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1900s Larson Brothers Stahl Style 6, Brazilian Rosewood/Spruce
We love the unique corner of prewar lutherie occupied by the Larson Brothers. Reputed to have built hundred and hundreds of instruments, never under their own name, these brothers have created a body of work that stands apart from other prewar builders on my levels. One particular label of theirs was Stahl, and we’ve got a lovely example of their Style 6 here today. Brazilian Rosewood back and sides over Spruce, 12 frets to the body and gone over by our repair staff with a clean bill of health! At some point, this Stahl was refinished, so it’s got a mix of newer gloss look and vintage, prewar volume and presence. An immensely fun little guitar, it handles fingerpicking just as easily as strumming and flatpick work too.
Other keywords: vintage guitar, vinrage, Larson bro.s, larson stahl, w.c. stahl, w.m.c. stahl, 12-fret, refin, slot head, slotted headstock
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.4 in Nut Width 1.875 in String Spacing 2.25 in Woods Spruce, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare1938 Larson Brothers Euphonon Jumbo 16 Inch Brazilian Rosewood/Spruce
According to Bob Hartman’s authoritative text, The Larsons’ Creations, this Euphonon 16” Pearl Jumbo was finished in 1938. This Jumbo demonstrates appointments of the highest order for the brothers: Pearl trim bound with Grained Ivoroid, Pearl rosette and soundhole half bound in Ivoroid (a Larson technique), Pearl thistle adorning the headstock, Pearl-inlaid fingerboard and bridge wings. The flattened pyramid bridge is original, as are the tuners, pickguard, fingerboard—across the guitar, the original finish shines.
This Larson is in superb condition for such a rare creature from the 1930s. This 16” Jumbo plays as smoothly as ice cubes skating across the griddle: the Brazilian Rosewood and Spruce body have fully opened up and offer a breathiness paired with expansive headroom. The treble overtones are grad-school articulate: they speak in complete sentences with dependent clauses and profound weight. The neck profile follows a unique path from the flattened C shape (around the first position) which sharpens into something of a V as you approach the heel. What more can we say? An exceedingly rare breed from the Larson Brothers’ Euphonon line, practically as original as the day it was born, stable and with the seasoned voice of a worldly-wise traveller yet in their prime. This, friends, is a piece of history worth playing.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.31 in Woods Spruce, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare1938 Larson Dreadnought Brazilian/Spruce
We’ve got special treat for all you Larson brothers devotees: a 1938 Euphonon Dreadnought! Occasionally, the Larson brothers would label their instruments with Classical or American motifs (see: Prairie State models), but this Dreadnought is a Larson through and through. Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, Spruce top, and more crisp, fat tone than you can shake a pick at make this an instrument of incredible value. If you then consider how infrequently one finds a Larson Dreadnought (under any label), you can really appreciate the unique flavor of this particular guitar. The voice is immense, wide open and fierce, with juicy bass notes that hang in the air. The trebles are well-balanced and offer a subtle range of overtones which help fill out this Larson’s trademark resonant tone. The pickguard is original, along with all hardware, the bridge, nut, and saddle.
Until several years ago, this Dreadnought has remained in the Larson family, who have taken pains to keep it as pristine as possible–and by the looks of things, they did a wonderful job.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.25 in Woods Spruce, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare1935 Larson Prairie State 15 Inch Brazilian/Spruce
Although they never once put their own name on their instruments, the Larson brothers have left us an extraordinary legacy with a different kind of signature: superb craftsmanship, powerful tone, and an astonishing number of different designs. This 1935 Larson Brothers Prairies State 15″ is an excellent example of their forward-thinking: the braces are actually Ebony and Spruce laminates, making them much more rigid than the purely Spruce equivalent, there’s a 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: one twist of a flathead screwdriver, and the theory goes, you can tighten the tension on the heel, pulling it back and into the body of the guitar, thereby achieving a lower neck angle. Add to that a rare “Chocolate Top” finish and a period reproduction pickguard added by Tony Klassen (of New Era guitars fame), and you’ve got a legend of living wood in your hands!
The voice is warm, yet articulate, with rich overtones from the crisp bass register. Now that our repair staff have cleated and stabilized all cracks and restored the original bridge (which was suffering from the string slots tearing into the saddle slot) to full functionality, this Prairie State 15″ is in peak playing condition.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.78 in String Spacing 2.31 in Woods Spruce, Rosewood - Brazilian
Carl and August Larson were Swedish immigrants who went to work for the Robert Maurer Company just before the turn of the century. Maurer was a music teacher in Chicago who established the Maurer Instrument Company, but it is not known whether he actually built instruments himself. In 1901, August Larson took over the company as president, with himself and Carl as the only two employees. They kept the Maurer name, but built instruments under the names WLS, Dyer, Euphonon, Stahl, and Prairie State, as well. Their two-person shop produced an amazing number of instruments, although their total output was, of course, small in comparison to that of the big companies, so there are not many Larson brothers instruments available today. Most of these tend to turn up in the Chicago area.To my knowledge, the Larsons made mandolin-family instruments and guitars almost exclusively, although they made some tiples, harp guitars for the Dyer company, and three prototype electrics custom-ordered by Les Paul in 1934. I have seen only one catalog of Maurer and Prairie State instruments, which dates from the early ’30s, offering a line of mandolins and flat-top guitars as well as detailing several of the unique features of their construction. Larson guitars were among the earliest actually designed for steel strings.
In 2007, the Larson Brothers brand was sold to Toni Gotz. He and Roman Zajicek, a luthier from the Czech Republic, built models based on the original Larson guitars. Then he met Maurice Dupont, a French luthier who wanted to remake the guitars. Beginning in 2013, Dupont’s company built Larson model guitars in Boutiers Saint Trojan, Cognac, France.