Stellas made back in the 20s & 30s by the Oscar Schmidt company were certainly cheap, but they were serviceable, decent-sounding instruments- I have a 6-string OS Stella Concert, & it has the definitive early blues sound, especially for slide ( Stefan Grossman always opted to play his Stella 6 or 12 rather than his Martin for slide ); circa 1940, the name was acquired by Harmony, & the quality began to decline, although the 12-strings were always solid woods, & ok-sounding, though not too slick to play.