Category: Other Vintage Guitars

Other Vintage Guitars Post Index

Posted on by Charles Robinson

SOME VINTAGE GUITAR Makers & PROCESSES

SOME INTERESTING VINTAGE GUITARS

Some Interesting VINTAGE Guitars and their Makers

I got into vintage guitars not so many years ago because I liked the blues sound of the old Oscar Schmidt Stella guitars. I ended up with about 30 vintage guitars from all different makers, plus others I bought and sold on.  I’ll feature some of these guitars and others I’ve come across.  It’s usually the case that the history of their makers is just as interesting as the guitars.

Some of the guitars that will be featured in individual posts in this section:

Vintage Parlor Guitars
(Click for larger image)

Namaste

FIRST HAWAIIAN CONSERVATORY of MUSIC – an Oscar Schmidt label , 1919-1935

Posted on by Charles Robinson
Blind Willie Johnson reputedly played a FHCM guitar

The First Hawaiian Conservatory of Music (FHCM), is well documented as a mail order marketing tool for the Oscar Schmidt Company.  They were sold for lap-style (i.e. Hawaiian-style) playing.  However played as a steel string flat-top they have a woody and punchy sound which is  well suited for blues playing. The gospel blues player Blind Willie Johnson, amongst others,  is reputed to have played one.

Jake Wildwood describes the sound: They’re braced a little differently from the average Schmidt and, as a result, have a sound that flits between “normal” ladder-braced voicing and something like a Gibson-ish x-braced voice. They’re woody, loud, and direct like your average Schmidt parlor but have more of a kick in the bass and lower-mids and with a slightly-scooped treble rather than the focus being all mids. This makes them vastly more suitable for genres outside of fingerpicked country-blues and the like.

 

Examples of 2 First Hawaiian Conservatory of Music guitars – an all birch model on the left and an all koa Hilo model on the right with rope binding on the front & back.

Continue reading “FIRST HAWAIIAN CONSERVATORY of MUSIC – an Oscar Schmidt label , 1919-1935” →

FIRST HAWAIIAN CONSERVATORY of MUSIC 1930’s Birch Guitar

Posted on by Charles Robinson

These birch FHCM guitars must have been produced in their thousands from around the early 1920’s to 1935.

They are a ladder braced ‘O’ sized guitar (13 1/2″ wide) and originally were given away with a mail order course of how to play slide guitar ‘Hawaiian’ style. However it was realized by many of the early blues masters such as Blind Willie Johnson that birch guitars, with their raw sound, were great for playing the blues.  At the time these guitars could probably have been picked up quite cheaply from some of the many students of FHCM who gave up playing and never finished the course!

OSCAR SCHMIDT made First Hawaiian Conservatory of Music birch guitar – Photo: The Guitar Repairers, Brisbane, Australia.

These days they command good prices because of their reputation of sounding like those early blues recordings.  Red was a popular color but there was a variety of stains from almost black, to red, to orange to natural wood.

Continue reading “FIRST HAWAIIAN CONSERVATORY of MUSIC 1930’s Birch Guitar” →

c.1929 HARMONY ‘Supertone’ Bradley Kincaid Houn’ Dog Guitar

Posted on by Charles Robinson

This is another guitar I’ve been wanting to do a post on for quite sometime.

c.1929 SUPERTONE Bradley Kincaid Houn’ Dog Guitar decal.

If you are an up and coming luthier and looking for a small guitar to test your restoration skills, you’d be hard pressed to find a better guitar to start with.

c.1929 ‘Supertone’ Bradley Kincaid Houn’ Dog Guitar

This guitar is the holder of a couple of ‘firsts’.  From the beginning of 1930 to the early 1940’s, Western themed decorated guitars, along with Hawaiian themed guitars, were hugely popular, dominating much of the budget guitar market.  This is recognized as the first ‘Cowboy Guitar’. This guitar is also recognized as one of, if not the first, ‘endorsement’ guitars.

Continue reading “c.1929 HARMONY ‘Supertone’ Bradley Kincaid Houn’ Dog Guitar” →

c.1940 KAY SMALL GUITAR with floral decoration

Posted on by Charles Robinson

Sometimes you just luck out!

I bought this small guitar quite a few years ago now, and it had been sitting ever since in an old guitar case.  I bought it because it cost very little and I do like small guitars. It is made by the Kay Musical Instrument Company in Chicago. It had 2 horizontal braces on the top between the bridge and the base of the guitar (end pin end). A tell-tale trait of Kay’s, as is the style of bridge.
Continue reading “c.1940 KAY SMALL GUITAR with floral decoration” →

Vintage BAY STATE style 207 guitar – late 1890’s

Posted on by Charles Robinson

A hundred and twenty-year-old guitar that is an impressive survivor of an era before electricity.

The vintage Bay State guitars were made from about 1887 to 1904 by the John C. Haynes Company in Boston.  If you want to know more about the history of Bay State Guitars and the different models and dating of the serial numbers, check out the links to the two pages I have made in conjunction with luthier Sylvan Wells, who owns the Bay State Guitar name:

HISTORY: The John C. Haynes Company and vintage Bay State guitars,

MODELS & DATING: Vintage Bay State guitars.

I also urge you to register your Bay State Guitar by emailing me the instrument details to the address on that page.

c.1897 BAY STATE Concert size guitar Style 207

I have to thank Elaine and Larry for selling me this guitar and having faith that I would restore it and do it justice.  It has been a long road in getting it restored, more than 6 years in fact!  But I eventually got there.
Continue reading “Vintage BAY STATE style 207 guitar – late 1890’s” →

HOW TO MAKE PYRAMID GUITAR BRIDGES- Part 1.

Posted on by Charles Robinson

Making bridges for vintage guitars using minimal tools
– a layman’s approach (Part 1).

I’ve approached this subject in 4 separate posts.  It’s necessary to read this Introduction post, Part 1, first or the other posts (Parts 2, 3 and 4) may not make much sense. 

Part 1. Introduction, tools and a jig.
Part 2. 20th Century pyramid style bridge.
Part 3. Truncated pyramid style (or Chicago) bridge.
Part 4. 19th Century pyramid style bridge.

 

Part 1.  Introduction.

While I am merely a hobbyist when it comes to working with wood, it is something I have done my whole life. I don’t have a lot of specialized tools, but I do like precision, so I try to work out methods of doing things that work for me.

Cutting the ‘valleys’ accurately into the guitar bridge blank goes a long way in determining how well a finished bridge will look.  I’ve made probably 30-40 guitar bridges, and when I first started I was not comfortable using a drill or a small sanding drum to make these valleys. I didn’t give me enough control.

So, I made a simple jig to sand the valleys by hand, as will be explained a bit further on in this Post. I’m sure there are many other ways to make these pyramid bridges, so take from these posts what you will.  I hope someone finds it useful.

There are many styles of pyramid bridges, and it makes sense to individually craft them for a particular guitar.

Top: 20th Century Pyramid bridge Middle: Truncated Pyramid (Chicago) bridge Bottom: 19th Century Pyramid bridge

In the next 3  Posts (Parts 2, 3 and 4) I’ll demonstrate how I make each of these different pyramid bridges.

But first, some general information about the tools needed and a simple homemade jig I made and use:
Continue reading “HOW TO MAKE PYRAMID GUITAR BRIDGES- Part 1.” →

HOW TO MAKE PYRAMID GUITAR BRIDGES- Part 2.

Posted on by Charles Robinson

Making bridges for vintage guitars using minimal tools
– a layman’s approach (Part 2).

I’ve approached this subject in 4 separate posts.  It’s necessary to read the Introduction Post, Part 1, first or the other posts (Parts 2, 3 and 4) may not make much sense.

Part 1. Introduction, tools and a jig.
Part 2. 20th Century pyramid style bridge.
Part 3. Truncated pyramid style (or Chicago) bridge.
Part 4. 19th Century pyramid style bridge.

 

Part 2.  20th Century Pyramid Style Bridge.

20th Century pyramid bridge. Original pyramid bridge on a 1920’s Oscar Schmidt all Koa Guitar.

I believe this style came into use about 1910 but I am open for correction.  I really like this style of pyramid bridge. It was used by many manufacturers including Oscar Schmidt.  By the 1930’s most manufacturers had phased out using this style (most likely to save on costs) replacing it with a simpler made bridge.

I’m starting with this style pyramid bridge because it’s probably what most people think of as a pyramid bridge.
Continue reading “HOW TO MAKE PYRAMID GUITAR BRIDGES- Part 2.” →

HOW TO MAKE PYRAMID GUITAR BRIDGES- Part 3.

Posted on by Charles Robinson

Making bridges for vintage guitars using minimal tools
– a layman’s approach (Part 3).

I’ve approached this subject in 4 separate posts.  It’s necessary to first read the Introduction post, Part 1, or the other posts (Parts 2, 3 and 4) may not make much sense.

Part 1. Introduction, tools and a jig.
Part 2. 20th Century pyramid style bridge.
Part 3. Truncated pyramid style (or Chicago) bridge.
Part 4. 19th Century pyramid style bridge.

 

Part 3.  Truncated Pyramid Style (or Chicago) Bridge.

Truncated pyramid bridge (Replacement ) on a c.1900 Weymann guitar.

Truncated just means ‘shortened’- by cutting off the top of the pyramid in this case. It’s also called a ‘Chicago’ style bridge because it is the bridge Lyon & Healy (one of the first guitar manufacturers based in Chicago in about 1880’s) first put on their early Washburn guitars.  Used by many manufacturers including Martin, Weymann, Regal, and Harmony up until about 1930.
Continue reading “HOW TO MAKE PYRAMID GUITAR BRIDGES- Part 3.” →

HOW TO MAKE PYRAMID GUITAR BRIDGES- Part 4.

Posted on by Charles Robinson

Making bridges for vintage guitars using minimal tools
– a layman’s approach (Part 4).

I’ve approached this subject in 4 separate posts.  It’s necessary to first read the Introduction post, Part 1, or the other posts (Parts 2, 3 and 4) may not make much sense.

Part 1. Introduction, tools and a jig.
Part 2. 20th Century pyramid style bridge.
Part 3. Truncated pyramid style (or Chicago) bridge.
Part 4. 19th Century pyramid style bridge.

Part 4.  19th Century Pyramid Style Bridge.

19th Century pyramid bridge. Original pyramid bridge on a c.1890’s Bay State guitar.

A  pyramid bridge from the 19th Century is characterized by the elongated pyramids on the ends.  Used on 1800’s Martin and Bay State guitars plus others.

Keep in mind that pyramid bridges can look very different from maker to maker.  You can also buy a ready-made pyramid bridge online from Stewmac.com and others, but I like to tailor-make them.  There are other sites online showing how they make a pyramid bridge, but once I’ve made the jig to cut the valleys, the bridge is relatively easy and quick to make, and the results are accurate. Because they are all hand made with minimal electric tools, it gives me more control and I have very few rejects.

This 19th Century style pyramid bridge I am making here will be a stylized version of the 19th century pyramid bridge for a beautiful c.1890’s Bay State Grand Concert guitar I have.

Continue reading “HOW TO MAKE PYRAMID GUITAR BRIDGES- Part 4.” →