Details
This 1860s Ashborn is one of the earliest, and rarest, American guitars Gryphon has offered in a long while, and one fresh from a local estate. James Ashborn, a competitor of C. F. Martin Sr, was one of the earliest North American luthiers to produce guitars in batches with consistent dimensions and decoration. Ashborn built his workshop on the Naugatuck River in Wolcotville, Connecticut, which allowed him to utilize water-powered tools, making him a pioneer in using industrial techniques to craft guitars. Consequently, Ashborn built more guitars than C. F. Martin Sr. did in the 1850s, but unlike Martin’s instruments, all Ashborn guitars are the same size (jabout 11.5" wide), with a short string scale of barely over 24 inches.
Unlike Martin, Ashborn made virtually everything on his guitars, including the strings, and his tuners are precisely geared, probably because the region was a center of America's early clock manufacturers. The fancy wood marquetry seen here, used sparingly on lower models, was also made in-house, and Ashborn was apparently one of the only American guitar makers of the era who went to the effort (Martin imported herringbone, and other patterns, from Europe).
This No. 6 was the highest model, and few were built (No. 6 represented 4% of Ashborn's production, according to surviving records).
What doomed many Ashborn guitars was that a vast majority were marked with the NYC music store that sold them but no mention of who built them. This, combined with their light construction and fragility, has resulted in only about seven or eight No. 6 models being known to have survived. This example has "J. Ashborn" stamped on the center back strip, suggesting it was made around the time Ashborn sold his guitar workshop, having been elected to the Connecticut legislature in 1863.
Ashborn guitars are based on early Spanish-style guitars by Panormo and the tops are lightly fan-braced. They cannot tolerate even the lightest steel strings, but because Ashborn, like Martin, used pin bridges, overstringing them with steel in later years was common. This example was no exception, and holes on either side of the end pin, and dings in the top, suggest that at one point it had some kind of a tailpiece added. The top bracing was beefed up with an added horizontal brace behind the soundhole, above the fan braces.
The back is highly figured Brazilian rosewood veneer, lined with thin spruce with grain running in the same direction as the rosewood (Martin also made models with spruce-lined backs around this time). Both the neck and the sides are also veneered with Brazilian rosewood. The back on this example had several cracks and in sawing through the cracks to prep them for splinting, the repairman inadvertently cut into the back braces, and the #3 brace (beneath the bridge) was repaired with a thin spruce piece glued on its back side.
The finish on the neck appears to be original, and while the frets may not be original Ashborn was already using T frets by this time, unlike Martin, who continued to use bar stock frets for decades. The finish on the top has been "oversprayed," but this was apparently done with a brush adding either shellac or lacquer. The bridge is original, and although it has a significant crack it's holding up just fine. The fretwire saddle, in a separate ebony insert, is also original. The neck angle is shallow, so string action is high, but because of the very short scale, and nylon strings, the guitar is quite playable. Because of its rarity and decoration, and the fact it dates to the Civil War era, this is an important piece of American guitar history. It includes its original wooden "coffin" case, the interior has been relined, the exterior was probably black originally but has been stripped and refinished with a walnut brown stain. The handle and at least one latch are newish, two of the latches may be original, we can't be sure but at least they're old.
Specs
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Back sides
Brazilian Rosewood
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Binding
maple or holly
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Bracing
Fan
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Bridge
Ebony
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Fingerboard
Ebony
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Finish
French polish
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Frets to body
12
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Inlay
wood marquetry
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Neck material
Brazilian rosewood veneer
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Nut width
1 13/16"
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Rosette
wood marquetry
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Scale length
24 1/8"
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Top material
Adirondack Spruce
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Total frets
19
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Tuners
Original Ashborn
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Year
1860
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Case type
Original Coffin Case
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SKU
ASHNO6-141618
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UPC
141618
