Bruno fretboard

[Fritz Froeschner]

I have a 1800’s Bruno Parlor in the shop…it has the # 5974 stamped on top of the headstock.. this is the first time seeing one of these in person and I had a few questions. It has the usual problems… neck set, badly glued cracks, refret…requiring the usual repairs, but I’m wondering, were these guitars originally built with this thin of a fretboard? It measures about .140” 9/64” on the two outside edges… Or is it possible this one has just been sanded away with refrets over the years? the fretboard has a 12" radius Also, did they originally have bar frets?

On the other end of the guitar the bridge saddle, in this case a piece of fret wire, is very high off the top … around ½”... of course the usual problems, high action etc… I just wonder about the fretboard, the original frets and why such a tall bridge.
Thank you for any insight.
fritz

[Roger Häggström]

I'm lucky enough to be a small guy with small hands. Very practical when dealing with parlor guitars! But if there is a will there is a way :-)

You may consider making a new lower replica bridge and save the original. My experience is that its a bit futile though, that loose original bridge will probably get lost in the future since it's no longer glued to the guitar. People usually don't care about not so important things...