Guitar
Date1808
Place MadeBerlin, Germany, Europe
Serial No.324
SignedOval, engraved label with single line border, the last two digits of year written in black ink: J. G. Thielemann, Akademischer Künstler / zu Berlin / 1808. [enclosed in oval]MarkingsWritten in black ink on inside of treble rib at center joint: No. 32.4. [sic]
DescriptionStringing: six gut strings
Soundboard: two-piece spruce, very wide grain narrowing toward the flanks
Back: two-piece book-matched maple or birch
Ribs: two-piece maple or birch divided by ebony end graft with two silver inlaid bands near edges
Head: mahogany veneered on front and back with ebony; festooned outline; decoratively turned mahogany pin set into head face for hanging instrument
Neck: two-piece black-painted hardwood; scarf joint visible near center
Heel cap: none; back button continues over end of neck heel
Binding: top binding ebony with light hardwood and ebony strip trim, continuing around fingerboard; no back binding
Fingerboard: ebony; 17 ivory frets; inlaid into top
Nut: ivory
Bridge: later; ebony, with rounded and chamfered ends; separate bone saddle; ebony bridge pins with abalone eyes; black-stained pearwood moustaches
Pegs: five ebony with missing pins; one later ebony with mother-of-pearl eye
Endpin: ebony; very small
Rosette: wide, curled maple bound on inside edge with ebony; surrounded on outside with ebony-light hardwood-ebony strip trim
Varnish: clear
Linings: maple or birch
Neck block: spruce; shallow depth; grain runs parallel to plane of top and back
End block: spruce; shallow depth; grain runs parallel to plane of top and back
Top braces: two spruce ladder braces with concave, chamfered ends, set into linings, one each above and below sound hole; later maple bridge place; later spruce plate above upper brace under fingerboard
Back braces: four spruce ladder braces with concave, chamfered ends, set into linings; narrow maple or birch back graft, cut at each brace
DimensionsTotal guitar length: 938 mm
Back length: 448 mm
Upper bout width: 210 mm
Waist width: 179 mm
Lower bout width: 282 mm
Rib height (including edging) at heel: 82 mm
Rib height, at waist: 87 mm
Rib height, at end block: 98 mm
Head length: 185 mm
Head width, top: 75 mm
Head width, bottom: 57 mm
Neck length (nut to ribs): 306 mm
Neck width, nut: 42 mm
Neck width, heel: 55 mm
Soundhole diameter: 76 mm
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): 630 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. 24.
Credit LineBoard of Trustees, 2009
Object number14362
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