Old Parlour Guitar ID ? Washburn ?

[Len Biglin]

Hi everyone , i have an old parlour guitar which looks like a washburn made thing . I want to know what bridge it should have , the smiley bridge is not original . You can see in the pics it is stamped 1.4309 . For what its worth it is braced ladder but not parallel and has a mighty tone for slide blues . Years back I braced each side of the hole as it was bending up at the waist . It was unfortunately varnished in the past also .Thanks for your interest .

[Roger Häggström]

The dot on the 10th fret may indicate a banjo maker making guitars. Probably before 1920.

[onewent]

It looks a bit like a Lyon and Healy Style E, ..similar bridge shape and black ring around sound hole.. but that would have been stamped inside.  Different makers used the slanted top brace, and Schmidt, for sure, used the dot at the 10th fret almost exclusively, but that doesn't strike me as a Schmidt guitar, either.  

Tom

[Len Biglin]

It seems to be a budget model so may not have had a brand ? I have seen other Washburns with the pointy headstock and dot at 10th fret seems common . It has a spruce bridge plate from side to side , a straight ladder brace behind the bridge , and an angled brace in front which is closer to the bridge on the bass side and runs to the waist on treble side . The bridge on it is not original and it may have had the flattened pyramid style originally .

[Steve Bettesworth]

I seem to remember reading that fret markers on the 10th fret was something to do with playing with ukulele orchestras in the 1920's or 30's.   Alternatively the 10th fret marker could be a product of the Sicilian/Italian/French luthiers coming from the traditional mandolin neck pattern.