MIMF

Seeing my message on old Harmony guitars in the archtop forum, a buddy gave me a 1960s vintage Silvertone acoustic -- basically the same as the old Harmony "Stella" flattop cowboy jobbies -- with a badly separated and cracked back. Its too bent up and split to try and glue down again, so I...

I'm spending time at the very entertaining site Harmony.Demont.Net, checking out a lot of real American classics.

The company used to press-form a lot of their spruce archtop guiars, rather than carve them. Anyone know if they cut the F-holes
before or after the tops were pressed?

I remember that thread... I think I started that part of it.

Given how often new members orbit in, I was hoping a recent enthusiast may have something to contribute. I'm still holding out hope.

...Treholipee.
I need a few particular measurements taken from this novelty ukulele produced by Ancil Swagerty in the early 1960s.
If you or someone you know has one, please respond here when able.

Hmm!
Just found one very similar on the Antebellum website:
http://antebelluminstruments.blogspot.c ... py-44.html

The folks at Rogue are rolling several very inexpensive flattop guitars out the door these days. We got one of their dreadnaughts here at the day job as a cheap knockaround guitar -- anyone who just wants to thumb a tune while on break, here's yer axe. Its not great, but its better than nothing. The...

I invite everyone to take a look at Hans Bezemer's "Popsicle Pickup" post in the Electronics forum, and check out the first photo of the Alvarez Bari guitar with the homemade pickup duct-taped to the body. In this case, look at the profile silhouette reflection of the person in the lower b...

A current-sensing feedthrough transformer.... you loop the wire through the body instead of soldering it to leads coming off the component. Gotta admit that is pretty clever.

Now I want to try it myself.

I need to make clear that I have not directly noticed this particular model as having such issues, but their line of ukes and a $400 banjo-uke feel like you're dragging your fingers down a fishbone. Seems to me if you're a major company carrying the name of a legendary brand, you'd want a little QC ...

Not a concern - all my gear is fine. The thing is, Ive seen this company's brand new offerings go all scratchy-pokey right on the floor in Guitar Center, and while the aforementioned Silvertone has a dried and broken back, the neck is perfectly fretted after a half-century. Guitars shouldnt leave th...

A very famous U.S. company that owns an equally famous U.S. brand name makes a line of budget "nostalgic" acoustic guitars under that subsidiary brand. Knowing said company has shown issues with fret sprouts on brand new instruments in recent times, I wondered if warranty service would app...

Paul Kincaid wrote:It's a vacuum press. The whole thing lifts open.

Is that made from a raised panel door, like from a kitchen cabinet?
If so, oh man... that's very slick.

... never hang the plans upside-down over your workbench:

http://s4.photobucket.com/user/bryherb/ ... 8.jpg.html

Eric, David -- Of course you both are completely correct. What I suppose I should have said was, "...that's an awful lot of work to make this a playable guitar." If I had access to a milling machine -- even an overhead pin router -- I'd be applying the same techniques. Practice on lesser i...

I would set it up and mill another improved joint in the body, then mill away the existing joint from the neck and splice new material to machine a matching joint to the body. There's not much to mill and splice, David. I've seen more substantial joints on a Harmony Stella. For as long as this pict...

This wont be up for long, but as an exceptional example, there's a guy on the Washington DC Craigslist this week looking to unload a Wurlitzer home organ for 90 USD; which comes with 2 keyboards, an "Orbit" synthesizer (described as "a cheesy monophonic toy" on many music forums)...

It may not be an exact solution Chris, but on Craigslist, I frequently see a few dozen home organs being sold for dirt or given away for free. Many non-functioning. The non-locking voice tabs (if shallow enough to fit a body) can be harvested and repurposed to do what you want. As a side benefit, yo...

I've frequently thought about picking up an inexpensive guitar from the "fetish" people; especially since the company seems to have a nice lineup of hollow bodies including some resembling the old Guild 500s. But I've always hemmed and hawed, waiting for the right time. I'm afraid that tim...

...and then there is the former factory, offices and showroom of the Epiphone company at 142 W. 14th street in NYC, now Artie's True-Value Hardware:

Google Maps 40.738160, -73.998826