Schmidt Ukelin
- Description (Brief)
This ukelin was made by Made by Oscar Schmidt International, Inc. in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1963. The ukelin, serial #6319, has a rectangular oblong body, table 3/16" birch plywood with ornamented sound holes, back 3/16" birch plywood, maple sides sawn to shape, table painted black with deep red shading, back and sides painted black. There are 2 identical printed inside the ukelin:
Manufactured
BY THE
Oscar Schmidt
International Inc.
87 FERRY STREET
Jersey City, N.JThis ukelin features U.S. Patent #1579780 dated April 6, 1926, by Paul F. Richter, assignor to the Phonoharp Company, for a stringed musical instrument.
Ukelins from Oscar Schmidt International were marketed by door-to-door commission salesmen from 1926 until production was terminated in 1964. This instrument, in an excellent state of preservation, is accompanied with a bow and playing instruction booklet.
Glen Peterson, the last President of Oscar Schmidt, wrote to the Smithsonian in the 1980s: "Ukelins, to the best of my knowledge, were for years made from any kind of excess scrap, drop-offs, or whatever could be found around the basic process of making zithers and/or Autoharps. When I came on the scene (1963) the tops and bottoms were made from waste 1/4" Minnesota basswood veneer that had been found unfit for Autoharps. The frames were of rock maple - always top quality." He further explains the advertisement of incorporating Philippine mahogany in making ukelins was inaccurate information.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- date made
- 1963
- Credit Line
- Gift of Oscar Schmidt International Inc.
- Physical Description
- birch (overall material)
- maple (overall material)
- metal (overall material)
- Object Name
- ukelin
