In the mid 1960’s, a wholesale musical instrument distribution company existed known as Strum and Drum. They were based in Chicago, Illinois and imported guitars from all over the world and sometimes re-branded them for sale to United States music stores, or anyone who owned a business and wanted to sell guitars.
In the 1950's company called Don Noble and Co, was founded in the 1950’s by Don Noble, a well-known accordion player and entrepreneur. He began by importing Italian made musical instruments, mainly accordions, in an era when the "stomach Steinway" was very popular and accordions were being sold door-to-door, and accordion academies were common in most larger cities. But he also imported guitars under the Noble brand name.
Between Nobel, and Sackheim they imported quite a line-up that included Italiian guitars from EKO, Avanti, Wandre, and Goya. In 1969 Strum and Drum purchased the National Guitar brand name.
However from 1965 until 1969, you could find guitars with lots of pickups and switches under the brand name Norma, which was the feminized version of Mr. Sackheim’s name. He made certain the name adorned the headstocks of thousands of inexpensive guitars back In a time when everyone wanted to be the next big rock star.
The logo was a stylized music staff, with the name Norma entered with the "N" as artistically designed 8th note. On some "high-end" models, the fret maker inlays were done in the letter "N".
The manufacturing origin of these guitars is somewhat of a mystery, but for the most part they seem to have been manufactured at a plant called Tombo. We are for certain most of the fancier versions had their origin there.
The necks on these guitars were rather thick, possibly due to not have an adjustable truss rod. The single coil pickups are basic, and some guitars had as many as four pickups.
This guitar also came in a six string version with four pickups, lots of switches, and knobs. In doing some further research on Norma Guitars, I have learned that these guitars are prized by collectors, and are currently selling in the $800 to $1000 USD range.
Stella was the model name given to a series of guitars manufactured by The Oscar Schmidt Company of Jersey City, New Jersey. This company was established sometime between 1871, and incorporated in 1911.
The Oscar Schmidt Company not only made some nice guitars, but manufactured a variety of stringed musical instruments, such as lap harps, autoharps, chord zithers, and something called a ukelin (which is a bowed psaltery made in the shape of a violin).
While other instrument manufacturing companies would create instruments to be sold through department stores, or catalogs, usually under the store’s brand name, the Oscar Schmidt Company’s strategy was door-to-door marketing.
Each year the company would offer a special edition of an instrument, which was sometimes linked to a current newsworthy event, Salesmen kept detailed records of the customers buying habits, with the intent of reaching out to this customer in the future. Most of the instruments produced by the company were durable, easy to play, and to learn on for beginners.
During this era the only form of entertainment for families was outings, playing games such as cards, or playing music. Playing music in the family room/parlor, was how the term “parlor guitar” was coined.
The company created the Stella brand in 1899 as low cost and mid level guitars. At the time the company had two other brands; La Scala, and Sovereign, with Sovereign being their top-of-the-line. Stella guitars were made in various configurations, from parlor-sized, grand concert, even jumbo sized.
Most Stella guitars did not last throughout the years, as the interior finishing was rather crude, and quickly completed. The bridges were made of rosewood, and on some instruments the strings attached to a trapeze tailpiece.
With all that said, Stella guitars sounded great, and came with an affordable price; only $15 for a new guitar. This made the Stella an attractive guitar for Blues players of the day.
Leadbelly’s 12 string Stella (he called his guitar Stella, in the same way B.B. King called his guitar Lucille) provided a loud booming sound that could be heard In the Juke Joints or in the house parties during the days when amplification was not available, or deemed necessary. He tuned it down to B.
The Oscar Schmidt Company flourished for many years. At one point they even had five manufacturing facilities within the United States. Unfortunately the company did not last through the Great Depression of 1929. In 1930 the company’s assets were sold to the Harmony Company of Chicago, although Oscar Schmidt continued to manufacture and market autoharps.
Most guitar aficionados will be more familiar with the inexpensive Stella guitars manufactured by Harmony, than those made by Oscar Schmidt. Many of these were made by Harmony using solid birch wood for the bodies, that was painted to appear to have faux flame. The tops were usually had a two tone sunburst.
The necks were made of poplar. The headstocks proudly announced "Steel Reinforced Neck", although it was not adjustable. The position markers were painted on the fret boar. The machine heads were inexpensive, 3 on a plate, open gear style tuners.
In later years manufacturing of some Stella-type guitars were built in Japan. These were beginner or student grade budget guitars. A four string tenor model was also available. These guitars usually retailed for a mere $20.00 USD and were made by either Teisco, or Kawai in the mid-1960's. Essentially they were copying (although they refer to it as 'making a reproduction') of an already inexpensive USA made guitar. They were sold under the Winston brand name, and they were actually "badged" guitars, made for an import firm.
A few years ago, before his passing, luthier Bill Collings, of Collings guitars launched a new venture. He wanted to recreate guitars made in the 1920's, that had "that" sound you would find on a guitar much like an Oscar Schmidt made Stella guitar and other brands of the era. So he founded Waterloo guitars.
Waterloo instruments come in parlor to jumbo sized model guitars that feature ladder braced tops (with an X bracing custom option), necks with a V shape (this was an important feature on older guitars before truss rods were used), tops are spruce, backs, sides and necks are made of mahogany.
Instead of a $15 price for a new 1920 Oscar Schmidt Stella, with a $2.00 cardboard case, a Waterloo guitar with a custom hard-shell case will set you back around $2200.
Currently the Washburn Musical instruments owns the Oscar Schmidt brand name. The company was formerly owned by musical instrument/electronics distributor U.S. Music, but was recently sold to the Canadian firm J.A.M Industries, which also is the wholesale distributor of musical instruments that are made abroad, and electronic musical equipment.
In 1954 Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares collectively designed and built one the greatest electric guitar ever made; The Fender Stratocaster.
Leo Fender had designed and produced the Fender Telecaster four years earlier. This was a “Spanish guitar” adaptation of the lap steel guitars that he and Doc Kauffman had developed as early as 1944. The original Telecaster/Broadcaster had a similar 3 section adjustable bridge saddle which were similar to some of the units used on Fender/K&F lap steel guitars.
The Stratocaster was a whole different guitar than the Telecaster. Perhaps the biggest difference is the two offset horns. Besides just looking plain cool, those horns actually gave the guitar some balance, and provided a great position for the strap button, not to mention easy access to the upper register.
The earliest prototype I can find is from 1953. It looks like the 1954 model, but has a much smaller route in the back to hold 3 tremolo springs, and the inertia block.
The designers wanted to create a more versatile instrument that had a different sound than the Telecaster. Instead of two pickups, this guitar would have to have three. And those pickups need to be different than the Telecaster pickups. And the body needed to be different.
Note also the center routing. This would later be changed to a slightly narrower channel between the pickups for placement of the wiring.
The lower portion of the bout has a definitive bevel that makes for very comfortable arm placement. To do this in 1954, the wood was rift sawn. The blue lines in the photo indicate the saw markings.
The center of guitars upper backside has another deep, contoured bevel that keeps the guitar from digging in the players ribs. This was a major improvement over the slab-like body of the Fender Telecaster. Those curves are one of the aspects that makes this guitar incredibly unique.
It wasn’t too long before players discovered that by placing the three-way pickup selector switch between the neck and center pickup, the guitar would yield a much different sound. With two pickups engaged, there is a slight decline in volume, but the tone is very sweet, and since the pickups are each wound in reverse from each other, this actually puts the guitar in a humbucking mode, and reduces the 60 cycle hum that is generated by just a single pickup.
The other trick that players discovered was to place the selector switch between the middle, and bridge pickups. This gave the Stratocaster a distinctive “quack” sound. Mark Knopfler, and Rory Gallagher are famous for this tone.
Because the first Stratocasters came with the 3-way switch, some guitarist would jam a piece of a matchstick in the selector to prevent the switch from springing back to the single coil mode. It would not be until 1977 when Fender adopted the 5-way switch as standard equipment.
The plastic switch tip on the '54 model was slightly longer than on models from 1956 and later.
Expediency in manufacturing was a key feature of the Fender pickguard, pickups, and electronics. The first pick guards were made of a single piece of .060" thick ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) vinyl. Some sources say this was made of Bakelite.
The 1954 pickguard, pickup covers, switch tips, and knobs have a tendency to crack over time. The knobs on the 1954 model were slightly shorter.
The body was already routed. Workers just needed to screw the pickguard in place, and thread the wires to the input and ground for final assembly. This was accomplished with eight wood screws.
Another feature that set the Stratocaster apart was its floating tremolo.
Mr. Fender put a lot of effort and money into the Stratocaster vibrato system. Don Randall, who was head of Fender sales, insisted that the new Fender guitar be equipped with a vibrato.
He insisted that this feature was necessary to compete with guitars being manufactured by other companies.
The initial tremolo system used a stationary bridge with individual rollers for each string that went to a separate tailpiece. Bill Carson and Leo thought this sounded fine, but George Fullerton disagreed.
He even took the prototype and played it with his band. He said it sounded like an amplified banjo, and lacked sustain. So it was back to the drawing board.
The new tremolo unit was actually based on a gram scale that Leo had in his office. The entire bridge assembly moved. much like the plate on the scale. The strings were fed through a solid steel inertia block that attached to the bottom of the bridge plate. This steel block aided with the sustain. And each string had individual adjustable saddles, that could be moved up and down, back and forth to give them the correct height and intonation.
The bridge unit attached at the front of the body with six screws that were countersunk on each side, thus giving it a knife-like edge, allowing the bridge to rock up and down. The rear of the bridge was not anchored to further allow the up and down movement.
The guitars back side was routed out to contain the vibrato springs, and attachment. Another area was routed straight through the guitars body to make room for the inertia block.
This gap was wide enough to allow the block to move forward and backward. A rectangular piece of ABS was screwed onto the back to cover the assembly. This was held in place by six wood screws. Six holes that were placed directly under the inertia block acted as slots to thread the strings into the guitar.
Back in 1954 standard electric guitar strings were much heavier than today’s strings. To offset this, the first Stratocasters came with five springs in the rear cavity. Even with that and the bridge plate screws secured firmly in the body, the tremolo plate raised off of the guitars body, so the player could easily move the strings up and down.
Because of today’s lighter strings, a player would have to slightly loose the bridge screws to accomplish this up and down movement. It helps that modern Strats only come with only three springs. Many players even loosen the claw that holds the springs to ease the tension.
Then there are those players that do not use the tremolo at all; sometimes placing a piece of wood between the trem-block and the end of the cavity to prevent movement.
That guitar had a stationary bridge, anchored by six screws, with the strings fed through the body attached to grommets in the back, just like on a Telecaster. Only a handful of these guitars were sold.
Leo Fender used to give guitars to well known players that came by the Fullerton shop, to try out, and give him feedback on what they did or didn’t like. He did this with the Stratocaster. Many of those players were from Country Western bands in the California area. One result of these encounters was the recessed input jack on the guitars face.
The Stratocaster was the only guitar to be equipped with this feature. Although it was later copied by other manufacturers. The recessed input was meant for the cables with straight plugs.
The neck on the 1954 Fender Stratocaster was made of maple. The original radius was 7.25”, which was the same as the Telecaster of that era. However the Stratocaster neck had more of a V shape, compared to the C shape found on a 1950 Fender telecaster. The original necks came with 21 frets that were embedded into the top surface of the neck. One drawback that I encountered as a young guitarist was the fact that capos did not seem to work well on Stratocasters of that era. The neck on the '54 Strat has sort of a clubby feel. By 1956 the neck was reshaped and more comfortable.
The Fender six-on-a-side headstock was probably copied from Paul Bigsby's design. Bigsby and Fender knew each other. The Telecaster prototype had a three-on-a-side headstock design, while the production model did not.
In fact the Stratocaster headstock looked much more like Bigsby's design. Leo's design for the neck and headstock was based on ease of manufacturing. Keep it simple. The headstocks for the necks were cut using a template for the shape. Then another cut on the band saw removed the upper half of the wood on the headstock. A bevel was then created starting at the bridge saddle area.
Pickups were usually wound by women that worked in the hat Fender factory. In the early days, a lady named Pilar Lopez, wound many of the pickups. She trained the most famous pickup winder that Fender ever had; Abigail Ybarra.
Stratocasters, or any Fender guitar with Ybarra pickups are special. Other workers that installed the electronics signed their name or initials to indicate their job was done. Commonly on these older Fender Stratocasters you will find the name Mary (Mary Lemus) or Gloria (Gloria Fuentes).
The earliest Fender Stratocasters from 1954 were usual produced in two colour sunburst. Guitarist Eldon Shamblin, who played with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, was presented with a 1954 Stratocaster that was painted gold.
1954 Stratocaster bodies were made of lightweight ash wood. In 1956 Fender switched to alder wood, though any Stratocaster made from 1956 onward, that were finished in a natural finish or a light colour were probably made of ash.
Leo was all about promoting his instruments and frequently gave professional players instruments to use in shows, so the public would know that guy is playing a Fender. Such was the case with a couple of players back in 1954.
Dick Dale approached Leo Fender, and in a bold move said, “I’m Dick Dale, I’m a surfer and a guitar player, and I need a decent instrument.” Leo handed him a 1954 Stratocaster and asked him to play something. Mr. Fender had a laugh when Dale flipped it over and played the guitar. Dick was left-handed, but learned to play guitars strung for right handed players.
However the Stratocaster that Dick Dale is most associated with, is nicknamed, The Beast. It was not created until 1960, and was a gift from Leo Fender.
Dale removed the tone potentiometers from his guitars, and put metal caps in their place. He left the 250 ohm volume potentiometer and the 3-way pickup selector switch. Dale also has a mini-toggle switch that turns the middle pickup on.
The other player associated with the 1954 Stratocaster was Country and Western Swing music guitarist, Eldon Shamblin.
Shamblin is best known for his work with Bob Wills and the Texas playboys. He is a self taught guitarist that learned by studying the style of Eddie Lang, and Freddie Green. When he joined The Texas Playboys, he was replacing Junior Barnard, and was told by Wills to imitate his style, by playing louder, and imitating Barnard’s string bending style. Shamblin also was able to arrange written music for the band.
Leo gave Eldon Shamblin one of the first Fender Stratocasters It is dated 05/04/1954. It is unique because it was the only guitar that year to have a gold finish. Shamblin also used a 1953 Fender Bandmaster with a single 15” speaker when playing with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.
Throughout the years the Fender Stratocaster has undergone many changes, however the original 1954 model is the archetype model that many other electric guitars are based on, including those designed by many other companies. When the Fender Stratocaster was finally offered for sale, the retail price was $249.99 for the tremolo model, and $229.99 for the hard-tail version.
