1920s Oscar Schmidt 4-String Banjo-Mandolin

Overview: This was made by Oscar Schmidt (of famed Stella guitar fame) but is unbranded and so was likely sold by a retailer or catalog merchant. Schmidts of this style level and sold by the company themselves usually bore the Sovereign brand which is what they used on their nicer-grade instruments. It's original throughout save for its bridge and the modifications I made to turn it into a 4-string (rather than 8-string) instrument. I like 4-string banjo-mandolins (the 4-string variety is also known as a banjolin or melody banjo in period catalogs) because they're easier to keep in tune, have a more-different voice from a normal mandolin, and give the player a "mini-tenor-banjo" vibe which suits chop-chord and chord-melody approaches. 

Tone: It's warm and sweet due to the old skin head but has good pop and projection.

Feel: It's got a pretty typical mandolin-style neck for the time -- slim to medium in depth and with a soft V profile -- it's quick.

Interesting features: The headstock (with its rosewood veneer) has a nice shape and both it and the fretboard are bound which give an upscale look. There's nice inlay in the fretboard, too. The coolest bit about this instrument is the reverse of the rim, however, where every surface has been cladded in nickel-silvered brass. It's very unusual to find this on period banjos but looks super cool. The rim itself has an "integral hoop tonering" because of the design and thus it sounds an awful lot like a Little Wonder tonering. 

Repairs included: It's had a fret level/dress job (done by Jose ages ago), cleaning, tuner and nut conversion, teardown/buildup, and setup work done. It's playing spot-on and ready to serve.

• Weight: 3 lbs 15 oz
• Scale length: 13 3/4"
• Nut width: 1 1/8"
• Neck shape: slim-medium soft V
• Board radius: flat
• Head diameter: 10"
• Depth overall at rim: 2 1/2"
• Rim wood: unknown
• Tonering: effectively a "Little Wonder" style
• Bridge: maple, vintage
• Fretboard: ebonized maple
• Neck wood: mahogany
• Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 32w, 20w, 13, 9 
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: small/low

Condition notes: It's all-original throughout save for the bridge (which is vintage, anyway), the side dots we added, and my modification of the tuners and addition of pearl dots at the headstock. It's pretty clean overall but there's light oxidation on the hardware here and there and, of course, small marks from handling and whatnot.

It comes with: It has an old hard case but said case is in rough shape.

Consignor tag: CMT?