About
After hours spent coming through the factory records and learning how to decipher old cursive, to the best of my ability, I have come up with a list of all the Schwarzer guitars that were recorded and to whom they were sold. My intentions with this list are to hopefully track down all of the guitars and photograph them and record their stories.
Production Totals
The Schwarzer books indicate that 159 guitars were constructed but I was only able to record 152 orders and 1 repair. Its more likely that I missed some entries than a counting error on their side. If you are interested in seeing what the Schwarzer guitars looked like, I have uploaded scans here: Franz Schwarzer Guitar Full Catalog.
Style 4, Total Built: 1
Style 32, Total Built:1
Style 72, Total Built:1
Style 20, Total Built:1
Style 24, Total Built:1
Style 402, Total Built:2
Style 403, Total Built:2
Style 404, Total Built:2
Style 502, Total Built:25
Style 503, Total Built:11
Style 504, Total Built:13
Style 505, Total Built:2
Style 506, Total Built:3
Style 602, Total Built:16
Style 603, Total Built:16
Style 604, Total Built:9
Style 605, Total Built:2
Style 702, Total Built:8
Style 703, Total Built:8
Style 704, Total Built:2
Style 705, Total Built:2
If anyone knows any detail about this guitar that appeared on MandolinCafe, please reach out as it appears to be a Style 604 or Style 704 but no serial number was provided.
The same to be said about this wildly ornate instrument from Acoustic Guitar Forum, that guitar is outrageously decked out.
Franz Schwarzer Guitar Orders
5527 - Bohl - #4 concert size
5553 - Harold - Regular standard size
5554 - Harold - Small
5581 - Harold - #32
5582 - Harold - #72
5617 - Harold - #20
5618 - Harold - #24
5464 - Grohe - #602 w bridge
This refers to Otto and Charles Grohe who were retailers in New York.
5749 - Howard Farwell & Co - #503
5750 - Howard Farwell & Co - #703
Howard Farwell & Co was a piano manufacturer (or more likely a distributor) from St Paul, Minnesota.
5754 - Hoffman - #703
5765 - Alfred O. Müller - #604
The best lead I have here is for a Missouri man named Alfred Muller who was born in 1878 and worked as a banker. He would've been 16 when the guitar was ordered. He died in 1913.
5983 - Otto Grohe - Guitar #special amaranth
Otto worked for his brother C. E. Grohe as a large shoe retailer in New York. Amaranth is an archaic term for the species of wood that we know as 'purpleheart' which is unconventional in acoustic guitars. It may be veneer as the Schwarzer craftsmen was very experienced with veneer
5793 - Howard Farwell & Co - #502
5794 - Howard Farwell & Co - #503
5795 - Howard Farwell & Co - #602
5796 - Howard Farwell & Co - #703
5839 - Otto Grohe - Amaranth guitar special
5892 - Hawley - #502
5894 - Howard Farwell & Co - #602
5895 - Howard Farwell & Co - #503
5918 - W. E. Grierman (crossed out) Wurlitzer & Co - #704
I have no leads on Grierman but Wurlitzer & Co is the Rudolph Wurlitzer company started in Cincinnati and became a massive distributor all over the country.
5924 - E? B? W. Gallenkamp - #603
Edward William Gallenkamp was born 1855 in Washington, Missouri and worked as a "druggist" in town. He died in 1925 having spent his life in Washington.
6027 - Preston N. A. February 4/95 - #502
6028 - Preston N. A. - #503
6029 - Preston N. A. - #504
The best lead I have is Nancy Ann Preston, a mother of nine who lived in McBride, Perry County, Missouri. It was not uncommon for women to teach music as a part time job and ordering instruments for students was very common. She had been married to Anton Feltz for a decade by the time of this order so I can't imagine why she would be using her maiden name. I may be completely mistaken on this.
6030 - Stever B? Y? (crossed out) Jan 12/95 O. Ruge 6/22-1895 - #603
6048 - George P Garcelon 3/18/96 - #705 guitar amaranth
6049 - George P Garcelon - #504
George P Garcelon was a music teacher based in Joplin, Missouri and regularly ordered instruments for his students.
I have spoken with the owner of #6049 and seen photos to confirm its existence and relatively nice cosmetic condition.
6076 - Muehl T - #504
6109 - Stever ?? - #504
6121 - Henn & Haynes - #703
Henn & Haynes was a high-end jewelry store from Chillicothe, Ohio
6128 - Greive Hey? - #602
6190 - B? B? Ptever? (crossed out) Joseph B Stamm 11/22/95 - #604
6254 - Stever? B? Y? - #604 amaranth
6483 - Tippman - #504
6488 - Howard Farwell and Co - #602
6516 - Peter Herr? Hern? Kern? - #603
6519 - Tippman - #504 white top
6525 - Howard Farwell & Co - #502
6529 - Stever - # 604 white top
6590 - Howard Farwell & Co - #504
6692 - Garcelon (crossed out) Henn & Haynes - #403 special amaranth guitar
6712 - Garcelon - #502 small guitar lady model
6726 - Garcelon (also has written F H Raw 3/5/94) - #603 Style B E Maple Guitar
6729 - Herkstroeter - #502 lady size
6746 - Mrs V. F. Hines - #505
6763 - McElvain Bros - #504
A retailer based in Kansas and Nebraska
6776 - Garcelon - #703
6782 - Henn & Haynes - #502
6862 - Howard Farwell & Co - #502
6863 - Howard Farwell & Co - #502
6864 - Howard Farwell & Co - #603
6895 - M. M. Meyer - #602
6896 - E. F? Busch City - #603
7012 - George P Garcelon - #502
7116 - Fr? Sr? M Becilia 4/22/98 - #503
7140 - F. Bonnet - #602
7211 - P. J. Looney - #602
7461 - Dr J. J. Fowler - #503
Dr Joseph J Fowler was a Sedalia, Missouri based physician born in 1864 or 1865.
7530 - H. E. Hubbell - #603
Possibly Harry Hubbell born 1872 in Monticello, Illinois.
7574 - Henn & Haynes - #502 rosewood
7577 - Forney Mercantile Co - #504
A retail store based in the small town of Forney, Texas. The building now holds a historic society and I had reached out to them as they had ordered a number of instruments.
7609 - F W Woodward - #402
7719 - August Wehmueller - #402
August Wehmueller was born 1848 in Washington, Missouri. He was a cabinet maker and worked at a pipe factory (likely the corncob pipe factory in Washington).
7809 - Henn & Haynes - #404
7811 - Henn & Haynes - #404
7812 - Henn & Haynes - #604 also #6692 amaranth guitar (perhaps in for repair?)
7832 - Henn & Haynes - #403
7861 - Henn & Haynes - #504 amaranth
7895 - Day Haid Jr? - #504
8016 - W. C. Raw - #502 double back guitar
A double back guitar is a construction method found in some classical guitars.
8196 - Schulz - #602 steel string
8212 - Miss A Gamerdinger - #504 standard (B E Maple)
8300 - Leslie Murphy - #703 large (imitation rosewood sides bottom)
8301 - Leslie Murphy - #603
8302 - Charles S Senu - #502 standard
8303 - Dr W. F Hempehmann - #703 large (top celluloid bound, extra fine inlay)
William. F. Hempelmann was born in March of 1866 in New Haven, Missouri to Henry and Marea. When he ordered this guitar in 1901, he was boarding at a home in New Haven, Missouri. By 1920 he had moved to Washington where he ran his own dentist office. He passed away in 1941.
8341 - William Guese - #702 natural finish
William Guese either refers to a farmer from New Haven, Missouri who was born in 1872 or a German-immigrant working as dry goods salesman in St Louis, Missouri and born in 1848. The former has the close proximity to the factory while the latter might've had the wages to afford a large guitar.
8358 - Miss Bertha Schenker - #502
Bertha Schenker was born May 1881 in Jackson, Missouri and would've been 21 when she ordered her Franz Schawzer guitar. She later married and her name became Bertha Hutchison.
8404 - Harry E Woods - #603
Harry Woods is either a St Louis resident born in 1872 or a resident of Kansas City born in 1873. Assuming it belongs to someone living in Missouri.
8558 - Gaulin Hy - #605 steel string
Henry Gaulin, haven't found anything beyond that.
8627 - George W. Boblett - #602 steel string
George W. Boblett was born in Ohio City, Cleveland, Ohio in 1876. He was working as a clerk in every city directory I found. He died in Delong, Fulton, Indiana in 1925.
8662 - School Sisters De Notre Dame Westphalia, Missouri - #502 gut strings
Westphalia is a small town in mid-Missouri with about 300 residents today and in 1903. The convent was demolished in 1989 but the school and church they helped establish remains.
8679 - Henn & Haynes - #602 steel strings
8694 - G. P Garcelon - #503 imitation rosewood
8782 - A. L Ludwig - #602 mahogany
9005 - S. K. Woods - #502
Might refer to Stephen K. Woods who was born in 1858 in Virginia and lived in St Louis, Missouri
9010 - F Linstromberg - #504
Possibly August F Linstromberg, born 1885 in Missouri and lived in Lyon, Missouri which was close to Washington.
9029 - Hy. Sprawhorst - 12 string guitar
It is hard to express just how exciting the prospect of this instrument is, Schwarzer was not the first builder to experiment with this configuration but this would make his company one of the earliest. The sad reality is that twelve string guitars are under such massive tension that they tend not to age well and guitar bracing at this time (1905) is relatively 'weak' by today's standards. All it would've taken was some doofus in the 1960s to slap steel strings on it and the guitar would've self-destructed.
9034 - C. Hausdorf - #602
9039 - Altmueller (crossed out) Ray & Dillworth - #502
9054 - Ray and Dilworth - #502
Ray and Dillworth was a jewlery store in Salem, Missouri formed by Bill Green Dillworth and Ben Ray in 1898.
9099 - C. J. Hausdorf - #602
9253 - Holling - #505 special 7 string EBGDAEC (high-to-low)
Another unique instrument with an extra string on the bass side. It might be related to seven string guitars that were popular in Russia.
9254 - C. E. Grohe - #702
9283 - Sisters of Notre Dame Jeff City - #502
The School Sisters of Notre Dame had convents established all over the state of Missouri.
9338 - Ray & Dillworth - #704
9348 - C. E. Grohe - Harp Guitar 12 string
9506 - Mrs F. C. Ramm - #702
9650 - Ant. Tischerner - #506 harp guitar
9548 - Jul. Rother - #603
Julius Rother was born in Germany on November 18th, 1871. He married his wife Anna around 1898. He worked as a machinist for the Stupp Iron Co in St Louis, Missouri and lived specifically in South City. He purchased this guitar in 1911. Julius died in 1951.
9701 - C. E. Grohe - #702 celluloid bound top
9769 - Lornenberg & Meyer - #503
9776 - Charles E. Grohe - #702 celluloid bound top
9800 - Mrs Ramm-Haeckn - #603 special
9803 - Mrs Laura Ramm - #603 special
9825 - J. F. Schaefer - #604
9865 - L. F. W. Jones - #702
9903 - Althmueller Bros - #702
This may be the most well known Schwarzer instrument because of the article written on its discovery.
9914 - School Sisters of Notre Dame - #502
9927 - Jul. Fellinger - #702
Julius Eugene Fellinger was born in 1873 and spent the first half of his life in Kansas City, Kansas. He then lived in Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas, before moving back to Kansas City in the late 20s. He died December 3rd, 1930.
9929 - School Sisters of Notre Dame Jeff City - #502
9936 - E. Stacey (Lohr) - #506 harp guitar 12 string
This harp guitar was ordered by E. Stacey through Theodore Lohr's store in New York in 1912. I received photos of the instrument confirming its existence as a double neck guitar with 6 contra bass and 6 standard guitar strings.
9980 - Jan. Kujania - #703
10003 - Garcelon - Guitar (no model number given)
10050 - E. Feldmann - Harp Guitar DEAGBF contra
10211 - F. Kriedl - #503
10233 - Oscar Knecht - #503 steel string
10315 - Phil C Harding - #506 harp guitar
10343 - F. Shipporeit - #502 mahogany
10377 - R. B?F?. Hagemau - Oblong guitar
10459 - Fred Lorenz - #603 law?baw? mahogany
10461 - J. B?. Baw (S. Hersking) - #604 law?baw? mahogany
10513 - Mrs M. Derndl - #502 thin neck
10517 - Mrs Robert Wellisch - Repaired old A. H. guitar Pins silk & gut.
Mrs Robert Wellisch refers to Emma Lawrence who married Robert. She was born in 1863, had a guitar repaired by the Schwarzer company in 1920, and died in 1951 in Maplewood, Minnesota. She lived in that city during the 1920s as well based off her husband's death in 1922 in Maplewood.
10540 - Tony Godetz - Special 18 string guitar
Tony Godetz was a Chicago-based music teacher and musician. He was born in 1876, came to the US in 1904, ordered his Schwarzer guitar in 1920, married Louise Curdts in 1922, and died in 1943. They don't appear to have had any children. His guitar may have ended up in the hands of a student. 18 strings is absolutely nuts unless this was a harp guitar.
10568 - Mrs Minnie Flick - 602 mahogany, no ivorine binding
I have spoken with the owner of this instrument but have not seen any photos
10584 - Theo Schuermann - #604 law?baw? guitar mahogany
10587 - Hy B Hess - #603 guitar law?baw? mahogany
10600 - Augustus Ottowitz - #602
10649 - Fred Ehehalt - #502
10658 - Max Lehman - #605
10666 - Otto Krog. - #602
Otto Krog was born on the 5th or 6th of March, 1880 in Washington, Missouri. He grew up in the town and worked as a post office clerk. In the 1910s, he moved to Terre Haute, Indiana where he worked on X-Rays at Eastman Kodak. He ordered a guitar in 1924.
10672 - D. O. Wilkie - #705
10699 - Mische Lawrence - #603
Lawrence Mische was a resident of Washington, Missouri and was born in 1906. This guitar was ordered in 1922 when he would've been 16. He later married Adele C and had two sons Larry and Lonnie. He passed away in 1995.
10704 - Erik-du-Rietz - #604
10728 - Lascallas & Co - #502
10729 - Lascallas & Co - #503
10732 - Salzar? - #603
10770 - Johnson - Guitar
10780 - Dress - Standard guitar
10810 - Special guitar
This is the last guitar ever produced by the Schwarzer company and would've been built by Albert Hesse as he was the last employee of the company. The instrument has remained with the family of its original owner and I was lucky enough to meet with them and learn about the importance of the guitar to their family. I held the guitar and found the construction to be a unique blend of European and American influence.
No comments: