Concertone parlour guitar

[DarwinStrings]

The gallery seemed a good place for this, not because it is hand made but just cause it is still kicking around today. I bought this one about a year ago on Ebay and have recently finished it, sort of. It came to me unoriginal, no tuners and no bridge, the heel was stuffed and there were three cracks in the front and 4 on the back (make that 6, two more opened up in the back after the first four were repaired, I wanted to hear the thing so I spayed it anyway and will get back to it another time). It is ladder braced job with one bridge brace perpendicular to the neck and another just below the sound hole at a angle leaving a bit more wood below it on the low E side and less on the high. It has been re-sprayed with gloss pre-cat that I just sanded down to one of those white scourer type pads to give it a look or age. All I can find out about it is that it appears in a 1928 Montgomery ward catalogue and my best guess of the maker is Stromberg Voisinet judging from the time it was made the bracing and especially the binding marquetry but it's a guess. As you can see by the repairs to the front, on old stuff like this I like to make the repairs sound but obvious, part of its provenance. If you were in the market for a guitar in 1928 you could of had this one for $5.45US brand new.

Top. red spruce I think
B and S. birch
Neck. poplar
Fret board. pear
The tail piece was rusty as, so I made a new brass one

concertone guitar 3anzlf.jpg (86.47 KiB) Viewed 17714 times

concertone guitar 1anzlf.jpg (87.54 KiB) Viewed 17714 times

concertone guitar 4anzlf.jpg (78.43 KiB) Viewed 17714 times

This is the only form of identification on it.

concertone guitar 2anzlf.jpg (84.25 KiB) Viewed 17714 times

The 1928 Montgomery Ward catalogue. The guitar is the third from the top on the right hand side.

concertone-montgomery-ward-catalog-page.jpg (53.51 KiB) Viewed 17714 times

Now for this next attachment you can blame Pete Howlett . The Concertone is the rhythm guitar (no effects on it through a nice mic) and a mate played the slide on his 1920's Oscar Schmidt Sovereign, he also did the bass and we grabbed a keen young local fella to add some drums. The WAV file was ten times the size of the MP3 so I went with the MP3.

02-Track 2.mp3

(3.49 MiB) Downloaded 1023 times

Jim

The L and N don't stop here any more.

[Kim]

Brilliant!!

Because the Ell and Enn don't stop here Enn Neeee Mooooore

Thank you Jimbo and thank ur two mates as well.

Oh, I like the guitar to by the way, much mojo me thinks.

Cheers

Kim

[Steve]

That is just awesome Jim. Your guitar is a real beauty, but geez the track that you put down sounds really professional.
I reckon you need to do a few more of these,
Steve

[Joe Sustaire]

Great looking restoration Jim!
I love old guitars like that, they just have something.

Joe

[Clancy]

Lovely guitar mate.

Damn I love that song Jim.
I have Michelle Shocked's version & it's been played to death (almost)

[ozziebluesman]

G'day Jim,

Well, what a fine restoration job. Love your work mate! The old parlor guitars have the mojo alright. I have two ladder braced guitars from the 1920s. One is a Oahu square neck all birch and the other is a Regal with a cedar top and mahogany back and sides. Both are fun guitars.

The sound file is great!

Thanks for the post.

Cheers

Alan

[DarwinStrings]

Cheers guys, I have almost worn out that track on "Short Sharp Shocked" as well Craig

I reckon most of you blokes would enjoy a project like this as well, they go pretty cheap if you by them unoriginal as well as broken, I got a 1904 Washburn (B.R. rosewood, red spruce, ebony and Spanish cedar) for about $370 including postage. The bridge is missing but it has no cracks in the B and S's and only two cracks in the front. I figure the cost was less than the price of the B and S's.

The song was recorded at the local Uni as my mate is doing the contemporary music course there. I was as nervous as but still managed to get a reasonable guitar (although I can hear my nerves in the guitar) and vocals down. It was great for the first time to hear my voice recorded through a Neumann mic. It is also the first time I have ever had the pleasure of being in a real recording situation and I would recommend it if you ever get the chance. I reckon we would have to tighten it up a bit to get real pro status though Steve, still it was a hoot.

Jim

[Allen]

That's awesome Jim. It's going on the play list for my shed tunes.

And love those little guitars. Well done mate.

[DarwinStrings]

Cheers Allen. I also meant to mention that the strings on both old guitars are Martin Silk and Steel. As much as I prefer the sound of the steel I didn't want to put that much tension on it and also recommended them to my mate as his Oscar Schmidt is suffering from years of steel strings on it.

Jim

[DarwinStrings]

My mate "Slim" who recorded and played slide on the track has sent his thanks for the comments you guys have made, he has used the track as well as your comments Steve for part of his final assessment in his contemporary music course at Charles Darwin University.

Jim

[P Bill]

Nice restoration .I like the old catalogue inst. as well. Whenever I go To the states I have hopes of finding a Sears or "Monkey" Ward fiddle cheap. I'll download the mp3 later when our speed is faster.