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Keith Prowse 48 Button English S/n 1155


banjojohn

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Ok so here is the comparison, the Wheatstone 3188 on the left and the Keith, Prowse & Co on the right

attachicon.gifC046c1a.jpgattachicon.gifWP_20151127_001 (600x337).jpg

 

I must say that the fret work looks very similar, but does this prove that 1155 was made by Wheatstone?

 

Absolutely NOT! :blink: (And I've already said, of the likes of Wheatstone 3188, that "I'm sure those were not made in-house")

 

But it strongly suggests that the fretwork was probably cut by the same person - only we don't know who that was.

 

If you read the George Jones memoir that I linked to previously, you'll begin to see what I mean by "the usual suspects" - so that, it would seem, a number of the same people (over time) worked for Wheatstones, Joseph Scates, George Case, Jabez Austin/George Jones, and Keith Prowse in the mid-19th century - but you get variations in design and parts, and similarities too, between the instruments of all of them.

 

There are two surprising features shown in your photos of KP 1155 - one is the unusually high quality of the interior maple, which is of a figured *fiddle-back" grain that you wouldn't normally see used, the second is that it has round-ended reed frames, when in the early 1850s only Louis Lachenal made reeds with such frames and had the machinery to cut the slots for them (the slots for square-ended frames were cut by hand with a knife and chisel), but those don't look like Lachenal reeds, suggesting the instrument is of later date...

Edited by Stephen Chambers
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[quote name="Stephen Chambers" post="174124" timestamp="1448854085"

 

There are two surprising features shown in your photos of KP 1155 - one is the unusually high quality of the interior maple, which is of a figured *fiddle-back" grain that you wouldn't normally see used, the second is that it has round-ended reed frames, when in the early 1850s only Louis Lachenal made reeds with such frames and had the machinery to cut the slots for them (the slots for square-ended frames were cut by hand with a knife and chisel), but those don't look like Lachenal reeds, suggesting the instrument is of later date...

 

 

Thanks for this Stephen, but what is about these reeds in particular, makes you think that they don't look like Lachenal ones?

 

PS I don't seem to have got the hang of this 'quoting' stuff, I've noticed that other people's quotes come out in a 'lovely blue box'....

Edited by banjojohn
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The George Case in the Auction coming up is identical to my Keith prowse, that's a result, I think

 

FYI, The said George case sold last Firday for £240...

 

And it's now on ebay, with a bid start price of £495! Now wouldn't that be a tidy profit... If it sells???

Edited by banjojohn
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