BAY STATE NECK JOINT

[George Roberts]

I'm working on restoring a little Bay State parlor guitar.  I think it dates to the 1890s, and curiously is marked "University of Michigan" with a small paper label in the sound hole, and the same thing embossed in the back of the peghead.  It needs a neck reset, and somewhere along the line somebody put a machine screw through the heel into the neck block.  The head of the screw is buried, and covered up with old wood putty.  Washers and a square nut protrude from the neck block.

Does anyone know if this is a dovetail joint?  I'm working on a very similar Bruno guitar,about the same age, that has only a mortise and tenon joint.  It would be nice to know which I'm dealing with, before trying to take the neck off.

Thanks for the help.

George

[Don Wisniewski]

     Just did a reset on a model H of the same time frame. It was a shallow mortise, about 1/4 inch.

[George Roberts]

Thanks Don,

I probably shouldn't have worried so much.  When I loosened the fingerboard extension and removed the nut and washers, the neck came right out, and was exactly as you describe.  Makes me wonder if Bay State was making guitars for Bruno.

My Bay State is marked with an "E" on the end of the peghead, but it seems to be pretty plain.

George

[sylvan]

Please register your serial numbers on the Bay State instrument at the Bay State web site. We are compiling as complete a list of Bay State guitars as we can. Your numbers and registrations will certainly help! Go To http://www.baystateguitar.com/SerialNumberProject/SerialNumbers.html

Thanks so much!

[George Roberts]

Hello Sylvan,

Thanks for your wonderful and informative website.  You actually have a picture of my guitar that I had sent to Charles Robinson. It wasn't until I saw the Bay State string packet that I discovered that the lyre logo on the front of the peghead represented Bay State.

This is also the guitar labeled with "University of Michigan".  I contacted U of M, but they couldn't find any references.

George