“Right on Beale Street there, I bought my Stella. Paid $11 for it. It was hangin’ in a window. Played it ’til it wore out.”
Joe Callicott was talking to blues historian Gayle Dean Wardlow about the instrument he used at the Memphis sessions of 1929 and ’30, where Callicott and his partner, Garfield Akers, made their brief but beautiful contribution to the history of recorded blues. Cheap guitars came up again in Wardlow’s conversations with H.C. Speir, the Jackson, Mississippi, music store owner who scouted a roster of early blues recording talent that included Tommy Johnson, Charley Patton, Skip James, and Son House. When asked what they played, Speir also mentioned the Stella brand—specifically a model he sold for $9.95—as the instrument of choice “across the board.”
The sound of bluesmen on a budget remains an aesthetic legacy to the present day. Stellas from the 1920s now have four-figure price tags, and players shop for guitars, both vintage and new, that deliver a stiff, crunchy low end, strong midrange, and sustained highs—the tone associated with roots pioneers who, ironically, might have played Martins if they could have afforded them. “Good for blues”—like the currently common “parlor, ” “Piedmont, ” or “lap-style”—is a fabulously non-descriptive term when applied to a guitar. That said, here are a few notes that may be useful whether you’re looking for a MYSLAD (Makes You Sound Like a Dead Guy) instrument or not.
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In the early 20th century, as steel strings came into common use and manufacturers began mass-producing inexpensive guitars, it became important to design durable products that could be made cheaply. As the name implies, ladder-braced instruments forgo the more complex X and fan patterns used on the soundboards of costlier steel-strings. In their place are heavy transverse struts—usually four—above and below the soundhole and on either side of an enlarged bridge patch.
Although roughly finished inside, some early examples are fancy on the outside, heavily appointed with bindings, decals, and stamped-out inlay work. But Plain Jane is generally the rule. Some of these guitars are petite, barely larger than a baritone uke; others, like the fabled long-scale Stella 12-strings, are massive. Many, like the Kalamazoo brand made by Gibson, were crafted to resemble their pricier counterparts.
The sound of such guitars is generally less complex than that of the X-braced equivalent, but ladder-braced examples tend to be loud for their size, and their mid-to-high register is bright with a long decay rate—good for blues. A combination of hide glue, hard use, and history makes older guitars of this type—Washburn, Regal, Stella, etc.—in original playing condition a rare find. Their increasing value, however, has made some well worth restoring. Additionally, the designs have been adapted and improved by builders like Todd Cambio, with his Stella-inspired Fraulini models, and high-end manufacturers such as Collings, whose Waterloo line includes a variety of ladder-braced guitars.
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Four decades after that 1929 Memphis session, Joe Callicott clearly remembered the lexicon of now-legendary artists who were at the studio in the Peabody Hotel that day. Among these were Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe, ready to score a major hit with their “Bumble Bee Blues.” Notable in Callicott’s recall were their instruments: A gleaming pair of brand-new National Style 1 tricone resonators—the first guitars of this type that anybody around Memphis had ever seen or heard.
At the time, National guitars had been available for barely a year. The sound of the resonator, now so widely linked to early blues, was absent from the original recordings of blues guitar pioneers such as Blind Blake, Lemon Jefferson, and Lonnie Johnson, who recorded well before that. Even when popular players like Memphis Minnie, Tampa Red, and Bo Carter began using Nationals, their high prices put them out of the range of guitarists more accustomed to $11 Stellas. In 1935, a Style 1 was priced at $125 (about $2, 300 in today’s money), more expensive even than a Martin D-28 ($100, or around $1, 850 now).
These days, National Reso-Phonic and several other custom builders offer a variety of resonator guitars. Regardless of body style or whether they’re made from metal or wood, resonators feature superior volume and projection, thanks to spun aluminum cone(s) mounted inside the body and connected to the bridge. This aspect of construction has remained unchanged since the 1920s. Another characteristic that has remained unchanged is price. Quality resonator guitars, new or vintage, are not cheap, and buyers should be aware of budget lookalikes—especially those that profess to be “just as good as.” They’re not worth having, as their lesser sound, volume, and resale value will attest.
Silvertone Vintage 1969 Arch Top Acoustic Jazz Blues Guitar Body Bolt On Neck
So what to do if you, like Callicott, don’t have a lot of money to spend but would like a nice- looking, good-sounding, playable guitar? Keeping in mind that the new $11 may be closer to $400 or $500, a look around the local music store will turn up some new items that fill the roots/blues requirements. These include instruments like Seagull’s Entourage and Taylor’s BBT (Big Baby Taylor).
In the “previously owned” category, a number of budget guitars made in the ’50s and ’60s, notably by Harmony, are still around in one piece. Affectionately known by people with lots of cases in the closet as “beaters” or “fishing guitars, ” these stamped-and-stenciled assembly line products, often ladder-braced and made with laminated construction, will play in tune and deliver a lot of twang when properly set up. They look kind of cool, and if nobody’s busted ’em up by now, it probably ain’t gonna happen. (By the way, Harmony acquired the Stella brand in 1939 and used that logo for decades on some of their cheaper guitars. Just so you know.)
“When properly set up” is an important phrase to remember when trying out what may be your next guitar. A plywood beater in good repair with properly adjusted intonation and string height will play better and more in-tune (and deliver more sound) than a pricier piece that’s out of whack. Buy your guitar from someone who is ready to talk about its condition and ready to demonstrate its playabilty.
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Once you have a guitar you like, treat it that way! It’s commonly supposed that a dirty, poorly maintained instrument is somehow bluesier or more authentic than one that is kept clean, freshly strung, and carefully stored. That’s an incorrect assumption with no basis in musical reality. Finally, remember that the “new cheap” may be not so. Finding the guitar you need can be kind of like seeing a rattlesnake or a bald eagle—you just know that’s what it is. When that happens, remember another thing that people with lots of cases in the closet like to say: “Just get the instrument in your possession.”
The late, great Steve James was a noted roots musician and raconteur. He is the author of several well-regarded books on blues guitar.Imagine Blind Willie Johnson evangelizing on a dusty street corner in the east-central Texas of the 1930s, a small-bodied blues box in his arms. He could have been playing Big Hollow’s Plainsman Double-0, if the guitar had existed back then. That’s how much the Plainsman looks like the kind of instrument bluesman were drawn to back in the old days: nice narrow waist, slotted headstock, and a deep, dark, sunburst finish.
The difference: This new guitar has perfect intonation and a voice that’s warmer and richer than those of the vintage instruments that inspired the Plainsman Double 0. It strikes just the right balance between the historic and the modern in an awesome little package that’s damn near impossible to put down once you fingerpick a few chords on it.
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Big Hollow Guitars is the brainchild of Bevan Frost, a luthier in his mid-30s who doesn’t build a ton of instruments in his Frisco, Colorado workshop—only about eight guitars a year—but focuses instead on stellar craftsmanship. Frost’s guitars tend to have small bodies inspired by the old school, with features such as hide-glue construction and pyramid bridges.
The review model of the Plainsman pairs a concert-size 12-fret 00 body with a long-scale neck, 25.4 inches. Aficionados of vintage instruments will appreciate that the guitar, like most Big Hollows, has an advanced X-braced soundboard of Adirondack spruce. It’s the wood—known for its lightness and sonic power—that was used in the construction of most prewar Martins and Gibsons, but which is now much rarer, mainly because supply is limited.
I remove the Plainsman Double 0 from its Hiscox molded case and I’m struck by its lightness—about four pounds—and luxuriousness. The carefully applied oil-varnish finish looks and feels elegant. Frost initially used the oil-varnish finish for health reasons, as it’s much less toxic to work with than nitrocellulose lacquer, but he’s come to favor its cosmetic attributes—it is softer and more durable than nitro—as well as its musical benefits. He says it tames the harsh trebles of new guitars.
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Frost builds all of his guitars with the fingerstylist in mind, and the Plainsman is a winner for playing country blues, ragtime, and chord-melody-style jazz, whether in standard or alternate tunings. The guitar’s overall voice is great.
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