RARE Late 1890\'s Joseph Bohmann Grand Concert Acoustic Guitar - Luthier Restored For Sale

Up for sale is a very RARE Late 1890\'s Joseph Bohmann Grand Concert Acoustic Guitar. You would have to be a pretty serious guitar collector to be familiar with Joseph Bohmann. If you are not, look him up. He was quite a character, but outside of that, he is also know as a maker of very fine musical instruments. Some instruments lean towards the whimsical and unusual. He definitely was not afraid to experiment. Bohmann is probably most well known for his famous harp guitars, as well as violins, mandolins and zithers. He also made larger bodied guitar with some interesting features.This sometime around the late 1890\'s. I have described the style as a Grand Concert or OO, because that seems to be the closest to those standard specs, however, the guitar has features that are truly unique to this guitar. The arched back (arches in towards the upper bout), the unique body bracing and the unusual position markers to name a few. Here are the measurements:Overall length: 38 1/2\"
Body length: 19 1/2\"
Lower Bout width: 14 1/2\"
Upper Bout width: 11\"
Scale length: 24 3/4\"
Nut width: 1 3/4\"
Lower Bout depth: 4\"
Upper Bout depth: 3 1/2\" (arched)The guitar has been fully gone through and restored by a professional luthier (unknown). There are cracks that have been expertly cleated and repaired. Six on the front: treble side of the fretboard, treble and bass side upper bout, treble side below sound hole and one on each side of the bridge on the lower bout. I inspected the underside of the top with a mirror to confirm where the repaired cracks are, but could not really get a good picture of the repairs. I can say, the repairs to these cracks are very professional, with proper sized cleating and the finish result is that they really just look like wood grain unless inspected closely (see pics). There are also three cleated crack repairs on the back, lower bout bass side, that are a little more obvious. Other repairs included are a neck reset and it looks like a truss rod was added to the neck underneath the fretboard (picture included but not very clear).It also appears that the luthier who restored this 125 year old guitar made some clever changes to the guitar that really makes unique. Most of these Bohmann guitars had a metal backplate covering the tuners. In the absence of the backplate the luthier chose to fill in the open areas with the darker wood and then added the peg style tuners. I think it looks great and compliments the guitar. Functions beautifully as well, but is not original. The unusual bridge design is also the restoration luthiers design. Again, I think these features really compliment the unusual (original!) position marker designs and make for a beautiful one-of-a-kind guitar. It is also apparent that the guitar was refinished during the restoration process and some crazing to the finish is evident on the front and the back.This 125 year old guitar also has a very special interior bracing system. Bohmann used a most unusual \"quadruple x-bracing\" system, as well as three ladder braces above the sound hole, that is seen nowhere else. This bracing makes the top very stable and allows the guitar to handle steel strings, which is basically unheard of for pin bridge guitars from this time period.How does it sound? AMAZING! Loud, bright and very full sounding. The action is very good and the guitar is very easy to play. No buzzing or dead frets. I have the guitar strung up with Extra Light Strings (10-47) but I think the guitar could easily handle Custom Light (11-52) strings to allow for even more projection. Nylon strings would also be an excellent choice for this guitar. It is a joy to play and, due to the restoration, should be around for another 125 years. Includes a chip board case that is likely not original to the guitar.This is a very rare opportunity to add a fine Joseph Bohmann guitar to your collection, with all the work done and ready to play! Similar guitars have sold online in the $1500 range, but please feel free to make me an offer!