Char Guitars

This is an instrument I got just recently and am trying to authenticate it. Ive been trying to do a bit of  reading about romantic period  guitars and Fabricatore is one of the earliest  as well as one of the most recognizable  names from that period of guitar building. There are a couple of great sites out there on Romantic Guitars.http://www.earlyromanticguitar.com http://www.crane.gr.jp/indexE.html

The guitar is as I received it. The original owner had some work done to it before I got it  attempting to stabilize the guitar as it had quite a bit of worm damage to the back and sides. The top though is in excellent condition.

This is the first blackface Knutsen 6 string I have seen. This one is in really great shape now . Super playable with that melodic ethereal sound you get with these Harpguitars even though this one doesnt have the bass strings. Mahogany back and sides with, I think, a cedar top.

Most of my exposure to Favilla instruments has been through their ukes, especially their Baratone uke which I think is the best factory made one out there. The Favilla company, in fact, were actively making guitars, ukes, banjos and all sorts of stringed instruments from 1890-1986. There is a nice link to a website from an existing family member that has alot of basic info about the company and family. http://www.jedistar.com/pdf/favilla_bio.pdf

As far as anyone that I’ve talked to this is the only Favilla Harpguitar that any one has ever seen. The story is is that the owner had the Favilla brothers build this for Him and that any time it needed repairs He brought it back to them.

Since we are on the topic of Montgomry Wards coincidentally I got in this Reso uke made for  Wards by the Regal Company during the period when they were license to make Dobros for the Dobro company. This uke has the “spider” style  cone and is very cute. Not as punchy as the National style reso ukes but it has a very sweet sound.Mor photos click here.

Montgomery Wards, like Sears, was another catalogue company who sold thousands of household products many manufactured with their brand name. Also, like Sears, musical instruments were some of their offerings. This is a splendid example made by Washburn for Montgomery Wards. Spruce top, ladder braced, Brazilian rosewood, with a fair amount of “bling”. We installed a trussrod, reset neck,refret, repro bridge. One of the nice ones. For more photos click here.

Lyre guitar circa 1800  Boy, 200 years old! Thats hard to think about. And you want it to play not just hang on the wall? Im suppose to finish this in a month, we’ll see.

Fortunately this one has a “fix it hole”. I found some writing on the top. I tried to take a photo of it with my camera but there is not much room in there. I can see it with a mirror but its backwards and in a different language so thats no help.Ill show this to John and see if he has a clue.More photos click here

This Martin O 18 #141739 was gifted to my customer Hiaso Shinagawa  by the late Townes Van Zandt in 1980. Hisao who is also known as, the Japanese Bob Dylan, claims an arsenal of 2,000 songs! The guitar got run over by a vending truck at a Farmers Market he was playing at on December 14 2008.I think this one is going to take a little extra time.  Click here for more photos.

Tulip Guitar     Do you know what this is? I dont.The neck block is the whole arc of the top of the body and is only 1″ deep.The bracing is ladder and the back and sides are Mahogany. Weird.   For more photos click here.

J45 1960?  What can I say. For more photos, click here.

N.B. Curtis Parlor.The lower bout on this parlor is almost 15″ so it is on the larger size for a parlor. Scale length is 25″ and it is ladderbraced. Top is spruce and the back and sides are Mahogany. We reset the neck added a trussrod, refretted it, and made a repro bridge for it. This thing plays and sounds fabulous! For more photos click here.