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sold / Oscar Schmidt Stella w pg c 1920
Oscar Schmidt Concert size Guitar c 1920  |  SOLD  |  (vbg#1832)  Another classic OS 'Stella', this one a bit more fancy with it's inlaid pick guard and fancy position markers.

The ladder-braced top is spruce with inlaid 'rope' binding, and bound in white celluloid.  The back and sides are slab-sawn birch and stained a deep mahogany.  The faux-tortoise pick guard in inlaid into the top, flush-mounted.  The neck is poplar and carved in a healthy 'V', typical of the era, and stained to match the body.  Fingerboard is maple, painted black, and sports fancy painted position markers to emulate pearl (unusual ornamentation for a Stella, but we've had a 'Gambler' with the same markings) .  'Stella' is embossed in gold on the head stock.  

The body measures 13 3/8".  Scale length is a hair under 25" (short scale).  The neck measures a shade over 1 3/4" at the nut, and string spacing is 2 1/4" across at the saddle.  

Prior repairs we see are a few small back cracks glued.  When we received the guitar, it had an unattractive replacement bridge (already oversized) so we replaced it with an appropriate looking ebony pyramid bridge, and compensated the saddle for accurate intonation.  It also had a strap button screwed into the heel, so we removed it and inlaid a plug to reform the heel shape.  We recently reset the neck, leveled and dressed the frets and cleaned and lubed the original tuners.  The nut is original, and five of the six bridge pins appear original.  The guitar shows overall wear, with some nicks and scratches, but is solid and a great example of a guitar that is getting harder and harder to find.

Action is set at 5 & 6/64" and it plays smoothly up and down the neck.  The sound is the classic Stella bark, full and rich with strong mid-range punch, nice sustain.  Great blues box!

Comes with a soft case.

Check out the sound clip.