~1928 Oscar Schmidt First Hawaiian Conservatory Orange 'burst

Oscar Schmidt First Hawaiian Conservatory of Music c 1928 | $1250 | (v2513) The Schmidt-made FHC acoustics have always been player favorites. We're not sure if it's the Blind Willy Johnson connection, the bold orange-red color, or the effects of the word Hawaii in its name evoking images of slack key guitar and luaus by the beach. Regardless, we've never been disappointed in these birch-bodied ladder-braced blues guitars. As we reported in a number of previous listings for this model, the First Hawaiian Conservatory of Music was a mail order study course with a mailing address in the Woolworth Building on Broadway, NYC. The Schmidt-owned business advertised heavily in periodicals of the day such as Popular Mechanics, with the hook "Free genuine Hawaiian Guitar". A student enrolled for a years worth of lessons for $30, and at the end of the term they could keep the guitar. The campaigne must have been successful because a good number of FHC guitars have surfaced over the years, and are quite popular for their 'country blues' tone.

Back, sides and top are slab-sawn solid birch, with the top ladder braced. The neck is poplar, carved in the typical 'V'-shape of the era. The fingerboard and bridge are painted maple. The original bridge pins are maple with pearl dots. The head stock sports the small FHC decal, and the gold foil FHC label is visible inside the sound hole.

The lower bout measures 13 3/8" across, with a scale length of 24 3/4". The neck measures 1 7/8" across at the nut, with string spacing 2 3/16" at the saddle. Action is set at 6 & 7/64".

There are no evident prior repairs. We recently: reset the neck; glued four back braces; leveled and dressed the frets; cleaned and lubed the tuners; crafted a new bone nut and saddle. The guitar still sparkles after almost one hundred years, and is one of the cleaner examples we've had. There are no evident cracks, with only minimal nicks and dings from age and use.

This is a great playing and looking example of a popular blues guitar. The boxy, woody ladder-braced tone can take you right back to the age of 78 rpm records!

Comes with a period appropriate Geib soft case.

Check out the sound clip!