1849? LOUIS PANORMO
NUMBER ????
I think this might be an 1849 Panormo as it looks much like the other four 1849s I have restored, but it could be as early as 1838. The label is illegible. One machine head has been cut off and the soundboard needs repair in many places. The inside of the guitar many previous repairs are visible as is a great amount of dust and debris. It will be interesting to see what is in there when the back comes off.
I purchased in this guitar in 2015. It has no case and will never be a prized museum specimen, but it should turn out to be very playable and reasonably priced.
The restoration is beginning in February 2020.
Later Panormos, like this one, have a binding which hides the join between sides and back. The first step is to remove the binding. On either side of the binding is a very thin black white black layer, a purfling. The binding as it broke in many pieces. The BWB layer below the binding is sacrificed but I attempted to keep the BWB purfling which is attached to the back. Once the purfling is removed, the back can be separated from the body. The back had been removed before and was extremely difficult to remove another time - it is so easy to mix the old hide glue so it is too strong. Parts of the purfling came loose and were held in place with pins until, using existing glue. Altogether, a dirty, messy, gooey and slow job.
The inside. The body has had some extraordinary repairs and will take time to plan the work to be done. The silver gaffer tape has adhered very tightly to the wood of the soundboard. The back was filthy and had layers of repairs including parchment covering existing repairs. Both back bars were loose and damaged. The dust indicated that a very long time had elapsed between the first restoration and the current one.
Soaking to soften and remove old unwanted repairs and at the same time gluing up loose joints is a juggling act. On the right, the back is beginning to look healthier.
Inside the body of the guitar there were some astonishingly crude repairs. The black paste is a mystery but it did come off with hot water, as did the lump of wood in the middle of it. There were five of these lumps. On the right, one half of the ribs have been cleaned and repaired while the right side still needs attention.
At last, the body and back ready to be re-united.
The head of the guitar is in very good condition.
The tuning machines are incomplete with one tuner cut away. I replaced that with a modern classical guitar machine, but the peg winds tin the opposite direction. This is for the first string and a player can learn to cope with this.
The soundboard has taken a beating over the years and has many cracks showing. They are all carefully reinforced from underneath. Harder to show in photographs is the deformed edge the soundboard at the upper bout.
Despite its appearance, the restored guitar plays very well fitted with Aquila Alabastro Normal Tension Nylgut strings. This was a true lockdown project finished in June 2020.
The guitar in its case.
Dimensions:
String length: 637mm
Overall Length: 955mm
Width of upper bout: 227mm
Width at waist: 174mm
Width at lower bout: 285mm
Height at upper bout: 91mm
Height at lower bout: 97mm
Nut width: 44mm
Distance between 12 fret and 1st string; 3.2mm
Distance between 12 fret and 6th string; 3.3mm
Weight: 1.255kg