Friday, January 23, 2009

1830's Jens Nielsen Gade Danish Parlor Guitar

I picked up this guitar in August of 2008 and it has a market value of $1,137.00. It's a parlor sized guitar built somewhere around 1830-1840 by Jens Nielsen Gade (1788-1854) in Denmark. There are 2 labels inside that indicate restoration work in 1854 and 1871. There is a pencil inscription inside that I believe reads JE Sorensen April 1870. There has been some more modern restoration work done with modern glues. As far as I can tell, this guitar is all original and complete except one bridge pin has been replaced. This is a beautifully built guitar that in the hands of a good restorer will be worth thousands. Dimensions of the guitar: Length is 36 inches, lower bout is upper bout is 11 1/4 inches, upper bout is 8 3/4 inches, and thickness is 3 1/4 inches.

Website with history of Danish guitar builders including Jens Nielsen Gade (see chapter 13). http://home10.inet.tele.dk/erlmol/bogg_uk.html

Website with pictures of a restored Gade guitar http://www.guitarbygger.dk/english/reparation.htm

This is an interesting book on Danish guitars. http://www.elderly.com/books/items/570-1.htm

I was told this guitar came out of an estate in New York and in fact there are storage tags for Rochester NY and one for an Amelia L Harris in Salisbury PA included in the guitar.

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Posted by Guitar Hunter at 8:21 PM
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

First of all, WOW! that's a wonderful guitar!
i am especially interested on guitars from around 1800, got a couple french ones myself but this one from denmark is a rare one. Would you mind telling me, where did you get this on from? Or maybe if you want to sell this rare beauty, then pls do send a mail to Baal.Aeris@gmx.de
I would certainly repair it and play it in my repertoire for the right-period's music right away!

August 25, 2009 at 5:32 AM
Guitar Hunter said...

Sorry, but I've already sold this guitar. The interest in it has been amazing and it's possible it's worth more than I state. I found this one at a local garage sale after it had made it's way through New York and Pennsylvania.

August 25, 2009 at 11:12 AM

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