Vintage Acoustic Guitar

1929 Martin 2-17H

Original vintage scalloped brace acoustic guitar - factory Hawaiian setup!

This 1929 2-17H appears to have been Hawaiian from the factory, but I'm
trying to confirm that with Martin. It was apparently stored for a
number of years with the strings under tension but a loose bridge, as
the auctioneer informed me the bridge began coming off when they
decreased the string tension. After I received the guitar, I removed the
strings/pins and the bridge came right off. There are a few thin
shavings of mahogany on the underside of the Brazilian rosewood bridge,
but it came off cleanly. I did notice that the lower bout still has a
belly effect, and reaching inside the guitar revealed that the
bridgeplate has some cupping. After talking to a couple luthiers, I
believe this to be a result of its time under tension with a loose
bridge - heat/moisture and clamping should address it. I did not check
all of the bracing, but the spruce plate on the inside of the endpin
area (endpin is missing, by the way) was hanging loose inside the guitar
and is now sitting in the case with the bridge and bridge pins.

There
is finish crazing evident in a number of places on the guitar. One
check appears to be a crack, running from the bridge down to the lower
bout. I cannot feel or see it on the underside of the top and there's no
evidence of repair, but it does appear to be in the wood rather than
just the finish. In addition to the visible dings on the top of the
guitar, there's a long scratch that's very visible due to its light
coloration. If I were to keep the guitar, I'd pursue finish
touchup/color to make it much less visible.

Two of the bar frets
are no longer flush with the fingerboard. The headstock and tuners look
great and the back of the neck and fretboard (not surprisingly) look
like they were never touched.

I certainly may have missed a
small detail, but I've attempted to describe all of the issues with the
guitar. I was not able to ascertain neck angle due to the flush frets
and hawaiian setup, but it's safe to assume it would require a neck
reset as part of a conversion should you decide to go that route.

I don't have an appropriately sized case, so this guitar will be well packed in a dreadnought-sized hardshell case.

Factory hawaiian guitars of this vintage are pretty rare, and it was hard to find a comparable guitar for sale to compare this to. If you're interested, make me a reasonable offer and we'll see what we can work out that's mutually acceptable..