c.1920 Oscar Schmidt 6-String Banjo-Guitar

Talk about rare finds! These old 1920s guitar-banjo hybrids are pretty hard to locate. This one was more than likely built by Oscar Schmidt (judging by neck built, pot build, and hardware) around c.1915-1920 or so. It's a maple-rimmed (with half-spunover tonering top), maple-necked (three piece w/rosewood center), 12 5/8" head, monster. Scale length is 25" and the neck width and cut is pretty modern. Feels fast and great. Fretboard is rosewood and so is the headstock veneer. MOP dots inlaid.

All hardware is original save one shoe, the screws used to attach the tuner plates, and my new rosewood bridge. And the sound? Enormous. If you thought a tenor banjo was the perfect backing to old jazz... think again. Big old flatpicked chords can be your guitar, snare drum, and banjo at the same time, depending on how you play them... and fingerpicked this is a sweetheart, with oodles of warm loud tone. And, of course, it's perfect for "the blues."

My work included a lot of cleaning, patching a tiny hole on the head (so to save it), cutting a new rosewood bridge, teardown-and-put-back-together, shimming of the neck, and general setup. And also a fret dress.

Original bone nut. Nice Brazilian rosewood headstock veneer.

Rosewood fretboard w/MOP dots. Width at nut is slightly under 1 11/16 which makes it pretty fast and "modern" feeling. Original nickel-silver frets have been dressed.

New rosewood bridge. Original tailpiece. I do NOT suggest using typical "banjo" bridges on these 6-strings. A more massive rosewood or ebony bridge is what brings out warmth, tone, and tuning stability on these monsters. The usual thin banjo bridge does NOT like the tension these guys have.

Also I always suggest using electric guitar strings -- with a plain G, and roundwound pure nickel is best -- instead of acoustic strings. You want them in the 48w-50w/10-11 sizes. If you get heavier strings you'll tend to have an uglier, less "banjo" tone. Not to mention, a wound G just doesn't sound "banjo" at all.

Here's that tiny patch... these hold great. It's got a backing patch of vintage skin and I simply super glue it to the underside. I've never had one fail so far... but this kind of patch is not really for anything larger than 1/4" hole (this one is under 1/8" in diameter).

Here you can see the half-missing heel cap. I might just make a new heel cap for it, but with the wear and tear on the rest of the instrument, it sort of "feels right." Besides, you never see it.

Good 3-piece neck -- maple/rosewood/maple -- very strong and perfectly straight. Tuners have bakelite knobs and are in great shape.

The dowel hole had been moved up a couple times previously.

Used new screws for the tuner plates, but they look period. The originals were rusted out.

This rim hardware, and especially the double-lined inlay on the rim exterior, is very, very common on Oscar Schmidt-made banjos of various types, c.1920 or so.

Another snapshot of the bridge and tailpiece.