P. Benson Parlor restoration

[William Johanson]

Hi All, New to the forum. I came across your board while doing some research on a P Benson Parlor guitar restoration I am tackling. Unfortunately there have been numerous attempts at repairs by others over the years with varying levels of success.  I am currently looking for a few bits of info/Advice so I figured I would throw it out here for discussion.

1. This guitar has an odd cloudy damage to the French Polish. See photos attached. Any idea of cause and solution? 

2. I need to remove the fingerboard due to a partial separation and warpage. While off should I add a truss rod and or carbon fiber support(s)? Or would I be better off leaving as original as possible? The neck is very straight, just the fingerboard issue to contend with.

Thanks in advance for your opinions, I appreciate it,

Bill J

[William Johanson]

Chris,

Very nice guitar, What all is needed for repair? Any idea on the year it was made? ive attached a photo of an old P Benson catalog that might match yours.

Anyway, Thank you very much for the purfling offer. I would love to get some. I would be happy to cover your costs. Send me a DM and we can swap contact info. Thank you for your generosity,

Bill

[Chris Vallillo]

Apparently I had to send you a friend request in order to DM you.  If that doesn't do the trick, my contact info is on my web site, chrisvallillo.com.

Also, the attachment didn't seem to come though on the message.

[Chris Vallillo]

I did find a P Benson Catalog online, though and may have found the page you were referring to.  

This was had modest damage, a cracked top brace that gave the face a warp, several modest cracks in the top, a cracked neck heel and it needed a neck re-set.  When I pulled the neck, it turned out that it had been done once before quite poorly.  There were 2 wooden shims on each side of the dovetail joint and the dovetail itself was damaged and out of shape.  I ended up rebuilding the dovetail with new mahogany and reshaping it ti fit without the shims.

I just glued up the top splits and will re-set attach the neck next week, time permitting.  

Regarding a potential date, it's definitely a contemporary of early Washburns.  One website mentioned Benson Building between 1890 and 1899. so somewhere in that general range is possible.  I read that some Benson's were made by Washburn... I don't think this is one of them due to details of the construction.