Originally built in Boston between 1890 and 1895, this small and delicate guitar was brought to me in an armful after it had taken a catastrophic fall from its stand at the home it shared with its owner’s two rambunctious dogs. It is made with a Brazilian rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck and what I believe is an Adirondack spruce top. The bridge and fretboard are also Brazilian rosewood. The neck and neck block had broken completely out of the body, cracking the sides and destroying the upper treble side section of the top. Additionally, every brace in the guitar was loose. After some research and contemplation, I formed a plan. The top was removed with gentle heat, and the neck block separated from the neck heel. With the top removed, I could easily repair the upper bout side cracks adjacent to the neck heel area. After glueing the neck block back into the sides and back, I removed and re-glued each of the back braces and reinforced two long cracks in the back plate.

The top was too cracked and compromised to simply re-glue the bracing. I elected to remove every brace and previous crack reinforcement and carefully reduced it in thickness enough to accommodate an entire thin layer of Adirondack spruce into its inside, the resulting combination roughly matching the original top thickness. I then re-used the original ladder braces and some additional torrefied spruce into an X-brace pattern. Next the top was reinstalled, binding and purfling replaced, and the guitar was finished off with a neck re-set, re-fret, new nut and saddle and some unobtrusive finish touch up to help it retain it’s original antique aesthetic quality. Strung with Silk & Steel strings, it sounds great and is ready for another century or so of making music.