~1920 Oscar Schmidt Stella Natural

Oscar Schmidt 'Stella' Concert-size c 1920 | $725 | (vbg #2007) Another intriguing example of the iconic 'Stella' acoustic guitar. This is an early example, 1920, probably earlier (earliest yellow label, thin braces), and has some nice appointments not always seen in these little blues boxes.

The top is spruce, and the sound hole and edge are bound with 'rope' binding. While the top is bound in white celluloid, it's lacking around the sound hole, where one would typically expect to see it, too. It appears to have never been bound, since there is no routed 'shelf' evident on which the binding edge rested. The back and sides appear to be poplar (we've seen a few of these lately) even though birch is typical. The poplar body makes for a really light weight guitar, and provides a tonal difference for sure. The body is painted in a faux rosewood scheme. The back is also bound in white celluloid, and inlaid with an attractive marquetry strip, not too often seen. The neck is likely poplar and finished in an attractive honey/mahogany tone. The fingerboard is black-painted maple with four pearl position dots. The tuners appear original. Bridge pins are replacement.

The body measures 13 7/16" across the lower bout. The scale length is a hair under 25". The neck measures 1 3/4" across at the nut, and string spacing is 2 5/16" across at the saddle. The neck is carved in more of a 'soft' V, and comfortable in the hand.

The guitar came to us in almost 'throw away' condition, just as we like them! Many loose braces causing warpage along the lower back, cracks, finish loss, high action...so we removed the back and glued and flattened all that was askew. This was originally a tail piece guitar, but we had a beautiful vintage pyramid bridge waiting for the right guitar, so we installed it on this guitar. The neck was reset, and the frets leveled and dressed. A top crack was glued; a side crack was glued; several long back cracks were glued and cleated and a small piece inlaid at the bottom of the back where a piece had broken off and was missing. The finish is quite dry, and worn, stained or lost in various spots. The guitar is now solid and ready for another ninety years of service!

As we find more and more of the poplar-bodied Stellas we're discovering they have their own unique tonal qualities. First, they are as light as a feather! With the light weight body, they seem to be a bit more responsive to the touch, and have a bit more warmth to the tone and sustain longer than their birch-bodied cousins. But they still have the ladder-braced 'bark' sought by many blues players and finger pickers!

Check out the sound clip!