~1890 Haynes Concert

I’ve had several 19th-century guitars made by Haynes of Boston over the years, always similar to Martin Size 1 (“Standard”) or size 0 (“Concert”) with Brazilian rosewood back and sides, as does this one. Occasionally one comes by with “Wm. B. Tilton's Improvement “ installed but I haven’t seen one in at least twenty years, and never this fine and complete. Tilton apparently was convinced that not only had he re-invented but improved upon the wheel, like so many others since the beginning of time but alas, in fact, not so much. His brainstorm was to put a long stick inside going from neck block to tail block with the crowning touch being a metal plate, with his name writ large, and his patent date of 1856 right where you couldn’t miss ‘em, covering a large portion of the soundhole. Tilton's brilliance aside, this is a lovely earlier guitar in remarkably fine condition. No cracks anywhere, some rattly back braces but who’s counting. Original tuners with genuine bone buttons; a perfectly straight neck with literally unworn frets, partly the result of having been barely ever played and partly from its having had gut or nylon strings all its life, which are still appropriate. And there’s something else that's really cool: WAY inside, stamped onto the neck block (and you really gotta look, with a flashlight), is “John C.Haynes & Co. Boston”, their company’s logo. The case is original too, all black-painted wood, the top notch hard shell of the day. Hinges and latches not the most reliable after 130-plus years but hey, who would be? And there's a wonderful original label inside the case from the original dealer, "W. L, Hayden of Boston, Agent For Tilton’s Patent Guitars“ …..and all sorts of other stuff. I’ve never seen that before. All in all quite the historical package, remarkably intact and whole and wonderful. $1295 w/ohsc