Looking at the 1889 Bruno catalog on Vintaxe, I couldn't see any headstocks that had those kind of tuners - they kinda stick out. They are a bit more complex than other tuners, probably cost a little bit more.
Since the patent on the tuners is 1874, and they were possibly eliminated from production to keep costs down, my best guess is that the guitar dates from some period between 1875 and 1888. Of course they could have been added later but that doesn't seem likely, the screw heads aren't marred at all and by all appearances these tuners look as thought they were original equipment. It suggests also this is an American-made guitar, although I guess its possible it was imported and the American-patented tuners added later, but that seems unlikely. So far my best guess is that its American made, sometime between 1875 and 1888. 1875 because the patent is dated september of that year, and 1888 b/c the 1889 catalog was probably put together in 1888.Statistics: Posted by chriswhewell — Sun May 29, 2011 9:20 am
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