80+ year old Stella (not Harmony) acoustic for $75

Here is one example of the sort of earth-shakingly awesome deals one can find on Craigslist if you dig and are patient. This seller was offering a "Stella" Standard size slothead acoustic guitar for $75. This is not a Harmony Stella but an original Oscar Schmidt made Stella from before Harmony bought the name. This is a Pre-WWII American-made guitar. Amazing.

BTW - this listing was from about a month ago - I don't know how I missed it at the time - but the guitar is probably long gone by now.

Here's what one collector had to say about the New Jersey Made Stella's on an online guitar forum:

To clarify "Stella" instruments:
There are two, entirely seperate "Stella" guitars. Those made before 1939, in Jersey City by the Oscar Schmidt Company. Those made after 1939, in Chicago, by the Harmony Company (who acquired the "Stella" brand name after the former went "belly-up" as far as fretted instruments are concerned).

The "Stella" guitars made by Harmony do not have anything in common with the earlier instruments, other than the name "Stella". These Harmony instruments are the things we, who learned to play back in the 50s and 60s learned to hate, because they sounded as bad as they played!

It is commonly (and wrongly) thought that the old (Schmidt) Stellas were poorly made and, for this reason, few of them survive today. Actually, although lightly made (like Gibson and Martin guitars of the same period), they were well built and a great many have survived.

The old bluesmen (and women) often chose to play Stellas, which were relatively inexpensive and, because of their light construction, they sounded good. Record Company talent scout H.C.Speir said that Charley Patton preferred Stellas even to Gibsons because he said they were so loud.


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Antique Lap Steel Guitar - $75 (Miss)

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Date: 2011-02-17, 8:45AM MST
Reply to: sale-f6n4d-2219311359@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

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Stella Lap steel guitar with case. I think this guitar is close to 100 years old and still works well. I never use it so it`s time to let it go.


•Location: Miss
•it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests