Post by CTGull on May 2, 2021 16:44:37 GMT -5
His story - I started playing guitar fairly young around age 10, I'm 24 now. My first guitar was a crappy First Act starter pack. I would bring it to Thanksgiving and family gatherings at my grandparents’ house to play for them and seeing that I was starting to progress. My great aunt gave me an old acoustic she had laying around that use to be my great grandfathers, a Harmony H1260. I played the H1260 for a few years, learning to play on the ludicrously high action. I played a couple of middle school talent shows on it until I finally upgraded. I used the Harmony mainly for slide jams, from then on until rarely playing it at all. I recently thought about this guitar and pulled it out. I it sounded great even on the dead strings. I thought, man this guitar would be killer all fixed up, so I asked for people’s opinions in a Facebook Harmony group. Which led me to today where Dave is kindly fixing it up after almost 15 years of me owning it. I'm super pumped to play it soon, can’t wait to see how it turns out!!!!
My story - I met him part way in a Wendy's parking lot. It was probably the nicest weather we've had so far this Spring. I brought my beat up late 60's H1260 for him to play. I had previously done a neck reset and fixed a bunch of cracks. yamahavintagefg.boards.net/thread/248/late-harmony-sovereign-h1260-repair He was very impressed with the sound and playability.
Judging by the headstock markings and the lack of a date code I'd say it's another late 60's model like mine. The GOOD - It's in A LOT better condition than mine. There's just s few small dings and many fingerprints. The bridge looks mint and solid to the top, the saddle sticks out .05" at both E's. The 1st & second frets have a little wear, but the rest are mint. The pickguard is half off. The BAD - The headstock has a repaired crack, but it looks solid. With zero neck relief and full string tension the neck projects to the bottom of the bridge, about 5/16" below the top. One of the worst I've seen. The action for both E's is a little over 3/16". With full string tension the fine cracks on the sides of heel open up more, and there are fine cracks under the fretboard.
With the strings removed the neck projection was still very low at 9/32" below the top of the bridge. I removed the nut, it was well glued in, taking a little of the neck wood with it. I'll try to remove that tomorrow and glue it back. Then I removed the saddle, glued in as usual, I used a hair dryer to soften the glue and pried it out by using a toothpick under it as a wedge, it snapped 1/4" from removing it. So close! I'll be replacing the plastic nut & saddle, so it doesn't matter, although I'll have to clean the glue out of the slots.
I used a heat shield and halogen light to loosen the fretboard. Then I noticed the neck was loose in the pocket but it wouldn't come out. I put the guitar in the neck jig and used some pressure to pop it out. A rare neck removal without steam! No removing the 15th fret, swollen wood, or having to wait for it to dry for a day or 2. There was A LOT of glue in the neck pocket! As usual. An interference somewhere has kept the neck from popping off. I used a chisel to clean up the neck and neck block dovetails.
BUT!! I noticed the top isn't connected to the neck block!! And I saw fine cracks in the top extending from the corner of the dovetail to the sound hole. I had to remove all the glue from the top before I could see it better. I assume the drop that cracked the headstock also loosened the neck and the neck block. The old brown glue is very brittle and they used lots of it.
I started fixing it by prying the loose top up with toothpicks, and rolling fish glue into the crack open and side cracks with a toothpick, then clamping it. Then I made, glued with fish glue, and clamped a 1/16" maple patch between the cross brace and the sound hole. Tomorrow I'll make a glue in a 1/8" plywood patch behind the brace to reinforce the area in front of the neck block.
See the next posts for more details & pictures. Sorry, you'll have to click on the thumbnails to view the full size pictures.
My story - I met him part way in a Wendy's parking lot. It was probably the nicest weather we've had so far this Spring. I brought my beat up late 60's H1260 for him to play. I had previously done a neck reset and fixed a bunch of cracks. yamahavintagefg.boards.net/thread/248/late-harmony-sovereign-h1260-repair He was very impressed with the sound and playability.
Judging by the headstock markings and the lack of a date code I'd say it's another late 60's model like mine. The GOOD - It's in A LOT better condition than mine. There's just s few small dings and many fingerprints. The bridge looks mint and solid to the top, the saddle sticks out .05" at both E's. The 1st & second frets have a little wear, but the rest are mint. The pickguard is half off. The BAD - The headstock has a repaired crack, but it looks solid. With zero neck relief and full string tension the neck projects to the bottom of the bridge, about 5/16" below the top. One of the worst I've seen. The action for both E's is a little over 3/16". With full string tension the fine cracks on the sides of heel open up more, and there are fine cracks under the fretboard.
With the strings removed the neck projection was still very low at 9/32" below the top of the bridge. I removed the nut, it was well glued in, taking a little of the neck wood with it. I'll try to remove that tomorrow and glue it back. Then I removed the saddle, glued in as usual, I used a hair dryer to soften the glue and pried it out by using a toothpick under it as a wedge, it snapped 1/4" from removing it. So close! I'll be replacing the plastic nut & saddle, so it doesn't matter, although I'll have to clean the glue out of the slots.
I used a heat shield and halogen light to loosen the fretboard. Then I noticed the neck was loose in the pocket but it wouldn't come out. I put the guitar in the neck jig and used some pressure to pop it out. A rare neck removal without steam! No removing the 15th fret, swollen wood, or having to wait for it to dry for a day or 2. There was A LOT of glue in the neck pocket! As usual. An interference somewhere has kept the neck from popping off. I used a chisel to clean up the neck and neck block dovetails.
BUT!! I noticed the top isn't connected to the neck block!! And I saw fine cracks in the top extending from the corner of the dovetail to the sound hole. I had to remove all the glue from the top before I could see it better. I assume the drop that cracked the headstock also loosened the neck and the neck block. The old brown glue is very brittle and they used lots of it.
I started fixing it by prying the loose top up with toothpicks, and rolling fish glue into the crack open and side cracks with a toothpick, then clamping it. Then I made, glued with fish glue, and clamped a 1/16" maple patch between the cross brace and the sound hole. Tomorrow I'll make a glue in a 1/8" plywood patch behind the brace to reinforce the area in front of the neck block.
See the next posts for more details & pictures. Sorry, you'll have to click on the thumbnails to view the full size pictures.
