c.1925 Oscar Schmidt "La Scala" Tenor Guitar

Originally this was more or less identical to this (click here) tenor I recently finished up, but a badly-warped (not neck, but just the board) fretboard and cruddy neck pocket meant it turned out looking a bit different, since after the neck reset the original rosewood bridge was too low so it necessitated a new one and I had to swap out the fretboard anyway.

The end result, new rosewood board, bridge, and all, is an upscale-looking variant with a more modern feel. The bridge and saddle are taller for a more modern break angle over the top and the fretboard sports a zero-fret for ideal intonation and even tone across the board.

The body is all-solid birch while the neck is poplar. The bridge and board are new rosewood ones. Check out that sweet pearloid pickguard! I had to move it slightly "north" to account for the new bridge shape, though.

I used mini gold pearl dots in the face.

These pins with their pearl dots came with the guitar, but are recent. Note that the bridge is a cut-down 6-strin bridge, so I filled the 1st and 6th holes with bigger gold pearl dots. The saddle is a good, tall, bone one. Action is a hair over 1/16" on the bass side at the 12th fret for super-slick playability. Strings are currently setup for DGBE or "Chicago" tuning, which is a bonus for the blues or old-timey player that will likely pick this up.

Top edge and soundhole are bound in white celluloid and the "rosette" is a fun multicolored decal.

This sure has the looks! Scale is 21" long.

"La Scala" headstock badge with fun shield-shaped headstock. I managed to re-use the original celluloid nut, too. Tuners are original Grover Champion friction pegs.

Heel cap is also that same "mother of toilet seat" celluloid material. Note the bolt-through-neck attachment. I may end up countersinking this and putting a gold pearl dot over it, or installing a strap button, but it's not very obvious when you first pick it up. The dovetail joint on this was pretty wonky, so with shims and this bolt-through and reglue job it's perfectly stable and good to go, but this is my insurance on such an (originally) ill-fit joint. 

Original end-pin. The finish is all original, as well, and in good shape.

Good chipboard case, too!