KuruPrionz Posted April 24, 2022 Share Posted April 24, 2022 New Old Fixer Upper Guitar Day!!! There is a story behind this one. When I went to Jr. High back in the late 60's, there were these two lovely redheaded sisters who lived the next neighborhood over, a short walk. I went over there to visit and Mom (another lovely redhead and funny as Hell) owned a Harmony flat top guitar made of solid mahogany. I'd been playing for a couple of years and was pretty OK so they let me play it and they liked having me around to that extent. I was pretty awkward, not clever enough to get close with either of them although I wanted to and should have married one of them. So it goes, fast forward quite a few years and a friend had a similar guitar at his place. It had a neck like a banana with no adjustable truss rod but I was fully equipped to do most anything to a guitar and I wanted that one. It sounded good and it reminded me of good times. I got it for $20, took the fingerboard off, laid in a steel bar and glued it back together, straight. It played well and sounded good. I sold it up here a few years back and never missed it, until... Today I was in Value Village and leaning up against the wall in the back of the Jewelry/Collectables section was another one!!! They wanted $99.99 but I had a 20% off coupon for donating. Just like the other two, single piece front and back of Honduras Mahogany, sides were also H Mahogany. The necks were made of some other wood, poplar maybe. This one has a straight neck and an adjustable truss rod so probably mid to late 60's before Harmony went overseas. The fingerboard is a generous slab of Rosewood, it might be Brazilian, that was common on all guitars from the 60's - I have a Silvertone Danelectro with a Rosewood board and a Gibson Melody Maker from the early 60's with one, both cheap guitars back in the day. It can use a set up and a clean up. I might put better tuners on there, stock tuners are pretty cheap stuff and now they are "vintage parts" so I might get a few bucks for them (the buttons are in great shape and they are a complete, original set). Photos attached, take a look at that back! You can't get wood like that anymore and this was a cheap guitar - I remember them being about $50 in the early 70's. 2 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larryz Posted April 24, 2022 Share Posted April 24, 2022 Very cool story and a very cool find! Enjoy Kuru! I wonder if that pickguard is real tortoise shell? If so, don't tell us LoL! 😎👍 Quote Take care, Larryz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted April 24, 2022 Author Share Posted April 24, 2022 20 minutes ago, Larryz said: Very cool story and a very cool find! Enjoy Kuru! I wonder if that pickguard is real tortoise shell? If so, don't tell us LoL! 😎👍 Thanks Larryz! Pretty sure the pickguard is plastic, Harmony guitars were a couple steps below Gibson at least although the all-mahogany guitars compare pretty well with similar Gibsons if they are set up properly. My first truly playable guitar was a Harmony archtop, fat neck on that too. That's my conditioning and I gravitate towards it plus I have larger hands so it is easier to play. The other thing I know about these guitars is that sanding the fretboard with higher grade grits until it's smooth and shiny changes everything. They went to what looks like 120# and stopped. Got to 320# and the same wood starts looking expensive. I plan on refretting it with much taller frets to lower the action a bit. I'll to the rest of the lowering at the bridge/saddle. This one's a keeper, it gets a pickup, a dedicated strap, etc. Thinking about putting huge strings on it and tuning it down to B for a solo-act guitar. The guitar shows signs of being stored carefully and played gently. The top 4 strings (first is broken, I'm assuming) are all nylon, much lower stress on the neck and the bridge. Looks like a one owner guitar to me, played some but not rode hard and put up wet. I plan on keeping this one, I feel uncomfortable playing my Rainsong some of the places that I enjoy gigging. Leaving it on the stand on "stage" and taking a break feels risky. I can't replace this either but the cost is much lower. I wanted an inexpensive playable acoustic for a phase I am heading into. Looking to collaborate with a higher level of talent less often but with more meaning. Sometimes you look up and find yourself slogging it out in the trenches. 4 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted April 24, 2022 Share Posted April 24, 2022 1 hour ago, KuruPrionz said: The guitar shows signs of being stored carefully and played gently. The top 4 strings (first is broken, I'm assuming) are all nylon, much lower stress on the neck and the bridge. Looks like a one owner guitar to me, played some but not rode hard and put up wet. It was intended to be a steel-string, right? 'S just that someone put some nylon trebles on there? 1 Quote Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted April 24, 2022 Author Share Posted April 24, 2022 7 hours ago, Caevan O’Shite said: It was intended to be a steel-string, right? 'S just that someone put some nylon trebles on there? Yes, a steel string. Nylon strings are more "intonation friendly" and it doesn't sound bad with them. Lots of options, considering a heavy guage steel string set and tune it way down to C or B. 3 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larryz Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 Kuru, I think I would run a set of Nylon strings. D'Addario Pro Arte LP composites EJ46LP lightly polished silver plated clear nylon. The polished silver wound 4th 5th and 6th squeak less than other classical sets and are great for recording. The bridge looks like it was meant to tie on nylon strings. If the nut is cut wide for the 3r 2nd and 1st strings and they fit through the hole (28, 32 and 41 and/or 37 a choice in the composite set) in the tuning machines it leads me to believe it was meant for nylon strings. 4th is a 28, 5th is a 35 and 6th is a 45 so you know they will fit the tuning machines. That sound hole (Latin look) design is a beauty and it looks like it was meant for nylon strings...put in a pickup and a little verb and go solo! Now I've got to pull out one of my Nylon guitars LoL! 😎 3 Quote Take care, Larryz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted April 25, 2022 Author Share Posted April 25, 2022 30 minutes ago, Larryz said: Kuru, I think I would run a set of Nylon strings. D'Addario Pro Arte LP composites EJ46LP lightly polished silver plated clear nylon. The polished silver wound 4th 5th and 6th squeak less than other classical sets and are great for recording. The bridge looks like it was meant to tie on nylon strings. If the nut is cut wide for the 3r 2nd and 1st strings and they fit through the hole (28, 32 and 41 and/or 37 a choice in the composite set) in the tuning machines it leads me to believe it was meant for nylon strings. 4th is a 28, 5th is a 35 and 6th is a 45 so you know they will fit the tuning machines. That sound hole (Latin look) design is a beauty and it looks like it was meant for nylon strings...put in a pickup and a little verb and go solo! Now I've got to pull out one of my Nylon guitars LoL! 😎 Thanks Larryz, I like the idea of polished strings. I know this is a steel string guitar, 3rd one I've held in my hands. Harmony made classical style headstocks for nylon string guitars, I've seen 3 or 4 of those too. I'm still considering nylon or a heavy set of steel strings tuned down to C or B. That can really set your guitar sound apart from most players, fun! 3 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted April 25, 2022 Author Share Posted April 25, 2022 Oh, and that rosette? I need to look at it closely but I can tell for certain that it is either a decal or a stencil. Both the other Harmony guitars, same model - had a different circle around the soundhole and it was just a surface thing, not an inlay. As I mentioned they were more or less less than half a Gibson in terms of quality but probably 3/4 or more in terms of sound and playbility if set up properly. Gibson had pretty wood like that too, now nobody does. 1 2 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 5 hours ago, KuruPrionz said: Thanks Larryz, I like the idea of polished strings. I know this is a steel string guitar, 3rd one I've held in my hands. Harmony made classical style headstocks for nylon string guitars, I've seen 3 or 4 of those too. I'm still considering nylon or a heavy set of steel strings tuned down to C or B. That can really set your guitar sound apart from most players, fun! I bet that'd sound and feel really sweet with some 'hard tension' Classical strings on it... 3 Quote Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted April 25, 2022 Author Share Posted April 25, 2022 3 hours ago, Caevan O’Shite said: I bet that'd sound and feel really sweet with some 'hard tension' Classical strings on it... Yeah, on my other nylon string I use D'Addario Pro Arte Extra Hard Tension. Being mostly a steel string player I've gotten used to fingerpicking a little harder and I like the resistance from the stiffer strings. 3 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 31 minutes ago, KuruPrionz said: Yeah, on my other nylon string I use D'Addario Pro Arte Extra Hard Tension. Being mostly a steel string player I've gotten used to fingerpicking a little harder and I like the resistance from the stiffer strings. Yeah, you 'n me both! On steel-string acoustics and acoustic/electrics, either flat-tops or hollow-body arched-top Jazzboxes, I prefer 13's or 14's, Standard-Tuned/Concert Pitch A440... 2 Quote Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted April 25, 2022 Author Share Posted April 25, 2022 5 minutes ago, Caevan O’Shite said: Yeah, you 'n me both! On steel-string acoustics and acoustic/electrics, either flat-tops or hollow-body arched-top Jazzboxes, I prefer 13's or 14's, Standard-Tuned/Concert Pitch A440... I use 11-52 or even 10-47 on steel string but they are still stiffer than nylon strings. 3 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larryz Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 I'm graduating from 10-50's to 11-50's GHS Rollerwound pure nickel on my electrics. The 11-50's come with a wound 3rd (which I prefer) and I won't have to buy singles anymore to get the 10 on the 1st string. I'm liking the 11's. The Nylon EJ46LP strings I mentioned above are hard tension. The polished wound strings are not as bright when playing unplugged but I love less squeak and they sound great plugged in. 😎 2 Quote Take care, Larryz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.