Circa 1900 Oscar Schmidt guitar
Here is a c.1900 parlor guitar, probably an Oscar Schmidt. Hard to research stuff like this, as they were churned out by the thousands and little info is available on the lower end brands. Not that this is necessarily a cheap guitar, but it's no Martin.Except on the inside it's stamped "C.F. Martin & Co. New York" quite authentically!
But it's a forgery, you know it, and I know it.
The bridge on this guitar exploded, was glued, then exploded again a few years later. It was exploded when I got it. Rather than replace the bridge I repaired it, and time will tell if the repair holds. Here's a pic:
Here's some pics of the repair process. Understand, please, the bridge was a "goner" and I had nothing to lose. I routed out the broken section, and then routed a new saddle slot further back so a: the intonation would be better, and b: there would be a little more wood in front of the saddle, hopefully making it stronger. I then grafted a piece of rosewood into the bridge and planed, shaped, filed, and sanded it into submission.
And here's the finished product. It looks nice, but there's also enough super glue and rosewood dust in there to make a whole new guitar, so it's not a repair I'm particularly proud of, other than the fact that I was able to salvage most of the original bridge, and so far it's holding!
I also refretted it, as the old frets looked like railroad ties after an earthquake.... but I'm fussy like that.
