1935 Larson Brothers Euphonon Grand Auditorium Acoustic Guitar-Used

$24,000.00

Details

This is one of the cleanest Larson Brothers guitars we've had in a very long time. Although labeled with the Euphonon stamp, the double internal rods support system inside the body is the same as is usually found on their Prairie State models. The internal rod system was patented 6/24/1930 by August Larson. The body is 15 3/4" wide, making it larger than an OM, which measures 15” across the lower bout. The body is 3 3/16” deep at the tailblock. The neck has the Larsons' typical 5-piece construction and it appears to have its original frets, which are worn but still quite playable. It has its origin tuning machines. The large celluloid pickguard is suspended above the soundboard, anchored at the treble-side bridge tip and lower edge of the fingerboard. The top is spruce with a mahogany stain. The date 9/23/35 is written in pencil under the top next to the bridge plate.

There is very little playing wear evident, with some light surface wear to lacquer finish. We couldn’t spot any but no cracks anywhere. The only change we can find is that someone removed the lacquer from the barrel of the neck, leaving the original finish on the headstock and the heel. This was neatly done, there's no sign the neck profile was altered. This guitar has been in the same collection for many years, so it's probably an early "speed neck" treatment done years ago for a player who wanted the grip of unfinished mahogany. The neck angle is somewhat shallow, so with the saddle as low in the tall original bridge as possible string action is still above what is considered "factory standard." We decided that the buyer of a Larson guitar in this condition would probably want to make their own decision about whether or not to change the neck angle. This is a great sounding guitar with excellent balance and headroom to spare.
Case is a dreadnought shape, obviously not a perfect fit but it's sturdy.

Euphonon guitars were made by August and Carl Larson, two brothers who immigrated to America from Sweden in the 1880s. They rarely, if ever, used the Larson name on the instruments they crafted in Chicago, opting instead to build under the labels of Maurer, Prairie State and Euphonon, which were brands they owned.

They launched the Euphonon brand in the mid 1930s as their modern line of guitars, that is, guitars with 14-fret necks, solid headstocks and larger bodies than the parlor style guitars they had built up until then. As near as we can tell, the Larsons never issued a Euphonon catalog so we really don’t know if the Euphonons had model numbers or not. The Larsons developed a method of building the top and back under tension, a technique that gives the guitars a bright, focused tone with a resonant bass and balanced mid-range that sounds like nothing else.