Guitar
Date1850-1900 ca.
Place MadeMarkneukirchen, Upper Saxony, Germany, Europe
ModelLacote
Serial No.none
SignednoneMarkingsnone
DescriptionSoundboard: two-piece spruce: medium grain
Back: one-piece maple cut off-the-quarter: very narrow, prominent curl
Ribs: two-piece quarter-cut maple: very narrow, prominent curl; rosewood end graft, wider at joint with top
Head: maple painted black; slotted
Neck: maple painted black; tapered, rounded heel
Heel cap: ebony
Binding: pearwood or brown-dyed maple; trim on back comprised of light hardwood and brown hardwood strips; trim on front comprised of light and brown hardwood chevron inlay surrounded on each side by two brown and one light hardwood strips
Fingerboard: ebony; 16 nickel-silver T-frets, one replaced with later nickel silver; fingerboard end rounded at soundhole
Nut: ebony
Bridge: black-stained maple rectangle with moustaches at each end; nickel-silver saddle; ebony bridge pin head with mother-of-pearl eyes glued at end of bridge moustaches (one missing); ebony pins with mother-of-pearl eyes
Tuners: two sets of machine tuners with brass plates and rollers and bone heads
Endpin: black-stained maple with mother-of-pearl eye
Rosette: festooned abalone pieces alternating with slotted mother-of-pearl diamonds, set into black mastic, surrounded on each side by alternating light and dark hardwood squares surrounded on sides by light and dark hardwood strips; wide light and brown hardwood strips on outside edge
Varnish: clear on body; black paint on neck and head
Linings: spruce
Neck block: spruce; beveled edges
End block: spruce; beveled edges
Top braces: four spruce ladder braces with tapered ends, set into linings
Back braces: three spruce ladder braces with tapered ends, set into linings
DimensionsTotal guitar length: 904 mm
Back length: 439 mm
Upper bout width: 232 mm
Waist width: 167 mm
Lower bout width: 297 mm
Rib height (including edging) at heel: 78 mm
Rib height, at waist: 84 mm
Rib height, at end block: 86 mm
Head length: 161 mm
Head width, top: 68 mm
Head width, bottom: 56 mm
Neck length (nut to ribs): 301 mm
Neck width, nut: 43 mm
Neck width, heel: 53 mm
Soundhole diameter: 77 mm
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): 609 mm
Published ReferencesInventing the American Guitar : the Pre-Civil War Innovations of C.F. Martin and His Contemporaries. Edited by Robert Shaw and Peter Szego (Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Books, 2013), p. 25.
Credit LineArne B. Larson Estate
Object number10459
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