1920s Mendel Oscar Schmidt-Made 6-String Tenor Ukulele Conversion

Overview: This originally came into the shop as a mini Hawaiian guitar made by Oscar Schmidt in New Jersey and sold by whoever "Mendel" was. It's was very short scale and tuned to open G tuning but raised to D pitch. I sold it and traded it that way twice before it came back in trade again.

This time around I repaired some hairline cracks that had been caused by dryness, modified the bridge, fretted it up to the 12th fret, and strung it up like a 6-string tenor ukulele (in Kamaka fashion from the '70s-on-up -- tuned g cC e aA with a high octave on the C course and low octave on the A course but otherwise normal re-entrant uke tuning. It's a bizarre stringing and tuning as the lowest note is the low A on the "treble" side of the neck, but it makes a beautiful-sounding strummer and fingerpicker for chord-centric playing. It gives a charango-like feel while also fattening-up the overall sound. I've been entranced with this sound ever since playing an old '70s Kamaka in this format some years ago.

Anyhow, this experiment turned-out great! Since putting this uke out in the store it's caught a lot of attention from folks and I hear it getting picked-up and strummed with curiosity all the time. The instrument itself sounds excellent and the top seems to be a lot more relaxed and stable with the reduced tension, too.

Repairs included: This received hairline crack repairs to the top and back, bridge modification (filled pinholes, mild recut, through-bridge stringing holes drilled), a board plane and new frets installed (in the same positions as marked by the old "learner's label" that used to be fit to the fretboard for slide work), original nut modified, cleaning, and setup work. It's playing bang-on and ready to go.

• Weight: 1 lb 8 oz
• Scale length: 17 5/8"
• Nut width: 1 7/16"
• Neck shape: medium D
• Board radius: flat
• Depth at first fret: 0.8"
• Depth at seventh fret: 1.1"
• Body width: 9 1/8"
• Body depth: 2 5/8"
• Top wood: solid mahogany
• Back & sides wood: solid mahogany
• Bracing type: ladder
• Bridge: poplar (stained)
• Fretboard: mahogany
• Neck wood: mahogany
• Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: mix of nylgut gauges for 6-string tenor
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: wider/medium-taller

Condition notes: It's been modified, of course. The new bridge work is not the prettiest -- I used string-through seating for the strings -- you push the string in the holes in the top, pull them out the soundhole to knot, and then snug them up -- the "saddle" is actually just an angled front edge of the bridge which is a technique used on some old Hawaiian ukes from the time. The location of the old pinholes meant making the conversion look nice would have required replacing the bridge and I am much more of a pragmatist about stuff like that so I just darkened it up to cover the old hole fills. What else? There are various repaired hairline cracks on both the top and back. The finsh has light scratches and scuffs here and there throughout as well. 

It comes with: It has a gigbag.

Consignor tag: JW