Up for sale, a 1920’s Oscar Schmidt Sovereign parlor guitar in excellent condition. Before Harmony acquired the Sovereign model name, it was first used by Oscar Schmidt, and this extremely rare solid mahogany parlor guitar has a sweet, warm, and very detailed sound with silk and steel strings. Sovereign was a label reserved for the 'quality' guitars produced by the Oscar Schmidt company in Jersey City. These guitars saw much less production compared to the 'catalog' Stellas, and featured the best woods, inlay and purfling. Professionally setup and recently serviced by our staff here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar, this Sovereign has a very pleasing and smooth voice, perfect for strumming or fingerpicking.

The neck has a prominent V profile as was the custom in the era, with enough roundness to play comfortably and chord easily. On the rosewood fretboard, the original slender bar frets are intact, and these frets have smooth crowns with no discernible wear (a benefit of the nylon or silk/steel strings used on the instrument over the past roughly 90+ years). The ebony nut measures 1 3/4” in width, and the face of the slotted headstock features a rosewood veneer with the “Sovereign” logo etched into the face. The original (likely Kluson) strip tuners are present as well and still turn smoothly with white lollipop buttons.The X braced solid mahogany body is in great shape, with solid braces and a previous neck reset that keeps the action playable up the neck. The ease with which one can fret the silk and steel strings makes a slightly higher action up the neck feasible, resulting in more low end content to the tone and more projection as well. The action currently sits at 1/8” at the 12th fret on both the treble and bass sides of the neck. The original carved pyramid bridge is intact, sitting flush with the top and sporting a new saddle that still has modest height left for future adjustment.As with virtually any guitar of this size and vintage, there are a few professionally repaired cracks worth mentioning, thankfully only on the back and sides, as the soundboard remains crack-free. The treble side of the body has one larger repaired crack running parallel with the grain, and a shorter crack that only runs along the lower bout. There are also various nicks, dings, and scuffs on the body as a whole consistent with the guitar’s vintage, but overall this is a very impressive sounding and cared for instrument which is ready to be played. This Oscar Schmidt has received the attention it deserves here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar to be a structurally sound and tonally resonant instrument for decades to come!