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Firefrets -> Scalloped neck guitar - Early 1800's? (Sep. 17 2025 12:40:30)
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Here are a few pictures of an interesting guitar as requested by Ricardo.
She's likely early 1800's, judging by the shape, and has a lot of interesting features.
Maybe walnut, which suggests she's probably Spanish. The body shape still has the old Baroque influence, typical of guitars around the turn of the 19th century.
She has a scalloped fingerboard, together with what I presume are ivory frets. A large volute / V joint at the back of the neck etc. Rounded bridge is similar to a few Lacote style guitars I've seen, but no makers mark as yet. I'll light everything up when I get chance and have a proper look inside.
Inside, things are quite interesting too. Blackened walls, blocks, braces etc.
There's loads of work needed, all around the guitar. The finish is a bit of a mess, and lots of debris and oil present, but I can easily sort that out when the time comes.
She has a very low resonance. Loads of repair work has been done in the past. Not all of it to my liking, but I'll see if I can't improve things a bit.
I'll start with the headstock, and consolidate that area, then take it from there. I've a set of antique tuners which I might be able to make fit with a slight nudge of the existing holes. They're not period exact, or overly fancy such as Baker, Jeromes or Seidel etc (I don't have that budget) but they'll do.
There's no point at this stage being too fussy, such as drilling out the old bushings and plugging with cedar etc. I can make things work 'for now' and then if in the future a correct set of tuners are found, the opportunity to drill / plug / etc is still an option be it for me, or a future repairer.
The binding on the top is oversized. While I could scrape it flush, I might need to take the guitar apart in order to get a good seam, but for now my main interest is to get her playing well, and once I achieve that, I can decide whether she's worth invasive surgery etc.
* I'm not intending to post a full restoration. I'll play things by ear. I'll post some more pictures if anybody wants to discuss etc.
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