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Hilo guitars
Posted: 13 Dec 2021 8:27 am
by Glenn Wilde
Anybody here own a Hilo Hawaiian guitar? I recently bought a thrashed model 625 for $300.00 as a rebuild project, it's gonna be a pretty intense job once i get into it, im still thinking of a game plan, either the top or back will need to come off. I figure that even if i can't get it cosmetically nice, i will have a playable beater out of the deal, its my first hollow neck.
I think i will try to do as much as i can before i take the back off so its only off for a short time, im for sure gonna steam out the warping at the sound hole and add a couple braces first, if i did that with the back off i'd never get it back together. The wood looks like very thin mahogany??
Posted: 13 Dec 2021 9:50 am
by Chris Clem
I once had a Hilo with a spruce top and Koa back and sides. Definitely worth restoring mine sounded great.
I have done these kinds of projects several times before.From what I can see you have some serious work to do on that top.Sure you can steam the top and fix the cracks somewhat.But you still need room to sand the repairs.It looks like the top is already to thin. I just don't see any way to save that top. If it was me I would remove the fingerboard pull the top off, and build a new top.A least you don't have any binding to deal with.
Both Hilos and Weissenborns had those very thin tops. They might sound great but from a luthier standpoint there is just nothing to work with.
Posted: 13 Dec 2021 9:55 am
by Ben Birdsall
I don't have a Hilo Hawaiian guitar, but I do have a Hilo tiple. I believe Hilo instruments were a variety of Oscar Schmidt and made in New York, but my tiple sounds great and I've really liked the two Hilo Weissenborn-style guitars I've heard. Good luck with your project!
Posted: 13 Dec 2021 11:20 am
by Glenn Wilde
Chris Clem wrote:I once had a Hilo with a spruce top and Koa back and sides. Definitely worth restoring mine sounded great.
I have done these kinds of projects several times before.From what I can see you have some serious work to do on that top.Sure you can steam the top and fix the cracks somewhat.But you still need room to sand the repairs.It looks like the top is already to thin. I just don't see any way to save that top. If it was me I would remove the fingerboard pull the top off, and build a new top.A least you don't have any binding to deal with.
Both Hilos and Weissenborns had those very thin tops. They might sound great but from a luthier standpoint there is just nothing to work with.
Thanks, yeah its pretty bad, I've already reconciled myself to the fact that it won't be a cosmetic restoration, i wont be sanding on that top. I hadn't thought about making a new top, i suppose that is an option but I'll try to fix this one first. The back and sides are in much better shape than the top. If this even dnds up playable i will be happy, i still plan to get a nice Koa someday.
Posted: 13 Dec 2021 11:40 am
by David Ball
I have one. It's in need of some minor restoration, so I can't say how it sounds. But it looks great hanging on my wall!
Dave
Posted: 13 Dec 2021 5:57 pm
by Glenn Wilde
Ben Birdsall wrote:I don't have a Hilo Hawaiian guitar, but I do have a Hilo tiple. I believe Hilo instruments were a variety of Oscar Schmidt and made in New York, but my tiple sounds great and I've really liked the two Hilo Weissenborn-style guitars I've heard. Good luck with your project!
cool, i keep hearing OS as a manufacturer too. I own several OS Stella mandolins and 3 or 4 guitars so i can compare, i see nothing concrete in the Hilo that i could say is 100% OS, I'm by no means an authority but there's things on all my OS instruments that is constant, none of which are present on the Hilo. I'd like to see your Tiple.
Posted: 14 Dec 2021 1:06 am
by Ben Elder
After years of haughty disdain and semi-notorious scorn, I softened a bit and found myself owning a 640 and 670, both intact, better sounding than I expected and priced right. I'm not a luthier, but if there's any doubt, I'd ask one. (Hire one?) I've reglued a few braces and a bridge over the years, but I regard removing a back as far beyond my fear threshold.
And Hilos were absolutely made by Oscar Schmidt.
Posted: 14 Dec 2021 3:59 am
by Glenn Wilde
Ben Elder wrote:After years of haughty disdain and semi-notorious scorn, I softened a bit and found myself owning a 640 and 670, both intact, better sounding than I expected and priced right. I'm not a luthier, but if there's any doubt, I'd ask one. (Hire one?) I've reglued a few braces and a bridge over the years, but I regard removing a back as far beyond my fear threshold.
And Hilos were absolutely made by Oscar Schmidt.[/quote)
Great, I've been reading all i can about them and watching demo videos, they do seem to sound nice. There does still seem to be some scepticism as to who actually made them though, even in the Chris Knutsen book they dont seem sure. If you have absolute knowledge that OS made these would you mind sharing? The main thing that has me questioning it is this, all the linings in my OS instruments are square on the top, not so on the Hilo.
You can see the linings here.
Thanks, Glenn
hilo guitars
Posted: 14 Dec 2021 8:18 am
by Kirk Francis
kerry char of char lutheries in portland, oregon rebuilt one i had. he's a true artist.
Posted: 14 Dec 2021 2:34 pm
by Ben Birdsall
Sure, here is my tiple and its label:
(The ball end sticking below the bridge is because I have it in Chicago tuning so the bass string is a bit larger than the bridge is reamed for.)
Here's a link
https://www.leavingthisworld.com/oscar- ... 97-c-1939/ about Oscar Schmidt that includes a brief discussion of its house brands. It appears that Hilo, United Artists Conservatory, and First Hawaiian Conservatory of Music were all OS house brands (along with the Stella, Sovereign, and La Scala ones we all know), while Oahu, Bruno, Galiano, Miami, Reliance, Bluebird, Collegiate, Avalon, Marcia, Lyra, Victoria and Jewel were all jobber brands that OS made sometimes but not all of the time. (I know my Oahu squareneck, for instance, is an old Kay Kraft-built box.) It references a Neil Harpe Stella book as its source of this info.
Posted: 15 Dec 2021 3:49 am
by Glenn Wilde
Ben Birdsall wrote:Sure, here is my tiple and its label:
(The ball end sticking below the bridge is because I have it in Chicago tuning so the bass string is a bit larger than the bridge is reamed for.)
Here's a link
https://www.leavingthisworld.com/oscar- ... 97-c-1939/ about Oscar Schmidt that includes a brief discussion of its house brands. It appears that Hilo, United Artists Conservatory, and First Hawaiian Conservatory of Music were all OS house brands (along with the Stella, Sovereign, and La Scala ones we all know), while Oahu, Bruno, Galiano, Miami, Reliance, Bluebird, Collegiate, Avalon, Marcia, Lyra, Victoria and Jewel were all jobber brands that OS made sometimes but not all of the time. (I know my Oahu squareneck, for instance, is an old Kay Kraft-built box.) It references a Neil Harpe Stella book as its source of this info.
Thanks, very nice Tiple! Neil Harpe is the acknowledged authority on all things OS so i can accept that. I also have some nice old Oahu guitars, neither one is OS built though, the 65k is Stromberg Voisinet/Kay and the 66k is either Regal (probable) or Harmony.