ChickenboneJohn talks about Harmony Stella guitars
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- Опубликовано: 29 окт 2024
- A short presentation on these popular little budget guitars. I reckon I know these guitars inside out, having repaired and set-up dozens of examples of this model, ranging from the 1930's through to the 1970s. These were Harmony's budget line, not to be confused with the original Oscar Schmidt models of the 1920s and 30s. Nevertheless, they have their own devoted following, and I regularly use them for my live work. They are robust little guitars, always built from solid birch (no plywood!!!)..they have their own particular faults and foibles... if you've got any questions or want to know more...ask away!
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Thanks for all these precious infos! I have just bought one at jumbo sale for few pounds and I knew anything about it !Thanks again !
I bought a "wall hanger" stella 928 off ebay. It had nothing but the frets left on it, all it was was the body and neck, no tuners, no tailpiece, nothing. The back was so loose, it was relatively easy to take off. The angle of the neck had to be reworked, and some bracing reglued, It's had a crack in the soundboard that needed fixed, but I did it all myself, in my apartment, with limited space and tools. The one tool I have that you may not is a steamer, but it wasn't made for guitar work.
Standard tuning and open D for the slide stuff.
I wished i was closer i picked up an ol Barclay H1203 that has a little high action that i would love to get reset, this thing sounds awsome for an ol beat up guitar......great video
Question for you: I picked up last night a Fall 1958 Stella H929. It's 95% brand new: Not dents, dings, no corrosion, all original, peg knob in tact, pegs and mounts are straight and looks brand new.
Not a crack or craze in the finish anywhere. Local music store owner, in business since the 70s suggested I go with a regular acoustic and I chose some Martin MA540 phosphor bronze 12-54 tuned to standard A440.
I barely got a wrap of the low e string and had THE HARDEST time ever turning a set of tuners!
I dented the pad of my thumb!
The neck is true, the body seems to be fine but am I in danger with the string tension of this set?
It IS harder to fret with these strings and those tiny frets.
Whaddaya think wrt string guage?
Okay if I relax the tuning to something slacker?
Thanks!
String gauges are fine, especially as these are quite short scale guitars. I don't find that the skinny frets make much difference to playing - sounds like the action is high. The machineheads aren't great and are stiff (or loose!) at the best of times. Try taking them off, stripping, cleaning and putting a spot of oil on them...or put new vintage pattern ones on (there are plenty of repro Kluson pattern 3 on a plate around)..
lighter strings and see if there are any bushings left on the peghead.they are commonly missing.this will put pressure on the tuning post and cause friction in the hole
I ran across an Orpheus parlor guitar at a theatre prop shop, still in its case, and although I did a pretty good search, I could not find anything close to being it's twin online. And lo and behold, at 3:27 in your video, you pulled out the 1930s guitar that so far has been the closest! More to the point, that tail piece! Yours is the first guitar I've found that has the tail piece that is an exact match. If I can find your contact info, I'll send you photos of what I have found, and am hoping to buy soon.
I have a 1966 Stella Harmony H929 in near mint condition. All original, no cracks, perfect action. I lucked out and found it in a pawn shop hiding back in a corner facing the window. The employee working there said he would have bought it if he realized it was there. I think I got a great deal for $95 dollars + some 80/20 Martin strings. The action is great for regular play, but I really like it for blues slide guitar.
It was cheap enough that I'm sure in it's good condition it will hold its value. Who knows, it might be worth more in another 20 or 30 years if I'm still around. :)
Just found your channel and subscribed. Better late than never, right?
I just started messing with my 1960 Stella again. It’s been stored for a long time. When I bought it, it had a Japanese pickup screwed into the sound hole. I took the pickup out, and was going to try and work on the action.
Apparently the previous owner had been using it for slide since the action is quite high. It needs a neck reset. I can do a lot, but I don’t have the tools for a neck reset, so I just reinstalled the pickup and jack since the holes were already there.
I’m going to try doing some slide on it and see how it sounds. I’m not sure about that old pickup though.
We’ll see. I only paid $70 with a stand so if I can play slide on it I will just hang it on the wall and maybe look for one that has a good neck, but it missing other parts.
You don't need any special tools to do a neck reset - I made a steamer with some old plastic fishtank tubing and a $1 stovetop kettle. My neck pulling jig is made from scrap and $5 worth of threaded rod. The only other tools you need are a good sharp chisel to recut the dovetail, a putty knife or spatula for freeing the fretboard extension and a clamp for re-glueing.
Just bought '71 H928 off Facebook for $50, thanks for info !) also thanks to all commenters, i love guitars
I've got a Harmony Stella, any ideas as to what Year it was Made?
* says "Steel Reinforced" on the not Slotted style Headstock, (..no star)
*Spray on type, vertical tigar striped body
*Rounded on the end of the fretboard closest to the soundhole
* Perloid Dot Inlays, not painted on ones
* non V style neck
* Metal tailpiece, floating bridge
*Numbers inside the guitar read: 4480H929
Any help would be Fantastic! Thank You!✌️🦝🔥🌌
@blueskycrying When you say dead notes, do you mean they sound dull or muffled, or do they not sound at all - ie are the strings being choked by the upper frets?
@blueskycrying So the strings are hitting the upper frets and not ringing? (ie they are being 'choked' by the frets). It needs the neck taking out and resetting.
John your contact form seems to not be working?
Thanks for your efforts here; very informative. I will support with $ being a customer, and frequently visiting your site/youtube. I've shared with my contacts as well.
Best, Patrick
Vancouver, WA. USA
BTW: I'm going to fix the Stella (bought on 12/12/12) even if it costs more than its value--worth it to me;). But you were spot on about the action; a learning exp. for me.
Hi. Thank you for the video. I've got yesterday some old guitar which looks similar to yours "tiger". It also has more simple white pickguard. Looks pretty much like H929. But: (1). It doesn't have any brand mark "Stella" or "Harmony" on it. (2) The writing "Steel Reinforced Neck" is on the paper sticker and not directly on the headstock. (3). The ink mark inside the body is only as "4011 6" and nothing else. I wonder if it's really Stella or something else. Maybe you have an idea. Thanks.
yes John your right so how to go about the taking out and reseting neck any pointers for i need your help on this ive got an idea of how to go about but not really confident enough without your help is there any way u could do a video on it using a stella? or just some detailed instructions TY Much your friend Tony
John, I have a H933 Stella, small soundhole. Will the Lawrence pickup With volume control fit? Aug 24th, 2014. THX
Just bought one (black tiger) today; has the very issues you talk about. The fellow bought it at an Estate sale. I wanted to buy it today on 12/12/12, and I will hang on to for life--but it needs attention to the neck and bridge. It has nylon strings and I was told to employ it as a slide guitar. I think I will get it fixed over time. It is between the years of 1938-1950's I was told.
Also, do you sell parts like the bridge? I'm headed over to your site now...
All the best, Patrick
I just got one looks like a 1939 Vneck, smae tail piece. Thanks for review.
Hey John i have mid 60's stella harmony but it hits dead notes from the 12th fret up towards sound hole not sur how to fix this but don't won't to invest much into it it sounds great from the first fret up to 12th but still would like it to be playable all the way up the neck any hints or help on how to fix it action is good though. HELP would appreciate it i live in the USA South Carolina.
I just purchased one of these guitars. The guy at the guitar shop was incredibly discouraging when I brought it in. Didn't even play it but told me they "play", but barely. I paid $75 and for a guitar newbie it looks to be in incredible condition. The guy at the shop did mention the action being high, but like I said he never even played it so I'm assuming he just had a bad attitude toward Stella's. Would you recommend I look into it more? I don't want to spend a load of money if the action actually is high, but I do want to learn how to play this guitar.
They almost always have really high action as the body "creeps" after years of string tension, and nine times out of ten with these guitars I take the neck out and re-set it to get the action down to a properly playable action. You can shave the bridge down, but there is a limit to what you can do before it gets impractically low and the strings start to skate about sideways over the saddle. Stella's were always a budget guitar, and very few people know that much about them, so most guitar shops will either know nothing about them or tend t dismiss them as junk.
I just got hold of a stella h928 in white ivory. it doesn't have the steel reinforced neck. it says FVP inside! and has the V shaped neck, any idea of its age? also it came with the hardcase with a shipping label from the 50s I belive it was owned by the late Ethel Merman.
just wondering if you could help me age it thanks.
Have you got any photos?
@@ChickenboneJohn yeah I can send you some. do I just post them here? or can I private message them. not sure how it works 😅
@@cellospacemurder mail@chickenbonejohn.com
@@ChickenboneJohn thanks very much
also looks like a good starter luthier project.
I gotta line on a Stella for $49 "firm". Looks like a fun little ax
HI John im looking for info on a guitar ive just purchased.I can tell its a harmony model its the same in every way one even doen to the stenciled marking on the body and neck (body stenciled downward stripes on a black sunburst. same as back) the 3 stenciled strip fret marks)
I belive it is pre truss rod.same shape head as the stella.However instead of stella it has steppa
Any ideas? .Chris
John are you located in the states or in England? I am picking up a Stella guitar and although I do not know that it has the action issues you speak of I wondered if it would be at all cost effective to have you fix an issue if I do find one. Thanks
I'm in the UK.
string hieghth looks ok maybe a tad low but ok not really sure what u mean bye being choked.It chords fine up to 12th fret ?
i love old guitars
Now when you say old what do you mean?10 year old 20 year old?
Hi, i recently purchased a Stella H927, do you know where i can get a case for it?? cheers, lovely guitars!!
I'm going out on a limb here and say that blonde Stella you show, is made of birch. The necks tended to be made of poplar (sp) and occasionaly maple.
I just bought the same model as your blond one. the action is high. also the tunning heads seem really hard to turn if u head even a little below standard tunning. is this common? any advice on how I should go about using it? replace the tunning heads? put on nylon strings? I paid 50 bucks for it
Usually the only way to get the action down is to take out and re-set the neck - there is only so much that you can do by shaving down the height of the bridge. I usually take the machineheads apart, clean them and lubricate them - it usually helps, but often they get bent which can make things worse - these were cheap machineheads on a cheap guitar! It is easy to fit replacements, and there are quite few around which are decent match in terms of appearance, and not too expensive.
cool thanks a bunch! dunna if I wanna chance messing it up worse, but taking the neck off. might have to so that I can learn. maybe I should just try and sell it and not worry about it. either way, much obliged. you're great! thanks for the quick response. I just wanna play
I'm dealing with this same problem currently.bought this guitar only to get highly discouraged from a guitar shop. I would really like to learn how to play this guitar but I'm worried about spending a load of money to fix it.
I found a Harmony Stella guitar hanging on my wall of new apartment. I like the way it looked on wall so I kept it there. My grand daughters name is Stella so it was going to stay. Now I am looking around on the web and at guitar and see that I may have me something special here, Can anyone tell me about this guitar I have stumbled upon?
Harmony made thousands (if not millions!!) of these little Stellas, and they always were a budget instrument, so it won't have any great financial value. Having said that, they do have growing appeal amongst players and collectors, but they will never realise the money that the pre-war Oscar Schmidt guitars fetch.
ill lett you have a closer look when i get it. either by pics or vid . yes was the one off Ebay.My family own a harmony H1215 baritone guitar i swapped a old crappy kay for it about 20 yrs ago.Didnt know what to do with it back then as id never seen a guitar with 4 strings on before other than a bass that was. so gave it to my brother.now im a guitar luithier so had it of him last yr an restored it. unfortunatly had to give it back.DAMB dont you hate that.CHRIS
Now I remember why I never spent a thin dime on a Stella guitar. But if Stellas rock yer canoe go for it.
Mostly because I've never been a fan of parlor guitars. Maybe it's the woods used in their construction.
I've got a Stella and love it. It sounds like an old record when you play it, which is really a cool sound if you are into blues and folk guitar.
Its a lovely little guitar. What weight strings do you recommend for them?
Depends on your style and what you want to do with the guitar, but 013s are fine as then scale length s a little shorter than most regular acoustic guitars.
What type of strings do you recommend on these? I have an old one with a fat v neck on it.
I usually use d'Addario bronzewound 12s.
@blueskycrying Check out Frank Ford's site frets.com..there's a few picture sequences of how to do this (he does the job on vintage Martins, but the technique is the same) You'll need to make up a simple jig to push the neck out, and some sort of steamer and needle to get steam into the joint (I uses a cheap kettle, some aquarium tubing and a bit of fine brass tube from a modelling shop).
@secondplacesamii Yes..only just caught it...but it's had plenty worse than that!
Great vid , dig
@twitchmn Sounds like thats a late Chicago-made model.
Prices on these will probably jump once hipsters realize that Kurt Cobain used a $30 pawn shop Stella with five strings on it for most of his acoustic work in the studio, including Something In The Way.
I think some of these were either branded under the Kent name, or Kent's suppliers made copies of them. I have an old Kent in need of some TLC that is identical to these guitars in every respect, right down to the tuners, tailpiece, and headstock shape. The problem with this guitar is that there is a definite kink in the neck where it meets the body. I will, of course, eventually need to remove the neck and reset it. Along with a whole laundry list of things, because, once you've removed the neck, you might as well go all-out. I was thinking a steeper neck angle, pearl white paint, refret, radiusing of the fretboard, a floating ABR-1, piezo pickups, and nibs!
I sat in the same seat Robert Johnson sat in.For some reason my guitar playing became much better after that.
@@daltonbrennan8242 Its a joke....lol
I buy nothing but Drednoghts and Orchestra models regardless of brand. Thid guitar sounds like the guitar used by
Ry Cooder in the film the "Long Riders" Anyone agree?
You would need to let me have some picutres before I can really comment..but if it's the one on eBay recently, I think it may be an old copy of a Stella. The "Steppa" name seems just too close to make any sense - I've had other period copies before. Looks like it's got a zero fret? If it's got a zero fret, I'd say it's not a Stella.
I remember when you could pick these up for next to nothing 10 years ago... They're all pretty terrible-sounding in my opinion but, that's what you get with a budget guitar. 'Old' doesn't change that budget sound.
i had a guitar just like that and sold it for $5.00 and miss it but keep paying
hi John i can 100 percent confirm its not a stella its a diffrent construction the neck joint is a screw on .for a start .I am going to totally rebuild it and respray it .all the seems had failed. judgeing by all the fretboard wear it was once a good guitar as if it was crap it wouldnt have any wear now ive glued the seems a good a tap on the sound board sound great im going I am taking photos of variouse stages if you want to send me your e mail address ill send you some pics.Chris
Nylon strings?! definitely the sigh of an unplayable unloved Stella! ..and the description "great slide guitar" ALWAYS means that it's totally unplayable as it is. Unfortunately, the way to sort this is with a neck reset, and it will beexpensive, doubtless costing far more than the guitar is worth...that's why I learned do do it my self. I can make you a new bridge..BUT the action will probably need sorting with a reset first. Good luck with it.
Your name should be like tea or crumpet John...
Hi, wondered how to get in touch with you as I would be interested in buying one of your Stella guitars
Guess you never bought one
I got one yesterday for 25 dollars, its pretty cool nut its harder to plkay because the strings are so high off the neck like you talked about
.
They may be cheap john but thats no reason to be throwing them about!!! ;)
Anyway, the point is, these guitars, like my sixties Stella, are not all that valuable, though they are great guitars once you get the fixed up. So, watch some videos, use your brain, and you can fix it yourself if you're the handy sort. Don't pay a guitar shop repairman, you'll go broke. Learn on these, then maybe you'll have a skill that can make you the big bucks instead of paying them out.
they r dead as in not any sound except for like tink tink tink u know dead it will not fret a note. or i guess extremely dull