Questions: Parlor Guitar Plans

by Walter Carter

Originally published in American Lutherie #90, 2007

■ Robert W. from the Internet asks:

I have been looking on the web for plans for a parlor guitar with floating bridge and tailpiece rather than a pin bridge. Can’t find them. Any ideas? Could you tell me the names of some of the instruments that used this construction so I can look them up?

Walter Carter of Nashville replies:

I don’t know of any published plans for parlor guitars with floating bridges. Haynes would be the most commonly seen vintage examples, although they are rare. I came across some others in catalogs from Lyon & Healy, from the early 1900s. One catalog is for distributors. It says nothing about L&H but the guitars are clearly theirs, under such models/brands as Jupiter, Columbus, Lakeside, and Marquette. All are cheap ($7–$13) and all have a simple stamped metal tailpiece. From the same general period, another catalog has Lyon & Healy brand College Line guitars with the same cheap tailpieces, priced $3.50–$10. ◆