BluesKing777 Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 I have been watching my Tom Feldmann "Charlie Patton' lessons from Stefan Grossman GW and the Stella copy by Hauver - 'the Charlie Patton" sounds great for the ladder-braced early blues. He uses the guitar on a number of his DVD lessons. It may not have the scars of Charlie Patton or Son House's original (Oscar Schmitt???) Stella, but for a new guitar, well, sensational. Sensational lessons too! I was originally hoping for something like this sound when I started getting into smaller guitars like the Gibson Blues King, then my LG0, LG1 ladder braced...no sustain required, and if you want to sound like a Gibson J200, this is definitely NOT your guitar. What do you think, sliders? http://www.hauverguitars.com/charleypatton.html BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenumber2 Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 I've had my eye on the Hauver "Blind Blake" model for some rag picking. I know Toby Walker has one. Very affordable as far as hand built custom guitars go. I imagine the Patton is a fine guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J200_2013 Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Very nice. Here's one of my favorites: Down the Dirt Road Blues, Charlie Patton. It's done by Paul Rishell as part of an instructional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob von d'lucci Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Mike makes a nice guitar and does fine repair work as well. If any of you are considering a ladder-braced 'old time' guitar, don't neglect to check Todd Cambio's Fraulini guitars. They are made by hand and have the sound of the old ones. I currently own 2 (an Angelina and a Fenezia) and had owned an Erma. GREAT guitars. Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 There are several guys out there making copies of 1920s and 1930s Oscar Schmidt-made instruments. I would love though to have one of Hauver's "Barbecue Bob" 12 strings. I have played Schmidt-made guitars for a whole lot of years and still own one. They do have some unique features such as an angled neck heel, square top kerfing and a domed back. Most have the position marker on the 10th rather than 9th fret which I gather was a throwback to banjos. But what really sets them apart is how lightly built they were. There are only three highly tapered top braces - one on either side of the soundhole and then one below the bridge. Not even popsicle braces around the soundhole. That is a long way to go without any top support. The sound - Schmdit instruments do not have what you would call a complex tone. They are immediate and raw with no overtones. The high end is punchier than the low end and they can pack more volume that you might expect. They definitely have a bright blues ragtime sound that is associated with the 1920s and 1930s. Certainly not everbody's cup of tea though. Here is my latest - a fairly rare Schmidt-made jumbo (15 1/4" lower bout) with 14 frets to the body and the position marker on the 9th fret. The Schmidt Company started making these in the early 1930s when they saw how popular 14 fret guitars were becoming. The finish and firestripe pickguard are very Gibson-esque. Story is Patton's last guitar was a fancy Schmidt jumbo he bought just before he died. It supposedly hung on the wall of a beauty shop in Jackson, MS where one of his kin worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenumber2 Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Zomby, that guitar is just too cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brewboy Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Very nice to see Tom Feldman mentioned here. Tom lives near me and we have shared a few gigs. Super nice guy and an amazing technician without losing the soul of this music. Owns some beautiful guitars to boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Mike makes a nice guitar and does fine repair work as well. If any of you are considering a ladder-braced 'old time' guitar, don't neglect to check Todd Cambio's Fraulini guitars. They are made by hand and have the sound of the old ones. I currently own 2 (an Angelina and a Fenezia) and had owned an Erma. GREAT guitars. Geoff Alvin Youngblood Hart plays a Fraulini 12 string and in my opinion there is just no higher recommendation than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Zomby, that guitar is just too cool. Even my wife said she really liked the looks of this one. A friend of mine brought this one back for me from the Dalls Guitar Show. This guy knows my tastes in guitars really well. He owns a small guitar show and every year he goes to try and unload some of the vintage gear he has gotten in. Every year he asks me if there is anything I want. And every year kinda as a joke I told him I would like a Kalamazoo KG-14, big box pre-War Regal 12 string, a Larson Bros. guitar, spruce top Schmidt-made conert, or a Schmidt jumbo. The guitar did not have to be in pristine condition - cracks or some top buckling were acceptable - but it had to be playable as it was and cost no more than $300. Every year he came back and I got a t-shirt. Until this year. This guitar had already been sold to the guy in the booth across from his where it was put up for sale again. My friend went over to look at it. He does not really know Scnmidt instruments but it just so happened that Fred Oster who does instrument appraisals on Antiques Roadshow happened by and told him it was a Schmidt and an incredibly great find. So he brought it back for me. Even came with a newer hardshell case. Neil Harpe was kind of enough to verify that the guitar was indeed a Schmidt. It does need work and I will haveit done but as I requested it is perfectly playable as it sits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanCarlosVejar Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Blues King , if you are interested Jack White has reissued the most important works of Patton , Mississippi Sheiks & Blind Willie Mctell : watch the video and see if you might be interested . Jack is a blues freak so I think it's great he did it . JC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Zomby, let me know if you find another like that one!!!....lol....Hauver also makes "X" braced guitars that aare supposed to be special...I've seen a few on Neil Sharpe's website....nothing like a small body blues box!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Zomby, let me know if you find another like that one!!!....lol....Hauver also makes "X" braced guitars that aare supposed to be special...I've seen a few on Neil Sharpe's website....nothing like a small body blues box!!! Will do. I have been chasing around what is supposed to be an fancier Schmidt Stella that is here in town some place. A friend of mine knows the guy who owns it but it is one of those he wants to sell and then he doesn't kinda things. Sometimes these things pan out and somethimes they don't. There is a Schmidt Sovereign jumbo on eBay. Spruce top, mahagony sides. This thing sold for about $45 in 1932 so was about as a top of the line Schmidt as you will find. Seller is asking $2K for it. Regal actually made a hybrid braced guitar - X brace with a parallel brace beneath it. I have played a few and they are nice. Definitely worth hunting down. I do know where you can get a mid-1930s Kay Kraft with the Zorzi adjustable neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorick Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Just a shout out for Feldman. He did a killer show last week on the blues stage at Merlefest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 A friend of mine had one of TF's Angelina 12-strings (BBQ Bob size) that I got to borrow for a week while we were working up a coffee house set. Lovely thing, it was. Never played either Feldman or a Hauver six but the video ex's Ive heard are as ZW describes: tight punchy and loud. A different beast from X-braced L00, which has more "response", if you will. Dont aspire to have one but sure do respect em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted May 6, 2013 Author Share Posted May 6, 2013 Some interesting replies, thanks. I think I like Paul Rishell's version of Dirt Road better than Charlie's - you can understand the lyrics! And thanks for the link to the new releases, JC - it is good that someone keeps them coming out. I was lucky to live near a 'import record shop' years ago - where I got all the original blues records if you put your name on a long list - it was a very limited audience for traditional blues then and we had never heard of ordering/buying from overseas like is common now. The other great thing about the Stefan Grossman DVDs is they have all the original recordings as a 'bonus' feature on the discs. Very important to listen to these over and over and over and over and ...get them in your head and learning the lessons are a little bit easier, maybe. As for the original guitar, here is Ari Eisenger from SGGW with an original Schmidt Stella that I have been watching for a number of years: BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12barrblues Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 The ladder braced Stella's you can buy from Neil Harpe is what Id suggest you do asap. He's informative, helpful, fairly priced..Ive acquired a beautiful 30's Regal Resonator for slide and a 20's Stella Angeles which sounds great! or if you're ready to spend more contact Mike and just order the Patton or Blake model...all your choices here are good ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 What is it with the old threads coming back from the dead lately. This is like the third one in a couple of days. Anyway, here is one of mine. It needed some work when I stumbled across it but that red spruce top makes a big difference in sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 What is it with the old threads coming back from the dead lately. This is like the third one in a couple of days. Anyway, here is one of mine. It needed some work when I stumbled across it but that red spruce top makes a big difference in sound. What a nice old thing ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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