Theodore Wolfram - Columbus, Ohio

About

Johann Theodore von Wolfram was born in October of 1844 in the village of Silberhausen in, present day, Germany. He immigrated to the United States in 1864 and the trail runs cold until the 1890s [3]. He died in February of 1921.

Theodore Wolfram Co.

1892 Advertisement from The Makio [9]

Theodore incorporated his own company in 1892 with a capital stock of $10,000 and set off as a music distributor [1][6]. He would sell sheet music, organs, and pianos but also branched into the manufacturing of the increasingly popular guitar [4]. 

1894 Advertisement from McClure's Magazine [10]

• 1892 - Located at 69 N High Street [9]
• 1897 - Located at 81-1/2 North 3rd Street (Between E Long and E Elm Streets) and employing 6 people in the construction of guitars and mandolins [6]
• 1899 - Same location and industry but with only 2 employees [8]
• 1900 - Wolfram's company celebrated the construction of their 10,000th instrument with a lunch. It was also noted that they had secured routes to trade their instruments into South America and Germany [7]
• 1907 - A notice in Piano Organ Musical Instrument Workers was posted for the 'appointment of a receiver' for the company after a petition filed by Lloyd B Gills alleged fraud [11]
• The factory was located at 178-180 North 3rd Street

1899 Advertisement
Image Source: Google Books

Patents

Patent 447432

His earliest guitar-related patent is for a guitar bridge that uses a tapered peg, not unlike a bridge pin, to ensure the bridge remains attached to the top of the instrument. He describes the ideal location as being behind the bridge pins, on the flat portion of the bridge, but also notes that it could be placed on the outer wings of the bridge.

Google Patents

Patent 497973

Theodore's most unique patent was for a fingerboard constructed entirely of metal with frets that had been stamped into the metal sheet rather than added as separate pieces. This metal sheet would then be wrapped around a radiused wooden board to form the fingerboard that would be glued onto an instrument. The patent describes the possible material choices as being 'aluminum, brass, steel, nickel, or german-silver' and mentions the preference toward aluminum for it's structural properties.

Google Patents

Wolfram's Triumph

The "Triumph" or "Wolfram's Triumph" was the designation given to their guitar line featuring Theodore's patented construction. They came in a variety of styles and without any existing catalogs or literature, it's hard to distinguish what all they offered. 

This is a relatively plain Triumph that has had it's fair share of repairs and changes over the years. On the top of the headstock, the number '732' is stamped into the wood. It has a set of non-original tuners from the 1960s but a new bone nut and I removed the fingerboard, flattened the neck, and reglued it. The fingerboard does say 'Pat Appl'd For' which might indicate it was manufactured prior to the patent being granted but it could've also been that the batch of metal fingerboards was produced at that time. Surprisingly, this neck looks like mahogany but it is actually walnut with a red-tinted shellac finish applied over it. It's a very good imitation.

The label is mostly intact and does indicate that the fingerboard is made of nickel-silver (the same composition used for fretwire which contains no silver but is made up of nickel, copper and zinc) rather than aluminum like is commonly thought. The back and sides are Brazilian Rosewood but the back is veneered on the inside with walnut for some reason. There is a crescent moon shaped stamp burned into the back just below the label.

The ornamentation is simple, there is no binding on the instrument and a single line of rope marquetry surrounds the soundhole. The bridge is, at least, the second replacement on the instrument and was made from Indian Rosewood to fit the shadow of the previous bridge. There was a hole under the bridge for Theodore's patented tapered pin but the pin is gone and, without a good reference, I decided to keep the bridge simple. The guitar is ladder braced.

[1] https://www.google.com/books/edition/Freunds_Musical_Weekly/Nd8zbGaA7qUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=theodore+wolfram+guitar+patent&pg=RA25-PA18&printsec=frontcover

[2] https://patents.google.com/patent/US474432A/en?oq=us474432

[3] https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/23607403/person/1435602505/facts?_phsrc=Mcx22&_phstart=successSource

[4] https://www.google.com/books/edition/Columbus_City_Directory/Wy07AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=theodore+wolfram+guitar&pg=PA900&printsec=frontcover

[5] https://www.google.com/books/edition/Executive_Documents/PfxBAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=theodore+wolfram+co+columbus&pg=RA1-PA921&printsec=frontcover

[6] https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report_of_the_Board_of_Education/UdZBAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=theodore+wolfram+co+columbus&pg=PA279&printsec=frontcover

[7] https://www.google.com/books/edition/Watson_s_Weekly_Art_Journal/pE_J4v4HSDEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=theodore+wolfram+co+columbus&pg=PA265&printsec=frontcover

[8] https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report_of_the_Department_of_Inspe/HndIAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=theodore%20wolfram

[9] https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Makio/nUxAAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

[10] https://www.google.com/books/edition/McClure_s_Magazine/1L39ALCIPBYC?hl=en&gbpv=0
[11] https://www.google.com/books/edition/Piano_Organ_Musical_Instrument_Workers_O/7hk1AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1