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A 97-year-old flattop with beautiful inlays, built by the Larson brothers in the late 1920s.

Photo by George Aslaender

Built in the 1920s by the storied luthiers, this guitar has maintained an exceptional tone over the years.

From around 1900 up until World War II, Swedish immigrant brothers Carl and August Larson’s two-man, Chicago-based workshop turned out an amazing assortment of handmade instruments. Their products ranged from ukuleles to harp guitars, standard guitars, mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos, and even a mandobass. I found this 97-year-old Larson brothers flattop at the 1994 New York Guitar Show, when interest in the brothers’ work was on the rise but the actual instruments were hard to find, with even many experienced dealers knowing little about them.

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