1920s Oscar Schmidt-made Stella Parlor Guitar




Another old Stella? Yup, and the same customer, too! Blues and ragtime, here we come!

While very much like this other Stella, this one differs in a few ways. The top is more lightly braced for starters and the neck is a lot thinner in depth. It's actually about the same size as a modern Martin or Gibson in depth... meaning it's pretty fast. The only issue on something like this guy is that it's unreinforced! This means that even after work this guitar, at max, can only be strung safely with a set of 46w-10 strings if tuning to standard pitch. This is what I've got on it and, even so, it has a good round sound to it. I think you can hear that in the clip!


Work included a neck reset, new bridge and saddle, fret level/dress, some brace reglues, and general setup. I'm not sure but this guitar may have a topcoat of finish added to it. If not, the finish is very, very clean. It's also all-original save the new saddle and bridge.


Original wood nut and nice-quality tuners...


...and the usual dyed-hardwood fretboard with celluloid dots.

This neck has a middle amount of relief/warp to it but that was removed for practical purposes in the fret level/dress work.


The sparkly decalcomania-style rosette is fantastic! It's a little scary to take a pic to it for fear of scratching it.


This is a new/repr rosewood pyramid bridge. This came with an original pyramid bridge, too, though it wasn't up to the job and had an uncompensated saddle slot.


This is all made from solid birch, though the darker brown stain gives it a fancier look.


The neck is bog-standard poplar.


This came with a botched old neck reset attempt that was loose. It's now both glued well and mechanically stable without glue so it shouldn't cause any more trouble.





No, it's not out of focus... it's just that the label itself is "out of focus" via possible water/moisture damage.

Comments

Helen Codron said…
That's pretty amazing sounding for a birch guitar!