1900 parlor Washburn, restore or improve?

[Barbara Millikan]

Now that I've rebuilt the top, I find that it's pretty darn stiff.  I won't get much in the way of bass with it like this. I don't think it's the nature of my repair, just the way the beast was made -- sturdily.

So,  do I want to restore this as close as I can to original? Or do I want to shave the braces and give it more sound? I lean to the latter.

 Still what are the pros and cons of having something as close to the original as possible v.s. something that sounds better?

Will I have lowered its value significantly?

[Ned Knepp]

I already removed the fret board. It is cupped and soft and as it turns out not very accurately fretted. The only fret in the correct position is the 12th one. Yes, it is a 24 in scale. Compared to your Washburn, this is a very cheap guitar. The top is pretty decent quality spruce and the back and sides are maple. The back is one piece and, again pretty good quality. The build quality, however is something else. There are a lot of short cuts in the way it was built. The back and sides have this truly heinous faux rosewood that wouldn't fool a 10 year old at 10 feet. A case in point on the build quality is that the bottom hole on each tuner is not spaced properly. They cut the tuners apart between the first and second tuner then installed the bottom tuner with that part of the backing plate on top of the other end of the backing plate.

I don't have a good picture of the entire guitar but this one show almost all of it.

Notice that the (replacement) bridge is about an inch too long and 1/2 an inch too wide. It was Not ebony. I'm guessing that it is box wood and that the fingerboard is too. I have a couple of shots of the interior on my phone that I will post when I downloaded them.

BTW, sorry for the bad quality pics, Cell phone and bad lighting. I take them for myself and forget that I might want to post some of them.

Overall, I think it has potential AND I think there is no where to go but up on the build quality.

Ned

[Ned Knepp]

I downloaded the interior shots. None of them are real clear but this is the best one.

You can just see the back peeking out on the right. The braces for top and back are positioned the same distances from the top. No sign that a bridge plate every existed but there is an old bridge outline in the top that indicates that there was a fixed bridge before the oversized one was fitted. There is also a shadow of a tail piece but I don't think it was original. Also take a look at the inside of the sound hole. That's the inner edge of the rosette showing on the right side of the sound hole. They cut that side too deep. Yes, I've got myself a fine quality instrument here!

Ned

[East Side Guitar Repair]

I have a 1906 Lyon & Healy Washburn Parlor. I made a new replica bridge, refretted it, and made it a Nashville tuned guitar, also known as angel tuned or high-strung. You essentially take a 12 string set and only use the octave up strings. This solved the problem of excessive string tension. This little guitar is one of my favorites and sounds amazing.

[Ned Knepp]

East Side (not sure what to call you.)

I have a 12th fret Martin with a "Nashville" set that I'm experimenting with now. I like the sound a lot but it doesn't work for everything. It rings like a 12 without the interference. I hadn't thought of stringing this parlor that way but it must may be the ticket.

Ned

[Ned Knepp]

Barbara,
I got your package in the mail today. Thank you VERY much. The guitar in the plan is just a bit larger than the one I'm working on but the bracing pattern is a BIG help. I really appreciate the effort on your part to send this to me.

When ever I get around to actually build a whole guitar, I will probably build a parlor. This plan will come in handy then too.

thanks,

Ned

[Barbara Millikan]

Here's a couple pix of the one I built from that blueprint -- with modifications. This is a steel string w a double action truss rod; and I modified the neck and peg head to work for steel.

[Ned Knepp]

Nice looking guitar, Barbara. I'm attracted to this size because I have several larger guitars but no small ones. I also help kids that want to learn and some smaller guitars in my collection could help there too.

What did you do to the peg head and neck that differs from the plan?

Ned

[Barbara Millikan]

I used a thinner, solid peghead to go with the tuners I wanted (larger tuners Gotoh, not the 3 on a side ones) and I made the neck round not triangular, and a bit narrower, because that's what I like. I think the blueprint is actually for a 1922ish gut strung parlor guitar.

[Demetry Merkuloff]

I'm working on two Bay State parlors at the moment, early 20 century, BR back&sides. Both are opened and gonna have the Martin 1-18 style X-bracing, let me know, if you're interested in the drawings.