53 Harmony Tenor

[ajh]

I came across a 1953 Harmony H950T that looks to be in really nice shape but I have not gone to see it yet. Estate find that somebody else snapped up. Says the neck is straight but the action seems a bit high at .18 gap at the 7th. He bought it strung at DGBE (Chicago tuning) and has not messed with anything. Has an original DeArmond monkey on a stick pickup. If I pick it up my concern is that if I string it up to straight tenor tuning CGDA....am I raising pitch/tension or decreasing it. I have heard some bad things about old Harmony Tenor necks warping with added tension.
Any thoughts?

Thanks, Tony

[MikeEdgerton]

I question the date and it looks like it's been refinished. I never saw one that was that shiny. There should be a date code stamped inside like S-55 or F-62. The number part of that is the year it was manufactured. The bridge should be adjustable but there won't be a truss rod.

[fox]

It looks nice in the photo, string tension should be roughly the same whatever the tuning.
As Mike says you can easiy ajust the bridge hight, my 62 Monterey has a steel rod in the neck.

[ajh]

Thanks for the help. I sent a request to the guy for more info....his reply was "The numbers inside the body are 625H950 and a stamp "F-55-T Made in USA." There are no cracks in the cables. I used only a lightly damp rag to clean the guitar--no cleaning agents or polish."
The DeArmond has a stamp of 53 on it and supposedly came with the instrument. It also has the original case.

I agree with you Mike that the finish on it looks a little fishy....much too shiny. I'll likely have to make a bit of a road trip to take a look at it. Now if I could get that dang Epi tenor that is in the classifieds off my mind!

[ajh]

He sent me a few more (better) pics. Definitely not oversprayed.

[fox]

Looks very collectable to me although from what I know they don't sound very good! Of course I don't know that much !!
Hopefully someone will tell us more about the model but the majority are made from pressed ply wood or birch wood & really don't sound very nice, very quiet too...
However it just looks superb

[MikeEdgerton]

They are solid woods and they are pressed not carved. I'm sure the pickup was added, perhaps by the original owner. I used to buy these things in the early 60's and the pickups were additional. If Harmony had built it as an electric they would have built the pickup in like they did on their other electric guitars.

[ajh]

Mike and fox,
Kind of riding the fence on this....I can get the whole package (Guitar, Monkey and original case) for 550 firm. And have to drive 75 miles each way to hear/play it. Not too sure about that high action....he says the neck is straight so that might not be a problem. The large lower bout size and the extra length kind of push me away a little also. Am used to my 21.25" scale/small body Regal Tenor. In your opinion, how does his price sound?
Thanks, Tony

[MikeEdgerton]

I'm not the one to ask about the price on these. I personally have a hard time looking at those numbers knowing what I paid for them new.

[fox]

Hi Tony, I cant really help you with the value as I live just off the coast of France and the values are very different over here!
I bought my 62 Monterey for a very similar price but it was in very poor shape.
Mine is solid wood (Birch) and I really like the shape & scale length but I spent an awful lot of time getting it to sound half decent & that included removing the thick layer of paint!! However I don't know if your boy is the same construction & if it has a better tone wood top?
If it was for sale in my corner of the world it would be worth a lot more than 550 but I think it would be a collector who would buy it and not a player.

[ajh]

fox....didn't notice where you were located in the dialogue. I would think pretty much everything there is just a bit on the outrageous side! And probably worth it living there. I have run across a couple of Harmony archtop 6 strings that I snarfed up, but I really suck at guitar so they were just moved along. I have fairly small hands for a guy so the long reaches really make full or even three fingers hard to chord unless I really take a tune apart and get serious about inversions.
Going to go see it tomorrow and see what happens. I hate winding up with orphans.....but again, opportunity strikes. Dammit.

[ajh]

I did wind up buying it. Straight neck, great condition overall. Very old strings on it that still sounded quite nice through the box. Not a huge sound, but nice tone and great sustain. Surprisingly the larger body was not an issue as the waist sits pretty nicely. Am a happy camper. Now just need to get rid of that musty smell. Turns out it had been sitting in the case in a basement for quite awhile and the outside of the case itself had started molding. Not a touch on the instrument. In the cases compartment were some very old Gibson and Black Diamond strings. Another orphan finds a home.

[fox]

Good for you, I hope the guitar enjoys the light

[Verne Andru]

I picked up a minty 60's Harmony Montery a while back. It's much like yours. I like the tone and find if it's played sitting down so the back isn't up against your body, it can be quite loud. Standing with a strap deadens the body too much IMHO.

I believe they have steel reinforced necks, so as long as the neck is straight and the frets are good, they can be made into nice players. Mine, and I believe they all did, came with a bone nut and bass frets.

[MikeEdgerton]

Some had steel reinforced necks, most did not. I know because I broke two of them back in the 60's. I started seeing that Steel Reinforced Neck sticker around the mid 60's.

[delsbrother]

OT, but do any of you Harmony heads know if they offered a tenor in the Catalina or Hollywood finish? Being from LA I've always been drawn to those, but didn't want/need a six stringer.

If not, plan B was to buy a basket case tenor and refinish it, though I'm sure that would offend the collectors..

[fox]

I would not worry about offending collectors, well I certainly didn't



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[StuartE]

OT, but do any of you Harmony heads know if they offered a tenor in the Catalina or Hollywood finish:

Take a look at the Tenor Page on the Harmony Database site.

[Charles E.]

I did wind up buying it. Straight neck, great condition overall. Very old strings on it that still sounded quite nice through the box. Not a huge sound, but nice tone and great sustain. Surprisingly the larger body was not an issue as the waist sits pretty nicely. Am a happy camper. Now just need to get rid of that musty smell. Turns out it had been sitting in the case in a basement for quite awhile and the outside of the case itself had started molding. Not a touch on the instrument. In the cases compartment were some very old Gibson and Black Diamond strings. Another orphan finds a home.

Did you get the DeArmond pickup with it? Plugged into a tube amp that thing would be a rockabilly machine! Heck the pickup is probably worth $ 100.oo by it self.

[ajh]

Charley,
Yes, got the DeArmond with it. Kind of took a gamble on that bit. It is a "Guitar Mike" with a 53 stamped on the small tab on the pup body. I couldn't listen to it to verify that it works because it has a funky little 3/8" fine thread plug on it. There is a guy on the net that offers a cable that will screw onto it, then go to a 1/4 plug...........but he wants about 50 for it. I found the end I need on ebay for 10 and will cut an old small dia cable and solder the end to it. Should be here in the next couple days. Hope that works out as the DeArmonds are supposed to be expensive to fix.

I went to put new strings (J66) on it yesterday and part of the bridge saddle split and then snapped off at tension (much bad language!). Was able to save the saddle by sanding it down to the metal studs, raising it on the thumbscrews to where the action was good, then reworking it to get the block compensated again. Worked out fine but I don't like having the saddle jacked up on the screws that high. Am having a problem finding archtop tenor bridge/saddle....will likely wind up making a new ebony saddle if I can't find a proper replacement.

The sound is clear with plenty of sustain....sweet sounding, but definitely not loud.
Tony

[ajh]

Got the 3/8" male adaptor in the mail. Got it soldered on and plugged in. DeArmond works great but need to dial down the bass. Clean is really cool.........but then run it through a reverb box and it is a whole 'nother beast.

Way too much fun.

[Verne Andru]

Just thought I'd pass out an FYI on the volume.

Archtop guitars have a different mechanism for driving the soundboard than a pinned flattop. Pinned flattops benefit from the string moving against the bridge as well as pulling up from under the soundboard.

Strings on an archtop build, like your Harmony, only drive the top through the bridge. Plus archtop bridges put distance between strings and soundboard that's effected by the bridge material, how well it seats to the top, etc.

The good news is archtops tend to have far more dynamic range IMHO. But to get it you have to drive them harder to get the same level of volume as a flattop, up to the point where the flattop starts compressing.

A flattop will start compressing the tone well before an archtop, which means you get better and more tone with an archtop, but you have to be willing to drive them hard. That's why archtops were favored in the acoustic jazz ensembles - they were way louder.

[MdJ]

I would not worry about offending collectors, well I certainly didn't



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That Bb chord is scaring me.....

[fox]

Ha Ha, must be Mark Josephs version of house of the rising sun http://www.tenorguitarfoundation.org/rising-sun.htm in Bb

[hhold]

Does anyone happen to know what pickup is in the picture?