Description
What makes this guitar special: The following text was taken directly from the appraisal letter written by Robert Carl Hartman, author of 'The Larsons' Creations, Guitars And Mandolins'. At the time of his appraisal, dated 12-27-2010, Carl deemed the replacement value of the guitar at $23,000. In a separate appraisal given by Gruhn Guitars on 7-21-2017, they state the current market value to be between $20,000 to $25,000. Both documents are included with the sale of this guitar.
"This gorgeous parlor is one of only ten registered Maurer branded guitars with the Tree Of Life fingerboard. Similar guitars were branded Wm. C. Stahl for sale from his agency in Milwaukee, and if they contained the Larson patented steel rod system they were branded Prairie State. All three brands combined still represent an exceptionally rare guitar."
"This one is beautifully adorned with all the attributes of the top-of-the-line features except for the pearl tuner buttons of the Style 493. Its history has it belonging to a player who used a high nut for lap style, slide play, thus creating little to no wear on the frets or fingerboard. It has beautifully grained Brazilian rosewood back & sides with a lovely spruce top. The mahogany neck is laminated with three thin strips of rosewood/maple/rosewood. The ebony bridge is decorated with engraved white pearl stars. The top has abalone trim inside fancy wood marquetry that compliments the coordinated abalone & pearl inlays forming the exquisite fingerboard decor. All of this is topped off with the very fancy pearl peghead inlays. Since this guitar spent many years cased up, it has retained much of its original color."
Cosmetic Condition: Remarkable condition considering it's about 90 years old! The most notable issue is a pretty good sized chip / minuscule hole in the top, lower bout, bass side, where raw wood is exposed. Throughout the rest of the guitar you'll notice various minor nicks, dents & dings; surface scratches & mild weather checking. Overall the guitar has a wonderful look to it with a marvelous patina.
Neck: Nicely rounded, semi-chunky mahogany neck with ivoroid binding & black side-dots. Ebony fingerboard with stunning abalone Tree Of Life inlay. Frets are in great shape with no wear. Slotted headstock with bound, Brazilian rosewood overlay & intricate abalone vine inlay. Strip tuners with floral engravings & white pearl buttons. 1 7/8" nut width; 25 1/2" scale length. The neck is not completely straight & does show some warping. It could really use a good heat press to straighten it out & make it more playable in the higher registers. As it is now, the action at the 12th fret is about 1/4" & there's really no room to come down on the saddle.
Body: Parlor size body featuring a solid spruce top with multiple binding & abalone purfling. Multi-ply soundhole rosette with abalone center ring. Rectangular truncated-pyramid style ebony bridge with two mother of pearl star inlays & straight saddle. String spacing at the saddle is 2 5/16". Solid Brazilian rosewood back & sides. The back is beautifully book-matched with a multi-color geometric center strip. In Robert Hartman's appraisal letter included with the guitar he states the body width is 14 11/16", however actual measurement is 14 3/8" lower bout width; just slightly over 10" upper bout width; 19 1/4" full body length; about 3 1/2" depth. Full guitar length is about 38 1/2" & the guitar weighs 3 lbs 7.3 oz.
Case: Newer Guardian deluxe hardshell case included.
