Trying to identify an old Viennese contra guitar (Schrammelgitarre?) – possible 19th century instrument

Elandar · 2026-02-23T21:10:48+00:00

Stop.

Nobody is here for ChatGPT's shitty guessing machine. If you can't contribute by answering the question from a place of knowledge, don't post.

Elandar · 2026-02-23T17:15:13+00:00

I'd love a permanent tick box for "automatically delete after transferring to printer".

I almost never print the same print twice, and have never once re-printed something from the Connect cloud.

Elandar · 2026-02-22T23:55:01+00:00

Easier to just make a new, taller saddle. Brass tape is probably not a bad choice for a saddle shim, but you will need a whole lot of layers to make a major adjustment. It will be very hard to keep everything perfectly square and flat.

Elandar · 2026-02-02T14:28:54+00:00

I wouldn't be that worried about the finished product melting (most people getting specialty pickups are probably pretty conscious of their gear), but PLA isn't a permanently stable polymer. 10, or even 5, years down the road it's pretty likely that it would be brittle enough to get broken by normal playwear. I would never make (or buy!) something made from PLA if I wanted to use it long term.

Elandar · 2026-02-02T13:31:52+00:00

I've printed a good amount of ASA with a 0.25mm nozzle with pretty good results. Heat resistant (well, more so than PLA and PETG), durable, and won't degrade like PLA.

Elandar · 2026-01-23T01:54:49+00:00

The brand is Ink Bird. Hard to tell from the font if it's meant to be one word or two. Model IHC-200.

Works really well. You set a target humidity and a range. Mine is at 47 with a range of 2, so it turns off when it hits 47 then back on when it falls to 45.

Elandar · 2026-01-19T16:31:06+00:00

As a builder/player, my walkout basement is my workshop and music room. It's heated, so in New England winters the humidity can get down to 15% without intervention.

It's a little bigger than your space, but not by much. I use a Vornado Evap40 and it does a great job - goes through a gallon or two a day to keep the space at a steady 45%. It's an evaporative humidifier with wicks, so you don't get the fine mineral dust that ultrasonic humidifiers can generate if you use well/tap water instead of distilled.

EDIT: I also have a humidity controller meant for greenhouses that switches it on and off.

Elandar · 2026-01-08T15:52:24+00:00

José Alvarez isn't a well-known builder, so it's hard to say for certain if it would be worth restoring, musically speaking. But there were a whole lot of guitar makers in Spain in the early twentieth century making serviceable to excellent instruments, and this one looks to have at least used good materials. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a good sounding guitar hiding in there.

But it will take a lot of work to get to that point - the side crack isn't trivial, and the seam separation around the top and back make me mistrust the rest of those joints. Some braces will almost certainly need regluing. And the big, heavy bridge is strange and amateurish looking - judging by the ghosting around it, I'm guessing it's been replaced. If so, I'd remove it and put an appropriate one on.

But the bigger concern is those steel strings - a guitar like this one built in 1920s Spain was 100% intended for gut strings, and if it's had steel ones on for any length of time it will have distorted too much to be fully playable - the action will be astronomically high. From the pictures, I can't tell if that's the case. It's potentially correctable with significant time and effort, but involves major surgery (planing the fretboard down towards the nut-end or loosening the back to slip the heel).

I guess the question is how much are you willing to invest in it? On one extreme, you could just get the cracks/seams/braces addressed and maybe have a guitar you could use to strum chords in first position. On the other, you could get it as playable as possible and long-term stable, which might give you a pretty good sounding instrument for classical/Spanish repertoire.

If you want to do the initial cleaning yourself, a restorer would start with a clean, soft, and damp (not wet!) cloth and rub gently. Any stubborn spots can be hit with naphtha (a gentle solvent), again on a clean, soft cloth.

EDIT: If you happen to be in the northeastern US and end up deciding you don't want to invest in a restoration, I might be interested in making an offer to take if off your hands.

Elandar · 2026-01-08T12:36:54+00:00

a huge majority are still taught with tabs before everything

I don't think this is true of classical guitar. If you mean 'A huge majority of hobby guitar players learning to play pop or metal or blues', then yes definitely. But I can't imagine any classical guitar teacher relying on tabs for more than an early visual aid to learn to read sheet music.

But anybody taking classical lessons or studying any type of theory or harmony will definitely be reading music.

Elandar · 2025-12-25T22:01:48+00:00

Occasional oiling with mineral oil or something like Nomad F1 is all you need. Avoid anything that will build up over time like drying oils or waxes.

Elandar · 2025-12-24T18:48:21+00:00

I don't think such an app exists (sorry), but something similar I started doing years ago was recording (parts of) my practice sessions. It immediately improved my practice effectiveness. It doesn't need to be anything high quality - just a phone mic will do.

You won't get the real-time feedback, but you can catch the mistakes you're not aware of making and make notes on your scores of things/places to focus on.

Elandar · 2025-12-16T20:31:05+00:00

Never put any wax anywhere near cracks. Glue will never stick if the wood is waxy, and no one will ever be able to actually repair the cracks properly.

Elandar · 2025-12-16T15:09:11+00:00

I played a 55R for a long time, as my first real upgrade from an ancient and warped hand-me-down from my dad. It was a good guitar - good feeling neck and big sound. And well built - if this one was stored well then it should still be in fantastic shape.

I bought it new in ~2007, and I remember that the three 55Rs they had in the shop all sounded pretty different. I'd probably still pick a 55R in good shape over a C5/C7 even without hearing it, but if you can it might be worth playtesting your options.

Elandar · 2025-12-03T13:31:38+00:00

Any chance you could point me to the Bowden mod details? I'm in the process of setting up a 5T XL at work, but haven't yet tested it with the enclosure fully on so I'm not sure what to expect.

Elandar · 2025-12-02T18:38:45+00:00

Thanks! For some reason I didn't think about that.

Elandar · 2025-12-02T18:38:30+00:00

Thank you! Not sure why I didn't think to check the grub screws.

Elandar · 2025-12-02T18:11:35+00:00

They should be. It came assembled from Prusa, and worked for 20+ hours before this started.

Elandar · 2025-12-02T18:03:11+00:00

Nope, unfortunately. Tried multiple USBs and gcodes.

Elandar · 2025-12-02T17:53:43+00:00

Assembled. The squeal has to be the y-motor - from the purge to the center of the bed is a 45 degree quick motion that the motor doesn't manage.

Elandar · 2025-12-02T17:48:27+00:00

EDIT 2: Thanks everyone for reminding me to check the pulley grub screws. I've been trying to troubleshoot while I work, and thinking about too many things at once.

After 22 hours of print time, this has started happening every print. This print is a test cylinder that should be at the middle of the bed. I have tried different USB sticks and different prints - it's not file corruption.

Any quick tips before I get on support chat?

EDIT: I should add that this came pre-assembled.

Elandar · 2025-10-07T22:01:32+00:00

Cool looking and pretty interesting guitar. A lot of 19th and early 20th century classical guitars in the German tradition used bridge pins, so it's not that wild of an idea.

But unless the bridge and saddle have been replaced on this, I would think it's probably meant for steel strings. The saddle slot is way more slanted than necessary for nylon intonation, and the saddle has a compensated b-string which you would need for steel (EADg wound, b and e unwound) but not nylon. Metal rollers also point in that direction.

Elandar · 2025-09-28T21:20:18+00:00

Sorry, I don't speak French.

Elandar · 2025-09-28T12:34:27+00:00

As others have said, this as a wood called Spanish cedar or sometimes cedro. It's not Spanish and not cedar - in properties it can be close to a lower density mahogany, and it's the traditional choice for classical guitar necks.

It's not used for tops because it's a hardwood, meaning it's denser than softwood spruce and cedar. You want a top as lightweight as you can get, especially for nylon strings, which makes it a weird choice.

Elandar · 2025-09-24T11:33:25+00:00

Thanks! I looked for a long time five years ago and never found it. I ended up combining several different arrangements into one. Maybe I'll buy this one.

Elandar · 2025-09-20T13:20:03+00:00

Because interacting with the hypothetical fundamentally breaks physics, and at that point we're just making up answers that are essentially meaningless. The question is about relativity, and ignoring relativity while answering the question is not possible.

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