Bruno "The Vernon" 1910-1925 / Over a Hundred Years of Seasoning!

For sale is a beautifully preserved Bruno 12 Fret Parlor Guitar from their “The Vernon” line, in Excellent Condition, with a fresh neck reset and a smooth, fast action.  The Brazilian Rosewood Back and Sides, coupled with a Solid Spruce top, give this little beauty a much larger sound than one would expect, and the Deep V profile, Spanish Cedar neck is a delight to play.

Bruno guitars were distributed through the Charles Bruno and Son company in New York, from 1834 through the early 1930s.  Though they were not makers of guitars, they distributed instruments made for them by Oscar Schmidt, George Bauer and Regal. 

This particular model sports the blue and green Bruno label, which dates it to a period from 1910 to 1925, and the minimalist approach to dot markers and ornamentation, suggests that it was part of their “Vernon” line of guitars (though it is not branded as such).  The most likely builders were either Oscar Schmidt (Jersey City, NJ) or Regal (Chicago, Ill).  Today, we would call this 13” lower bout guitar a Parlor model, but at the time, it would have been identified as a Concert Size.  The Brazilian Rosewood back and sides are indicative of a higher end model in that line.  For reference, in 1912, this model retailed for $30 - $38.50, the equivalent of $1030 to $1330, today.

Here are the important specs:

Top: Spruce / Ladder Braced / 12 frets to the body

Back and Sides: Brazilian Rosewood

Neck: Spanish Cedar / Deep V Profile / no truss rod

Fretboard: Brazilian Rosewood

Bridge: Ebony

Total Length: 37 1/4”

Lower Bout: 13”

Upper Bout: 9 1/4”

Body Depth: 3 1/2”

Nut Width: 1 3/4”

String Spacing at Bridge: 2 1/4”

Scale: 24 1/4”

Action at 12th fret: Low E - 5/64”, High E - 1/16”

Coming into the shop, this guitar needed a good bit of work.  The bridge was lifting and the neck needed a reset.  There was some loose binding but happily, there were no cracks, splits or open seams.  We removed the bridge, beefed up the bridge plate, re-glued the bridge (the screws in the bridge appear to be original), removed and reset the neck, glued the loose binding, leveled and crowned the frets, made a new bone saddle, cleaned and lubricated the tuners, adjusted the nut slot depths and set up the guitar with a fresh set of GHS Thincore Extra Light Phosphor Bronze strings (.011-.046).  For those unfamiliar with these strings, they are specially designed to have a low combined string tension (125lbs), ideal for these older guitars with no truss rods.  The guitar plays with a fast action and the neck is dead straight.

The tone is well balanced across the strings with a mellow, bluesy sweetness, ideal for finger style blues and ragtime.  We would recommend sticking with the low tension strings, as there is no truss rod.

Please be sure to check out the photos and zoom in for detail.  We’ve tried to capture this old girl from all sides.

This Bruno guitar will ship in a rather beat up, but functional, period chip case to which we have added a new handle.

This Bruno Parlor Guitar is sold AS IS and is not returnable unless it arrives in a condition other than as described or photographed, here.

Price: $1450.00 plus $125 shipping (Lower 48 USA, only)