, as you say, things have changed.

 

I really don't know a lot about the history of how strings transitioned from sheep gut to nylon to wire. Having a pinned bridge does not necessarily mean it was designed for steel - the bracing would tell more. Some vintage Martins had something on the label that said something like"designed for steel strings" but I frankly don't know what was available back then. Harpsicords and zithers had metal strings so certainly the technology existed, I don't know what construction or gauges or anything about what might have been used here.

 

If I determined that it had been designed for steel strings I might consider something like modern silk and steel - in general I don't like them but on an old guitar like they might make sense. Obviously a lot of research would be needed.

 

This was kind of fun, its a 1930's Martin 0-17 that came to me for some repairs (only 80 years old, not 200 like the parlor) - in the case were instruction books ($1.00 and $0.25), a pitch pipe ($0.85,) and a set of Black Diamond strings. Black Diamond were popular before the war - I put them back in the case and put modern lights on it - the old strings were just too cool

 

IMG_3432_zpsfytkronp.jpg

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also a nice looking thing

 

ok i did some wikipedia research, which does not say much about history of strings of wire.

only the oldest record found that wire is used for instruments was 1351 in augsburg, and earliest wire was from brass or iron.

 

with beginning of 1800, when the development of the piano advanced also the string technology and materials advanced. in the 1830s and 1840s several manufacture got in strong competition who builds the best piano wire...

 

but nothing about how they made them and in which gauges and which precision they could be made..

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