I just found a battered old "Sisme Model A" guitar in a pawn shop. It is very small bodied, has no pickguard and no struts on the back. On the other hand it has the fingerboard dimensions of a steel string guitar. It has a moveable bridge and a trapezoidal tailpiece like old Gibsons, etc.

I got it because (ha! who can resist a bargain) it emphasizes the middle tones and gives a sound more like the old blues recordings.

I would be interested in anything you can tell me about the instrument--historical and practical.

BTW, I know about rec.music.makers.acoustic and I posted the same question to them.

Murray