178 RSW Harmony Guitar Braces and Neck Reset
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ค. 2017
- In this video you will see a guitar that really isn't worth fixing in terms of monetary value. It is however worth fixing in terms of sentimental value. You will see how I repaired three internal braces and set the neck at the proper angle. It plays very nicely now.
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Lol @ the kid being a kid. At the beginning of the video, the actual grandchild appears in the window, then a picture of her appears at the end --cool! Great job restoring that guitar to playable condition. It sounds better than any Harmony flat top that I've ever heard.
Nella Yema thank you very much.
Grandpa would've been 100% satisfied with it now Rest His Soul. You've done a great job for his family.
Gil Lamb thank you very much.
Very nice job Jerry. Yes those old Harmonys did play very hard. Like you said, it probably plays easier now than it ever did. I'm just a hobbyist and now retired. I like restoring old guitars like you did here so your videos really help me learn. Thank you Jerry and congrats on a very nice job. Rich from NJ
Richard Marino thank you for watching.
For steaming, I use a $50 wallpaper steamer from Menards that I modified with the same kind of inflation needle. It plugs into the wall and takes about 15 minutes to heat up, it has a built in relief valve and I don't need a separate heat source. It's pretty convenient and it works really well.
I came back to see your singing many times, it's great.
Wow! What a patient man! Great tutorial of a "natural" neck reset. Teapot Hi-Tek with caliper cool. No algorithms or incantations. This makes me think I can attempt a neck reset on my 1969 Harmony H165. Thanks a million.
My H6659 could be used to slice boiled eggs! Definitely a candidate for a neck reset! It has a nice sound though.
Scott Baxendale takes these apart, rebuilds them, and makes them sing. Good wood.
As soon as you began devil woman I started singing along used to listen the marty Robbins all the time as a kid thanks for that.
Jerry, It looks like you were able to hit the neck angle with less than 100 test fits. I congratulate you sir. Your patience ,skills, and experience are much appreciated. You have shown me different ways and ideas that have helped me work easier, and smarter.Thank you for sharing your videos which are always great and entertaining.
Kevin
Judy and Kevin Lynch you are welcome. Thank you very much for watching.
Mr Rosa, just wanted to say as a self taught repairman that has learned as I go, mostly sticking to electrics your videos have been a treasure trove! Especially where acoustic instruments are concerned. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise and knowledge!
+Jason Robinson you are welcome. Thank you so much for watching.
Nice fix video Gerry. Marty Robins devil woman was one of my mothers favourite songs ever , she died in 1976. Thanks for the reminder.. love the song myself. cheers Rob.
Another great repair. Sounds great too. Grandpa is happy wherever he is God Rest His Soul.
It's worth watching for your fantastic renditions. Fabulous Jerry thank you.
That aged top tonewood looks like a old martin...You sure are patient and skilled. Thank God for your video and help.
Great work.Wow I wasn't expecting such great singing and playing by a repairman.
i like watching you restore these old instruments i saw people playing as a kid in the 1950s and 1960s.
I been following your videos for some time now thanks for showing and sharing some of the trade secrets has help me leaps and bounds on the small guitar repair I do at home
That guitar sounds incredible. Exactly what its supposed to sound like. Nice work Jerry!
Great video, thank you! Thank you for sharing your work on these videos Jerry. I always enjoy watching, and look forward to each new one. Glad you got the old Harmony back playable!
Kent Owens thank you very much.
Once again Jerry,excellent work!
Ian Ward thank you very much.
Haha, Jerry you're killing me....."we're almost there" "we're near the finish" .."close to the end". You really do strive for the best work, even on an old Harmony. My first real guitar was a Silvertone so I have a fondness for Harmony products. When you finished I believe you produced one of the best set up Harmonys on the continent, a rare rebuild that is seldom done on these old inexpensive instruments. Thanks, was a pleasure to watch.
stebly7 you are welcome. Thank you very much for watching.
As always, great job, Jerry.
Three cheers for a reborn harmony AND Mary!!!!!
amit newton Thank you.
Great job Jerry and a lovely cameo appearance from your granddaughter Bless you both ❤👍
springy 2112 thank you very much.
I really enjoy your expertise, knowledge and skill in working with these various guitars. I've been a guitarist since I was 13 and am in my late 60s now. It's such a pleasure to see your woodworking skills and how you examine and sort out problems to bring these old guitars back to life. Very entertaining and enjoyable. Thanks for all your time and amazing craftsmanship.
I remember teaching my self to play on a 1965 Harmony, and that one sounds, and plays so much better after what you've done. Great job Jerry. The older we get the less money means, and the more memories mean. Value is in the memory, Regards, Solomon
Life After Work thank you.
a true master at his craft .... always enjoying your videos :)
very nice watching you step by step getting that neck playable your the best !!! really you are thanks so much for all your valuable info
i am worn out from watching the neck reset, great job and a lovely sentimental story behind the guitar, love the song at the end, i am now confident about doing a neck reset on my old guitar, thank you
That was a lot of work and you make it look soo easy. Thanks for sharing.
I love watching you do your magic,I've watched all your videos at least twice,
michaeladam caira very kind of you to say thank you very much.
Goodness Jerry, I'm amazed that you have that guitar playing that good and sounding so nice. You opened that can of magic again, very nice job!
Buddy Martin thank you.
I get attached to old cheap guitars. The older the better. If you love them then they ARE worth fixing!
These old ladder-braced Harmony guitars sound awesome to me. Nice video.
Jerry just love how you appreciate sentiment (your the best)
Jerry, enjoy watching, you can fix almost anything. If I lived closer and not down under, I'd ask you to have a look at my old Washburn D12N.
That looks to be a Harmony H162, which was the first guitar for a lot of guys of my generation. It was mine, $45 off the wall of Wright's Music in Yakima, Washington. Loved that thing. True about needing neck resets, but lots good about them. solid wood all the way around. They can sound really good, 50-60 years on. The sides and back are mahogany, and the sides were brittle: a lot of them have big cracks from getting knocked against the edge of a table or chair (or whatever). I have two of those waiting for some work. Fun to see this, Jerry.
Excellent video, and neck reset... Well done.
Another great job, them old harmonys are hard to beat I've played some of the old ones with the f holes that the action was pretty good on.
Love the song Jerry 👏👏👏great work👍🇬🇧
Watched the whole vid. So great!
And it sounds really great!
Even tho you are the "repairer" and not the owner/player, the level of satisfaction of being able to bring instruments like that back to life must be enormously gratifying!
ozmid40scouple yes it is. Thank you very much for watching.
Guitar sounds great! Well done sir!
Great videos Jerry it has showed and taught me things that have broke my heart.
I had asked questions before making a purchase but was not givin the correct answers and your videos have proven my gut instincts right.
What an expensive mistake i made or should l say an expensive education l recieved.
rw
It is said that Harmony had superior neck joints compared to Gibson. Good job on this oldie.
I think they're pretty good guitars. Gibson is pretty much lore. Harmony will get the job done. Reminds me of the Silvertone guitars built by Nathan Daniel.
Extraordinary sound and wonderful to play, but looked like shit and had no cachet. Session musicians used them in the studio but couldn't bring them on stage because they were sold at Sears. Ha! That's kind of like the Harmony story.
Best Channel on TH-cam 👌 I get so much inspiration from your videos & your authenticity is so refreshing. If you were running for President I'd vote for Rosa 🇺🇸
My h165 needs the same im am going to try the hippy reset first, I've already planned the bridge. Trying everything but taking the neck off.
to be able to create your own tools an them to work effective show how skilled a craftsman you are. you would probably would be an awesome teacher to teach young people the skill
Beautiful work! In most cases, a guitar like that would be headed for the dumpster or the fire pit. You saved it and now it's making music (and more memories for the owner) again.
Great video, ! I’m currently rebuilding a 1938 Harmony Monterey (H950) . Got my hands full as it was in pieces when I bought it.
My pal 60 years ago, Roy Wilkerson. was a baker by day and played Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith devotee. Roy knew ever one of Arthur's 109
boogie tunes on his great old Gretch acoustic guitar. Taught me chord progressions. Even chords I never used in Bluegrass
Always liked that song thanks and for the video as well Jerry 👍👏👏👏👏👏
Very nice guitar fixing video. Jerry I think Marty Robbins is happily smiling hearing you singing one his famous songs. I really thought you will sing El Paso LOL. I have an old Yamaha FG-150 Red label that I'm planning of resetting the neck. Your video will help me to do it the way it should be done. Thank you for sharing it.
jerry,another great fix,you ,my friend are 1 of a kind,
michaeladam caira thank you.
I love sentimental guitars stories... your video #186 is nice too, with the old National... my own story is of a C.F. Martin OO-18C that my Dad bought new in 1964 and gave to my Mom and she had and played it through the years, and some time back about 20 years ago she gave it to me and now I have and treasure it.
+Terry McKean it's really nice to have hand me down guitars. Thank you very much for watching.
Right on.... you're welcome... thanks for sharing.
I have an old Harmony from the 80's, and found out pretty quick there's no playing bar chords the action is so high'. Since it was cheap, I plan on following your video instructions, it is just what I was looking for. If I get results half as good as yours it will be worthwhile. Great video.
I have a 65 Harmony H22 bass. I used a .5 degree shim which changed the angle of the neck enough to give me much more adjusting room at the bridge and straigten the neck. I had to fix the truss rod first, then heat the neck and clamped it. Once I got the neck nice and straight (slight outward bow) I put the strings on, adjusted the bridge as low as possible then searched out all buzzing frets one by one and leveled them. First time trying all this but it all came together, and the bass has very low action, no buzz, and that woody string bass sound of the H22 from the 60's. It was fun doing it. I don't think I have your patience, though!
Thanks for the video.
this was a great class room on a neck set. awesome results. im working on a silvertone mandolin right now, it was a 10 dollar flea market find, needs a lot of tlc, it's more of a learning tool then anything, i should recorded it but i'm still camera sky.
Great to see another sentimental value guitar brought back to life. I am sure the family will enjoy it as much as I enjoy the Regal Wreck! Thanks for another great video.
Tom Doran thank you Tom. I suppose you saw my little note thanking you for the calipers.
Yes, I saw your note on the calipers. Glad you could use them. I also loved your description that the old Sillvertone guitars were like playing "barbed wire". That is a great description of my first guitar, which was a Silvertone. I suspect these "economy" guitars were built with a high action in mass production which would have minimized customer complaints about buzzing.
Tom Doran probably so. Thanks again.
Well, I'm back for another viewing of your video sort of a refresher course one might say. I found an old parlor Flat top whose main body was in great condition for its age. Even the finish was in good condition, but sadly required a neck reset. I actually have two on the go here requiring a neck reset. One is a dove-tail connection, while the other is a multi-dowel connection. I got both apart clean as a whistle with very little damage done. The neck of the dovetail was bent in the same place as the one you are working on here. From the end of the fret board to the 12th. fret it was flat, then made a shape bend and rise upwards towards fret #1, much like the one you are working on. I decided I wanted to bend back the shorter end tail of the fret board to bring the full length back into a straight line, so what I did was found and old long 2 ft long wooden flowerpot made out of hard wood that was very strongly built, as well as very straight when looking down it's length. I laid the neck (fret side down), on the old flowerpot and placed a thin wide wooden block under the tail end of the neck of the fret board. I then placed a clamp on the shoe of the neck and clamped it downwards thus drawing the neck back down till the fretboard was again straight and flat. I tighten it down a wee bit harder till the tailend was bending backwards by a small amount of angle, and dampened the fret board just below the dovetail so the fret board would loose it's memory and settle back where it once was when the guitar was new thus flattening out the whole length of the neck. I kept it under tension for 3 days, re-dampening it every so often with a wee bit of water on my finger and allow it to dry. After 3 days under tension, I removed the neck and it was straight as an arrow. No more bend upward at the 12th. fret area. It's been 4 days since I removed the neck from the home-made flowerpot press and the neck has remained perfectly straight and flat. That's one way to flatten out a neck at any location where it might be bent.From this point on, I'll be doing the same thing you are doing to get this old guitar back in action again so the neck angle is more proper. There's no name on this guitar, but I have a feeling, I'm working on a Harmony as well. Thanks for the video you put together. I always enjoy watching and learning.
This is a good one. Well done. Sounds good.
I learned on a Harmony 6. It was my college roommate's in 1966. For $50, you weren't getting a Martin, but it was a quite competent guitar, and you could do a lot worse for more money at the time.
A year or so later I bought my first guitar - a Harmony 12. In 1971 I was lucky enough to get a deal on a year-old, used Guild F-512.
I still have both of them. Guess which one I never play any more?
Fred
Was Laughing at your Comments as U went along...
That's Precise, Exacting, Tedious Work~But the Patient Lives to SING your Praises Once Again, DR. ROSA!!!
; )
chickengnawer thank you very much.
Fantastic job. Thank you. Cheers
OUTSTANDING Mr. ROSA sounds pretty dog gone good. Nice work
You sure did a fine job on that old guitar, it sounds pretty nice!
Jeff Grier thank you very much.
Great Job Jerry. I look at it as you're saving a piece of history. I just fixed an old Del Oro Cowboy guitar from 1942. i think the original catalog selling price was $8.98. They live to play again! Sometimes its fun just to see how good they can be fixed up... better than from the factory. Guys do it with cars too. they are taking old wrecks from junk yards and bringing them back. I think it cool!
LarWolkan it is cool. Thank you very much for watching.
Love your rendition of Marty Robbins' Devil Woman.
❤
I love old Harmonys, especially when I can pick them up cheaply--getting harder to do that these days. Fun to work on, and decent old woods--solid spruce top and mahogany back and sides, not plywood. I have one of these H162s that I re-braced (replaced ladder braces with x-braces) added a truss rod, refretted and converted it to a bolt-on neck. Steamed it off with a $4 Goodwill espresso machine. Yeah, a lot of work for a "cheap" guitar, but fun and turned out very nicely. I'd recommend it to anyone!
Great fix.. and I enjoyed your performance ! :)
Jerry, let me tell you one thing. And I swear, this is true! Last night, i have dreamed of you! :D
We met in a train somewhere in Germany and I recognized you. You walked over to me and we had a chat about my guitar issues. And you promised to make it all perferct again. :D
And you know what? You definitely could!
Unfortunately, this was just a dream and sending you my guitar (despite that it is an electric guitar anyway), would be way too expansive. Other than that, I will finally buy a new one soon, after almost 18 years. So... ;)
Thank you again for all your videos! You've already saved a lot of my evenings. Just like this! Much love from Germany! Hope, you are doing well! Cheers, Markus.
Thank you very much.
man, you are totally worth the money. Awsome.
I have an identical situation. I have the Harmony Classical that my Mom gave my Dad for an anniversary present around 1965 or so and it's in near mint condition. It always had a pretty high action but that never bothered my father because he didn't play as much or the way I did so it wasn't a problem. Now that he's gone and I have it, I would like to reset the neck. A straight edge running down the frets probably wouldn't even reach the bridge plate it's that far off. I sanded the saddle down to almost nothing and still it's not close and certainly not intonated better.
Now that I know more about guitars (I make my own bone nuts and saddles which wasn't that hard since I have a boatbuilding/furniture building and restoration experience) I realize that if it had a neck reset, I would be a really nice guitar. I found a similar guitar for $100 that obviously has new frets and probably a neck reset and it plays great but it's got a lot of miles on it. I think that if I got the neck reset done on this 55 year old $100 guitar of my fathers for $500, it might be worth $200 but since it's totally sentimental, I don't care, but I think I can do the work myself. I have a few beaters I can practice on before I tackle my dads guitar. This video is gonna help get me there. I'll let you know how it goes if I do this. I can't really spend 500 dollars on something I can probably do myself.
Man what a great video!!!
That looked just like my first guitar and yes it was like playing barbed wire. I out grew that old guitar when I started playing bar cords. You did an amazing job to get the action as low as you did. I am sure they will pass that guitar down to many generations.
Vader1957 thank you very much.
I love it. Customer is going to be so happy with it. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I love the Old Guitars. Maybe someday when I have the extra funds to send my 1957 Harmony Broadway Archtop to you to do some work on I'll do just that. I got it from an old friend years ago & want to get it more playable. Probably a neck reset & fret work. I really enjoy your videos & have just about seen them all. Keep doing what you're doing. Thanks
Thank you my friend.
I read how some guys use vary strong tea to stain new spruce in repair work, so you can see the new wood, I tried it in my old B-25 Gibson. It worked great.
Beautiful work. Subscribed.
Thank you my friend.
a lot of work on this ole gal! those lines across the fretboard are on almost every Harmony guitar from the tools used too make them, I've seen that a lot. good work brother!
Randy Schartiger thank you very much Randy.
Yeah I can feel ya frustration we are basically doing the same repair on a framus guitar lol but we know you'll get it thanks for sharing Jerry.
Creative Clamping
Saved another one. Good job.
EasyEddy thank you.
I totally understand the motivation behind working on an otherwise lower end guitar because of sentimental reasons. I'm currently working on my late dad's Kay Speed Demon guitar to make it playable. The neck was incredibly forward bowed, so I sent it away to a guy who specializes in that repair. I think my dad would love it that I finally got this guitar he picked up in a pawn shop in the early sixties to play and sound good.
Jkautsky thank you for watching. Good luck with your repair.
Great job Jerry another great success / no doubt those folks were thrilled I sure would have been to get gramps' guitar back better than it had ever been. There's a big resurgence of harmony/Silverstone thanks to young bands like Alabama Shakes who actually use that stuff. So it may be worth more than any of us would expect.
Tioga Fretworks you may be right. Thank you very much for watching.
Vert nice work my friend.
Dane Nichols thank you my friend.
I have an old Harmony that also isn't worth paying for a neck reset. This is making me think i should take a stab at doing it myself. Thanks, this was awesome!
I just did my Harmony, GO FOR IT! Jerry gave me the knowledge and courage. Thank you Mr. Rosa.
@@RtCarolina So the neck is apart, straight and the only thing left to figure out is how to get the angle set just right for putting it back together. I trimmed very tiny bit off the so I can adjust the neck fit back on - I have some hardwood shims. How do I figure the best angle for putting it back without the strings on it? Ruler along fret tops to the bottom of the bridge? Thanks. I wanted to be sure before I do that.
@@davidunion . If it’s not too late, don’t forget to investigate the relief/levelness of the fingerboard as Jerry did here. You can also run dental floss or thick yarn on the outside string positions to mock up your string height progress.
@@FIGGY65 so the project stalled a bit. I pulled off the neck, made sure fingerboard is straight across (Clamped and held it that way for a long time just in case), then shimmed off some wood on the back of the neck so I can level the neck and the test fit is OK, i was just at the point of putting on a tiny bit of wood to tighten up the joint but i'm tyring to figure the exact point to level the neck without the string tension on it so it will be right with the tension. I figure the strings will pull it a bit, so I made a ruler to length and was going to run it across the fret tops to just under the bottom of the plastic insert in the bridge on top of the wood bridge, figuring when the strings are on and tensioned that might be just right for the top of the plastic bridge. Is that the right way? There is a truss rod which I already cleaned and loosened a turn or so with the neck straight so it's not turned all the way/overturned when I set the neck back. The harmony truss rods are not great. I don't have any way to 'measure' the tension with the strings on it, though I was thinking one option was to just make a first try, then put a string, test fit, and iterate. But until it's all glued down, it's going to be hard to know for sure :)
Let me know if there is some other secret to getting that 'level with the strings tension' when the strings are not there.
Dental floss seems sort of very low tension to compare with? I'm ok to waste some strings to test fit also.
In the video he levels to the top of the bridge... I guess I can do that also but i'm not 100 percent sure I've heard both options in tutorials on line.
Jerry you say heres a guitar not worth fixin and you fix it anyway! What a guy!. That was a pretty good Marty! I once had a Stella that was not nearly as good as this one, and thtats the one I learned my first song on. Johnny B Goode. Thankz
Nice job! And greetings from Poland:)
Guitar Repairman thank you very much.
New subscriber. Love your channel! Very good stuff!
Thank you very much.
I like your carbon paper way of fitting a joint, another way I have done that is by buring a candle and letting suet get on the part I am fitting.
Corndog thank you for watching I've done that also.
The Harmony neck joint issues are basically because they glued them without cleaning stain and lacquer overspray that covered the inside of the dovetail on the neck block. The rest of the guitars usually stay glued together pretty well. Anyway great video and even though they are not valuable they are a fun brand to work on ande cheap to grab a USA made vintage.
Fantastic, I’ve never seen patients like this! A awesome bonus at the end a nice song!!!! Like and subscribe
Good job. This one Looks and sounds good now. My first guitar was a Harmony just like this one. Played “like barbed wire”. 😊
Thank you very much.
Great video! thanks or sharing.
Nice job
Marty Robbins ! yes sir you got him down pat, But still have your own charm to it. So beautiful.
Tele Man65 thank you very much.
Time Lapse works best over several hours. If you go back, and watch the Time Lapse portion at 1/4 (.25) speed, you can see some of the things you did. The 4x (or 8x) speed seems to work better. One of my favorite Marty Robbins tunes! Great video!
Kickinpony.66 thanks. I should have practiced with the time lapse before.
I have an H162 that I paid about $40 for thirty years ago. Needed a neck reset and I figured it was cheap enough for me to tinker with and learn. Just looked on eBay and people are now asking as much as $600 for the same guitar!!
You sure know guitars and you sing and play real good too!
John Boyle thank you very kindly my friend.
Nice job!
Andy Fab thank you very much.
I really like your channel, I learned a few mods from you :3
Hoàng Văn Nguyễn Chính thank you very much.
great video thanks.
Sounds great to me!!