1920s Oscar Schmidt Stella X-Braced Conversion 0-Size Guitar

I dragged my heels on getting this guitar ready for a long while as its consignor/owner had lots of other, fancier guitars needing to get fixed-up first and this one looked like trouble as it arrived here with all of its bracing falling out of the guitar, lots of seams burst open, and needing various bits replaced.

As it was going to be a back-off job anyway, Ancel decided to have fun with it. To that end, it's been entirely gone-through and "rebuilt" like a hot-rod. The top got extremely-light, laminated fir/carbon fiber bracing in a simple x-pattern with tapered shapes. The back got thin-style, flattish bracing to help extend the bass response, it got new frets and conversion from a flat-radius fretboard to a curvy, 12" radius one, and the game plan was to wind-up with a guitar that makes the '30s Martin 0-17H (12 fret) that's in the shop give a mild gasp whenever it's strummed.

The bottom line is that it handles and sounds like a much fancier guitar than it is -- which it does while flying full colors. These Oscar Schmidt-made Stellas are not obscenely hard to come by but they're a bit hard to find. This one even has the fun decalcomania embellishments on its top, too.

Is the x-bracing better than the original ladder bracing? I think that's really the wrong question -- my point being that it has some of the character of the old bracing/guitar itself -- woody and snappy -- but its tonal palette is closer to a mahogany-topped Martin or x-braced, mahogany-top Gibson of the '30s with maybe more of a punchy, loud emphasis on the mids and lower mids than emphasis on a sweeter, velvety, Martin-style sound. It still sounds "country blues" in its way, but it can definitely hang in there with a flatpicking, old-time backup sort-of crowd.

Repairs included: a neck reset, board plane, board re-radius to 12" radius, refret, completely new bracing (x-pattern) for the top and new bracing (flat, thin) for the back, minor hairline crack repairs, replacement bridge, new bone nut and saddle, cleaning, setup, etc.

Weight: 3 lbs 4 oz

Scale length: 25"

Nut width: 1 7/8"

Neck shape: medium-full V

Board radius: 12"

Body width: 13 1/2"

Body depth: 3 5/8"

Top wood: solid birch

Back & sides wood: solid birch

Bracing type: simple x

Bridge: ebony

Fretboard: maple or similar

Neck wood: poplar

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 52w, 40w, 30w, 22w, 16, 12

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: jumbo/pyramid

Condition notes: there are two or three tight, repaired hairline cracks on the top and one on the back. There's finish disturbance around the bridge's foot from a previous bridge reglue job and, for that matter, there are numerous small scratches and wear marks throughout the whole finish. The top is not entirely flat in service. When this came in the top was in quite the S-curve but thew new bracing has made it much flatter and it's now perfectly stable. It did resume a bit of distortion between the wings of the x-bracing after repairs as it's settled-in over the last few weeks. One side of the tuners is an old parts-bin replacement (of a similar type) but the other side of the tuners is original. I replaced the buttons on all of them and lubed them. The bridge, bracing, frets, parts of the tuners, the saddle, nut, bridge pins, and endpin -- all of these are replacements.

It comes with: sorry, no case.

Consignor tag: A26