Larson Guitars

scot

I was reading a book about the guitars made by the Larson brothers of Chicago. What do I find out of interest to us here? The Larsons constructed their guitars with the top arched by force and then glued to arched, laminated braces (a strip of rosewood sandwiched between two pieces of spruce or maple). They patented this in 1904, and in their sales literature, the guitars were advertised as having been "built under tension". Mario Maccaferri was apparantly not the first guy to come up with this concept.

I have not played or seen a Larson guitar in many years - nowadays they are quite rare and very expensive - but I remember the ones I played sounded great.

Also in this same book, there is a photo of a gorgeous c1939 19-inch wide maple jumbo guitar with beautiful engraved clear plastic pickguards and rhinestones ornamenting the bridge and peghead. According to the author, "It's history has it belonging to Django Reinhardt and purchased from his brother, Joe, after Django died." This legend is not limited to Selmer guitars, I guess...