1930s Oscar Schmidt Rubber Bridge Electrified Parlor Guitar

Though unmarked, this is a dead-ringer for other mid-'30s Oscar Schmidt builds using the Santacilla brand... among others! The last one of this model I worked on was a decade ago in 2013. This time around I performed a sacrilegious act and converted it to one of these funky rubber-bridge electrified guitars that folks are going crazy for. My friend Reese had seen this (in its case, unfixed) when it had just arrived and was interested in one, so I put it in my subconscious.

Is it perhaps wrong to mod it in this way with such an individual guitar? Mh, I'm not sure -- these guitars don't sound amazing when they're made "as-normal" but they certainly make people a lot more exited to play and enjoy them in this format. I think it's a win. Why not recycle for the future? It can always be put back to function as a normal-bridged guitar, however, as the original pin bridge is sitting pretty under that hunk of rubber, ready for a saddle slot to be cut.

Anyhow -- work included a neck reset, fitting the (genuine Fender vintage-style) Strat pickup, adding a wiring harness, a fret level/dress, cleaning, and general setup. Oh -- plus the rubber bridge mod. The tailpiece is not original but it was so cool I had to use it. It also provides a nice ground for the strings and wiring.

The guitar itself is solid spruce over solid birch, with maple fretboard on a poplar neck, ladder-braced, and features the slightly-wide Oscar Schmidt nut width (this was intended to be a Hawaiian from the get-go, mind you -- it had a factory extender nut installed) and typical 25" scale length for the company. 

Of course, the main draw is the fact that the fretboard and headstock are completely covered in firestripe celluloid material. It looks wonderful and sickening all at the same time! I think you have to be a Coodercaster fan to get it. Let's also not forget to mention the gold-sparkle position dots...