With a production date of 1920 or earlier this all koa wood guitar would have been one of the early all koa guitars made on the mainland of the US. It was made by The Samuel C. Osborn Manufacturing Company.
There has been conjecture that Osborn guitars were jobbed out to other companies such as The Oscar Schmidt Company or Harmony, however this guitar has very distinctive look, unlike these and other makers at the time.
The shape of the soundboard and the soundhole placement are distinctive. This guitar has beautifully grained koa wood and rope binding on the front and back edge and on the soundhole rosette. It is concert sized but sadly I sold this guitar before I managed to take measurements.
When I bought this guitar there was quite a bit of work needed to get it into great playing condition. The work was carried out by The guitar Repairers, Brisbane. (see Links). Firstly the bridge that was on it was not original so I made a replacement pyramid bridge from koa. Also some of the rope binding was damaged and missing so I had some made by Gurian Instruments in Seattle. The tuners where not original and did not work very well so they were also replaced. Also new frets were added to a new ebony fret board.
I have a Sammo genuine KOA WOOD Uke made by Samuel C. Osborn MFG CO. Masonic Temple Chicago, IL. Trying to determine it’s date and value. If you can help me, I’d appreciate it. Thanks
Hi Paris, If you send me some photos I may be able to help you out in dating the instruments and I know a uke specialist who may help on the valuation. Please send photos to charles@koolaru.com Regards, Charles.