1920s Oscar Schmidt Chitarra Battente Italian Guitar

Update 2024: This was recently back in for minor repairs but it was surprising how well it has held-up for the last 13 years. It just had a little dryness damage (a loose brace and some hairline cracks/seams popped in the back) but the setup was almost the same as when it left here back in 2011. I've updated the post with brand-new pictures and a video and have updated the description where necessary. Now back to my original-ish words...

Rare bird alert! I've only seen (personally) one other example of this instrument. Update: now I've seen another.

This is what's called a chitarra battente ("beating guitar") and it's a folk guitar from southern Italy. Typically these are pounded on behind singers and strung in a re-entrant higher register tuning of ADGBE... which is guitar standard tuning minus the low E. I believe all plain strings are typically used, yielding a lower B or G course than the D&A courses -- however -- I've strung it as a 12 string guitar minus the low E, with octaves on the first 3 courses.

This makes it conveniently useful for folks walking into the shop to try it out and also means I can retune it to GDGBD which is an old blues open G tuning that Mr. Keith Richards has borrowed for the length of his career. It's also the same as 5-string banjo tuning (essentially) and as Mr. Richards would tell you, kicks butt.

The story on this particular guitar is that it was made in Jersey City, NJ in the Oscar Schmidt factory around 1920 or so. There were tons of Italian immigrants working at OS so it's not that far-fetched that they'd make a guitar like this. It's built in the traditional style with a ribbed, bent-arched back (sort of like some Mexican folk instruments, some flat-back lutes, and many Renaissance guitar-like instruments) and a mandolin-style, canted flat top -- with a bend right behind the bridge which adds tremendous strength.

Like most OS products from the time, the build is lightweight but also very sturdy and workmanly. It produces a beautiful, woody, mellow tone with a good amount of volume. The top is solid spruce and the back, sides, and neck look like dark-stained solid birch to me, with strips of rosewood or ebony between the back ribs. The fretboard is thin and rosewood and bears nickel-silver frets.It has its original rosewood nut as well.

There are only 10 frets on this instrument and the fretboard is flush with the top.

My work on this instrument included gluing up most of the back/side seams as well as recutting the side/back overlap to fit flush and masking that alteration, a neck reset, fret level/dress, replacement bridge (original was too low after the reset), cleaning, and setup.

It's a darn cool-looking instrument. It's a shame the center rose is missing, though! Update: since seeing more of these, I've learned that most did not have the paper rose.

The two smaller soundhole roses are still intact -- after re-gluing them -- and these are made out of paper and recessed in lute fashion. The rosettes around them are decals in true Oscar Schmidt tradition!

It has a new, rosewood, mando-style bridge. There's a fun decal below the cant, too.

Also, see how pretty that arched ribbed back is? I love it. It also makes this instrument unusually deep in its mid-section, but it's still quite comfortable to hold.

It has original tuners which are all lubed and ready to go.

The neck join is good and sturdy.

Also regarding the neck -- it's a nice D-shaped neck with a sort-of gentle wideness at the nut. The neck is actually quite a bit more comfortable (though deeper as you go up the neck) to my hands than more modern Martin 12 strings. It just fits nicely under the fingers.

It has a simple mando-style tailpiece.

Sound on this is full, lush, and warm -- very sweet and inspiring for instrumental pieces. I'm very curious to hear what it'd sound like in traditional stringing with all plain strings -- probably super jangly. If one searches "chitarra battente" on YouTube you can pull up some good videos of a more traditional stringing.