Home
About
Book Info
New
Era Guitars
Magazine
Articles
Annual Harp Guitar
Gathering
Vintage Larson
Instruments for Sale
A Dyer Discovery
Links
|
|
Instruments for Sale
Larson Brothers Presentation Guitar,
Special order,
c. 1904-05
“Original Old Master
of the Larsons’ Creations”
I have been researching the Larsons for thirty-one
years and have learned not to say, “Now I have seen everything.” To prove that point, I would like to tell
you about my latest exciting find. This unique instrument is of the highest
quality and could have been built at the time of August’s design for
laminated X braces and tone bars that culminated with the awarding of the July 12, 1904 patent in
his name. The patent shows the five main top braces were laminated with a
strip of harder wood (rosewood or ebony) centered between the usual spruce
brace, leaving five lesser braces not laminated. This unique example took
that idea further by making ten top
braces laminated from a total of twelve.
Although this guitar has extra top
braces it has fewer back braces
(four) as in other small Larson guitars. Larger body Larson’s have five or
six back braces, as seen in the later Maurer and Prairie State models.
This bracing idea allowed the craftsmen to build extra strong guitar bodies
by also incorporating the brilliant idea of bending the top and back down
over the arch built into all the braces to add tremendous strength to the
entire body, thus making the young brothers pioneers of the steel-string
flat-top (misnomer in their case) guitar. The fact that this guitar has a
hot-stamp reading: “Pat. July 12, 1904” on the neck-block, (stamp is normally
on the back center brace,) along with the absence of a brand name or serial
number leads me to believe it was a special order instrument or, in this
case, was possibly (long shot) made for a friend or family member. This
guitar was recently purchased from a shop in Sweden and is known to have been
in that country many years. Often the brothers did not number or brand an
instrument that was special by being a first, or different in some way from
the norm.
Describing this unique guitar leaves one with the
dilemma of where to start! Let’s start from the top and go down. The
bound peg head front is the normal
Larson shape but has lovely, never-seen-before color coordinated abalone and
pearl inlays set into the stained rosewood overlay. The back of the peg head
has matching black rosewood overlay and binding which extends to a point into
the middle of the neck. This feature is seen on a few other high-grade early
Larson models. The Waverly tuners with special ivory buttons, were hand
engraved by Mr. Louis Handel and inset with lovely flowers with some of the
stems and flowers seeming to have a gold inlay as well as white pearl to
complete the design. The gold plated tuner plates have a gorgeous engraved
pattern known as the Irish rose design. This engraving is the same as seen on
Martin guitars as early as 1893 but the tuner buttons are known to be used as
early as c. 1889 and probably were used as late as 1907. These dates are as close
to accurate as my sources have found.
The mahogany neck size and shape are somewhat like a
rounded Washburn “V” rather than the usual rounded Larson style. The neck is
made in five pieces, with 1/8" wide laminates running lengthwise down
the center of ebony, maple, ebony, flanked by mahogany in the usual Larson
fashion. The fingerboard is a simply gorgeous, extremely rare, tree-of-life
vine and flower pattern consisting of white pearl vines and abalone flowers.
I am told that this pattern or a similar one, is also seen on a few very rare
early Martin guitars.
The sound hole rosette is a series of twenty rings
not counting the two large rings of top wood. The two large circles of
abalone are set off by the other rings of black strips and tiny checkered black
purflings. The trim around the top edges is comprised of two strips of
abalone and lined with finer strips of black, solid and matching checkered
purflings with a total of ten components. The beautiful spruce top has crack
repairs in the lower bass bout and the bass side rim also has a repair. The
heel of the neck has a solidly repaired crack which completes the repairs,
leaving the entire instrument in otherwise excellent all original condition.
The standard Larson shaped ebony bridge has pearl
inlays that resemble a pair of inverted fancy “fs” on each flat end, which is
another first for this amazing creation. The bridge pins are ivory and have
abalone center dots. The original frets show minimal wear.
The beautifully colored, straight-grained, book-matched
Brazilian rosewood back has abalone trim around the edges as well as down the
centerstrip. Each is bordered by thin strips of yellow and black. This is the
first Larson 6-string I have seen with abalone trim on the back. Not to be
outdone, the sides are trimmed with a thin strip of light colored material
(probably ivoriod) conforming to the body contour about 3/8" below and
above the top and back edges. This same feature is seen on about five other
early high-grade Larson guitars. The entire lush body is bound with multi-ply
binding.
The tones emitted from this classic
guitar are sweet but very bold and entirely pleasing to the ear. The string
height is perfect for ease of play. This instrument can inspire new and
beautiful music and has to be considered one of the most collectable Larsons
ever built!
MEASURMENTS
Scale length-25"
Width at nut- 1 15/16"
Lower bout 13 11/16"
Waist- 8 1/16"
Upper bout- 9 13/16"
Depth at butt- 3 15/16"
Total body- 19 1/16"
Total length- 38 3/16"
Soundhole dia. - 3 ¾"
_____________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. J. Dyer & Bro. Symphonic Harp Centurions
Dyer Style 3 Harp Guitar, SN 608
This
is a wonderfully preserved, Larson Brothers-built specimen of the rarest of
the Dyer harp guitar models. This is one-of- six confirmed examples of the
Style 3 to date, and by the way, the nicest one!
The
608 serial number is the second lowest known-to-date in the 600 series
which began somewhere between 1906 and 1908 (see other examples and new
serial number charts at www.harpguitars.net
) and this example is the one of two found with a readable label. The body
shape is similar to Knutsen’s 1908 (or earlier) model, which has a similar
body point, bass peghead shape and semi-cutaway upper bout. That year,
Knutsen’s version had 13 frets clear of the body and a 24.5"
scale-length; whereas, the Larson version has 15 frets clear of the body
and a scale length of 22 5/16".
The
woods used comply with the standard Styles 4-8 and the craftsmanship and
quality is comparable. The body size is smaller than its counterpart Dyer
styles, which have a 16" lower bout.
Total
length- 38"
Scale
length- 22 5/16"
Upper
bout- 12"
Lower
bout- 14 3/8"
Body
depth- 4"
Nut-1
13/16", width of strings at nut- 1 ½", Depth of neck at nut-
7/8", and nicely rounded.
Harp
scale longest string- 30.1/2"
The neck has been beautifully reset. The
joint looks original. The spruce top has three repaired small hairline
cracks and the mahogany back has many small to medium old hairline repaired
cracks, while the sides are crack-free.
It appears that the top has been partially over-sprayed. This little gem was found with aluminum
nuts below the sub-bass tuners. They did not work well so I had ebony ones
installed to better hold the tuning of the bass strings. Now the strings
wind better also. These are the only un-original parts on this beautiful,
fine sounding Larson Creation. It plays like a dream and needs no work.
Recent repairs by Tony Klassen, ARK New Era Guitars.
The
bracing pattern is different from the standard Larson styles, not an X
pattern and not ladder or Z patterns either. It looks more like a complicated
H. The fingerboard is radiused for steel strings.
It makes a perfect companion to a
full-sized Dyer, the 1908 style Symphony Harp Mandolin, or to a player that
needs a smaller scale instrument.
Newer custom wood case.
Dyer Symphony Harp Mandolin, Style
20, c. 1908
Extremely rare
Larson brothers made Dyer with a label that states, Style 20 and serial
number 121. This model is different from the ones made circa 1910, in that
it represents the one shown in a 1908 ad in The Cadenza magazine depicting
a point formed in the lower bass side section of the body, in contrast to
the later models that have a similar corresponding point in the lower
treble side of the body. The body is generally wider but thinner than its
later counterparts, while maintaining the same general appearance. To this
date there are but two of this type of Dyer Symphony Harp Mandolins in
existence, the other one is lacking a label.
The
condition is remarkably good for its age. There are no cracks in the top
and one 2” back crack at the butt end. The finish shows normal play wear
one would expect in an instrument much newer than this one. The back and
sides are in excellent condition with light crazing in the original finish,
equally on the entire instrument. It is all original and very playable and
with lovely tone and more than adequate volume, as attested by many players
at the 2012 Harp Guitar Gathering in Texas.
Un-original hard
case
I believe
this pair were built within a year of the other and meant to be a
complimentary pair, therefore, harp guitar and harp mandolin are sold as a
set of two, and priced to sell at $14,500 REDUCED to $12,500.
Recently appraised separately at total of $18,300
|
|
|