1935 Larson Bros Prairie State 14 final Reverb price drop

**price is open for offers and also willing to fly to you and hand deliver with cleared payment at no additional cost within the USA**

This is a Larson Brothers Prairies State 15" Grand Auditorium and have been told it’s a 1935 model by Gruhn guitars in Nashville where it was appraised. It is 25.5 scale and measurement pictures can be seen in this adds pictures. It is an excellent example of innovation far ahead of it’s time the bracing alone are an example of this they are Ebony and Spruce laminates, making them much more rigid and stronger than the standard spruce used at the time, couple that with the metal reinforcement rod that runs from the heelblock to the tailblock to help preserve the guitar's shape, and finally the Larsons implemented an early neck angle adjustment system with a thin bar of metal that travels from the bottom of the guitar at the end pin, through the interior of the body and heel, and wraps around the outside of the heel of the neck: a single turn of a flathead screwdriver, and you can tighten the tension on the heel, pulling it back and into the body of the guitar, thus achieving a lower neck angle and surprisingly after all these years it still functions as it should. The is no cracking that I can see and is currently strung with Martin 12s and sounds incredible. Here’s your chance to use a rare piece of history that you may play and enjoy for years to come.

Price includes hard case and fully insured shipping anywhere in North America also willing to fly to you and hand deliver upon cleared payment

There is some finish checking and thinner lacquer spots as well as some discoloration swirl marks of which are pictured aside from these things this guitar is stellar. Frets are in perfect order showing little to no signs of wear. This guitar has original saddle and Grover tuners, of which, hold tune incredibly well; Bridge pins have been replaced with real bone as they were missing.

**Below is the appraisal from Gruhn**

We certify the instrument described below is, in our opinion, a Prairie State acoustic flat-top guitar, made by the Larson Brothers in Chicago, circa 1935.

Description: Serial number: 1165 – ink-stamped on interior at center back strip, and visible through the soundhole. While there is no definitive Larson Brothers serial number list, other examples with sequentially adjacent serial numbers and additional documented production date evidence, indicate that this guitar was made circa 1935. Upon examination, we note that this guitar appears structurally to be in excellent condition. While the originality of any guitar finish is best judged in person, based on the photos provided to Gruhn Guitars, the finish appears to be original and exhibits typical deterioration with lacquer checking, small impact marks, surface scratches (e.g., especially prominent on the body top), compression marks and edge-chipping. In other respects, this instrument conforms to the typical specifications of the model for the period in which it was made with 14” wide Grand Auditorium size flat-top body, Adirondack spruce top (e.g., likely with laminate X-bracing) and natural finish, Brazilian rosewood back and sides, multi-ply light & dark wood center back strip, multi-ply light & dark wood soundhole rosette, rectangular ebony bridge with two engraved mother-of-pearl four-leaf clover inlays, two-piece mahogany neck with dark-light-dark wood center lamination and grained ivoroid heel cap, engraved mother-of-pearl four-leaf clover and graduated-size dot peghead inlays, individual nickel-plated open-back Grover tuners with metal buttons, 20-fret ebony fingerboard (e.g., 14 frets clear of the body) with mother-of-pearl dot, four-leaf clover and slotted diamond inlays, single-ply grained ivoroid edge binding on fingerboard, soundhole and body top, triple-ply light/dark/light edge binding on body rear, multi-ply light & dark wood edge trim on body top, and typical Prairie State metal support rod through the body interior with smaller rod which loops around the heel of the neck and connects to the end pin designed to adjust neck angle (however, we do not recommend adjusting the action using this mechanism). We were unable to make an in-hand assessment of the frets, bridge plate, internal bracing and kerfing, but for the purposes of this appraisal we assume them to be correct (e.g., no diagnostically relevant photos of the interior components were provided to Gruhn Guitars, and it is not possible to accurately assess the condition of frets from photos). No information concerning a case was provided to Gruhn Guitars.

Current market value: $20,000 (twenty thousand dollars)
This appraisal assumes that there are no problems with neck-set angle, frets, loose bracing or bridge (issues which are not always readily visible in photographs). On acoustic flat-top guitars over 30 years of age we urge careful inspection since these are common issues on older instruments and repairs can be expensive. Instruments made with Brazilian rosewood components (dalbergia nigra) are very highly prized by collectors as well as musicians and can command premium prices. However, Brazilian rosewood is listed on Appendix I of the CITES treaty (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) and Brazilian rosewood which was harvested since June 11th 1992 cannot legally be imported to the United States. Brazilian rosewood which can be certified as cut before the ban is legal for international shipments but only with proper documentation and permits.