~1920 Oscar Schmidt Hawaiian Guitar Koa

Oscar Schmidt Hawaiian Guitar c 1920 | $1850 | V2317)The Oscar Schmidt Company produced guitars by the thousands, and consequently, there is a wide range of examples seen in the vintage market today. Less frequently seen are Schmidt's efforts to gain traction during the Hawaiian music craze that blew through the first quarter of the 20th century.

Among the Schmidt offerings were guitars like this one bearing the green "Hawaiian Guitar" label. From the small sample we've seen, these all appear to be pretty high quality guitars. The body is made from beautiful Hawaiian koa, with 'rope' binding around the top and sound hole, and again down the back center seam. The neck is mahogany with the heel capped in white celluloid, and is carved in more of a 'C'-shape than typical 'V', which we find in these Hawaiian examples. There is a Brazilian overlay on the head stock. The fingerboard appears to be ebonized maple, and the lap-style position markers remain in white. All this with a quaint label in the sound hole depicting a Hawaiian 'kaamaina' playing lap-style guitar under a palm on the beach. Can you say, "Aloha?"

Adding to the intrugue of this guitar is the fact that an early owner was a member of the Canadian Royal Air Force, and his name, rank, service number are all written inside the original case.

The body measures 12 1/2", indicating 'standard' size. The scale length measures 24 7/8". The nut measures 1 13/16", and string spacing at the saddle is 2 3/8". Body depth is 3 1/2" at the end pin. The tuners are original and still sparkle.

The guitar came to us with an old side crack repair and a broken bridge. There is also some grain split in the sides at the waist from the original bending operation. These do not go through and appear to have happened in the making, since the original finish covers. We recently reset the neck; carved a new 'mustache' bridge in ebony; glued and cleated a back crack; leveled and dressed the frets. Otherwise, the guitar is all original except for a missing end pin.

Action is set a 6/64". The guitar is very light weight and comfortable to play. The sound is between a spruce top example and an all birch example. It has a nice ladder-brace 'bark' but the koa gives more depth to the tone. A rare and original example from Schmidt's heyday.

Comes with what appears to be its original soft case in ok shape.