I was recently gifted this parlor guitar after Juel Ulvin passed away. The neck is off, the fingerboard is mostly missing, there is a replacement bridge on the guitar. It has some very interesting features, however. Old bone buttoned brass tuners which appear to be original. No head plate, what's left of the fingerboard shows it to be an ebonized wood and deteriorated. The scale length is 23 7/8, one single, transverse ladder brace. The neck might be Spanish Cedar, but not poplar. There is an ebony cap on the heel and the dove tail was wrapped in a thin muslin, which I also believe to be original.
The top is clearly spruce with a very tight, fine rain, the back and sides are somewhat of a mystery. At first I assumed it was birch, but when I wiped it down, the grain was quite unique. It has a strong cross hatching, almost like sycamore or lace wood. There is a brand stamped into the back, but I can only make out some of it. It's a long, octagonal box and I can make out the following letters stamped into the wood: MARO _ _ TTE. Looking at the pics and playing with contrasts, I could see a bit more. the top line says "THE" the bottom line might say "MAROSETTE."
I'd to get any thoughts or info folks can share! I'll add more pics in the next post.
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There you go, quick and dirty on the cheap ones. Nice woods though :-)
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