Early 1900's Stella made by Oscar Schmidt

And some pictures.

DAY 1 – Removed the strings and pins. 4 pins had to be pushed out from the inside (the heads are too big to fit the Dunlop string winder/pin puller) after removing all the strings from the tuners. The ebony pins are 3 or 4 degrees, they are bit distorted. The diameters (approx): (1) .225, (2) .230", (3) .255". 2.5 hours to remove the bridge!!!! Some digging in the top & bottom of the bridge, but not as bad as it could have been. It DID NOT want to come off!! I started with the light and moved to the hair dryer, which worked a bit better, heating the spatula when I left it in the joint. Accordioned my small spatula 3 times, it’s toast.

Prying out the saddle after heating it with the hair dryer.


Got it out in one piece!


Attempting to remove the bridge!!


Not a clean removal, but not as bad as I thought it could be.




Wrecked my small spatula.

DAY 3 – I unclamped the bridge area on the top and sanded it flat, it was pretty flat already.  I unclamped the bridge from the plywood and found it pretty flat too.

I removed the treble side tuner strip, verified the dims, and finalized the knob installation jig. I sanded a new knob to try to match the color & texture of the existing knobs. I clamped the tuner assembly in the vise and used the soldering iron to heat the shaft to install the new button. It doesn't get the shaft hot enough, I got it most of the way on, but the heat doesn’t get the end of the shaft hot enough to push it in the rest of the way. I used the vise (with the soldering iron) to press the knob on the rest of the way. I’m glad I didn’t make the fixture, it wouldn’t have worked! I cleaned and sanded the 2 old knobs. The new knob is a little darker, but close enough. It’s not worth removing the 5 other knobs and struggle to install new ones. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

With difficulty, I installed the high E tuner button (the one to the right).



With that part successful, I removed the 13th fret, it seemed to be only stuck for about 1/2" at each end, badly pulling chips even though I heated the fret and was very careful to hold the chips down. Then I tried to loosen the fretboard. It started out OK, but it sheared on a shallow angle at the 14th & 15th frets, more or less it came apart. The fretboard needs to be replaced, the wood is too brittle, as others have said.  I might as well replace the bridge too. I put the guitar back in the case and put it away. I have other guitars to work on. I’ll find a replacement fretboard that has the right scale, 24.9” which should be common.

Removed the 13th fret, although not cleanly.


And disaster struck while trying to loosen the fretboard.  These old fretboards are known to be brittle, as this one is no exception.


After thinking about it for a couple of days, now I'm planning on cutting the fretboard thru at the 13th fret, remove the neck with the heat sticks, glue the fretboard extension parts back to the top of the guitar, and continue with the neck reset.  The fretboard extension is part of what supports the neck, hopefully the area between the 12th & 13th frets is enough.  I'm hoping to avoid the major time and expense of replacing the fretboard.  That will make the guitar too expensive for the customer who wants it. If this plan fails the guitar will go back in the case until who knows when, I have (2) other customer guitars to work on and a few of my own to finish.

DAY 5 – Reglued the fretboard extension pieces to the top. Reglued the chips to the heel. Attempted to reglue the chips on the fretboard, did 2 but the rest fell apart while removing them from the tape.

Practicing clamping.  I need to hold the pieces down AND push the left against the still stuck pieces of the fretboard.






The cork pads putting pressure on the pieces of fretboard.


The pieces removed.




The glue.  Fish glue gives me plenty of open time for positioning and clamping the pieces.  And it's reversible.


Clamped up with good squeeze out.






Squeeze out cleaned up with a toothpick and wet q-tip.

DAY 7 – Finally getting back to this after over 2 months. The saddle slot is .069" wide X .08" deep. Pore filled the bridge with thin super glue, it darkened the wood nicely and it looks old. Applied regular super glue to the pin holes to build them up a little. Opened the saddle slot with a 3/32" endmill. The slot is .094" wide x .125"/.105” deep. Measuring the nut to the 12th fret and multiplying by 2, the scale length is 24.94". I put a couple of cheap bridge pins in the bridge holes and into the top for rough alignment. There's a little room to move them around. The distance from the nut to the center of the saddle at the high E is about 24.92", and the low E is about 24.86". The high E should be 24.94" + .07" (compensation) = 25.01", and low E 24.94" + .15" = 25.09". So the bridge is a little too close to the nut on the treble side, and a lot on the bass side. THE PLAN - Make a standard .093" saddle, but glue another piece of bone on the back side to move the compensation back as much as possible. Glue the bridge on pushed back as much as possible on the bass side, without it looking weird.

Located the slot with a .066" diameter drill bit, moving the table X & Y, and rotating the vise until the drill bit moves parallel to the and in the center of the slot.


The slot cut.

DAY 9 – Used a q-tip and denatured alcohol to rub off some of the darkening, and some of the shellac. Added more shellac.

DAY 11 – Used 0000 steel wool to dull the shiny shellac at the back of the bridge area of the top. Used some 80 grit emery paper on a 1" wide block to remove any shellac in the bridge area and level it. Made a 5 layer tape dam around the bridge area. The bridge is roughly located by (2) pins in the E holes, and the bridge pushed as far forward as possible. Practiced clamping, using (3) clamps and pieces of cork. Put a piece of masking tape on the bridge plate (to hopefully prevent glue from getting into the guitar), and punched the pins thru the E holes so the bridge can be located. Put a piece of newspaper inside the guitar, just in case. Applied fish glue to the top and the bridge, and clamped. After 10 minutes I stripped off the masking tape, taking 99% of the squeeze out with it. With better visibility after the tape is removed, I noticed a gap under the back of the bridge, so I added another clamp. Then I noticed a slight gap at the front, added another clamp. I used a toothpick to remove any additional squeeze out, and wiped the area with a wet paper towel to clean up any remaining glue.

The bridge in position after dulling the added shellac.




Sanded the top clean and flat.


Starting to make the tape dam.


The tape dam done.


Practicing clamping.






Glue on the top.


The bridge in place.


Clamps added.






Removed the tape and cleaning up the remaining squeeze out after adding a 4th clamp.


Added a 5th clamp.