Is it worth the trouble?

[rocket]

A friend of mine was given this Harmony archtop many moons ago by his missus who thought it would be usable , she found it in a s cond hand store.
It’s been severely damaged on several occasions and been poorly repaired several times as well.
My mission should I choose to accept it is to get it to an acceptable condition well enough to be played.
It is a total piece of crap but it does mean something to him as his lovely missus thought he’d like it . I’m going to have a go but just wondering if anyone else would bother?
Note the lateral bracing,, never seen that before!

Cheers

Rod.

[56nortondomy]

Good luck with that Rod. Wayne

[DarwinStrings]

I have repaired guitars that I didn't think were worth bothering with but someone else did.

[kiwigeo]

Looks like a plywood nightmare....but if anyone's going to be able to pull it off it's you mate.

That neck block....looks like the builder nicked down to the nearest construction site and got a chippie to knock the end of a length of rough sawn pinus :-O

[rocket]

Looks like a plywood nightmare....but if anyone's going to be able to pull it off it's you mate.

That neck block....looks like the builder nicked down to the nearest construction site and got a chippie to knock the end of a length of rough sawn pinus :-O

Yes Martin, the lack of finess in this build is beyond belief, that neckblock went in after the linings of the cutaway and therefore it doesn’t touch the cutaway side. The neck was reset at some stage and the way it hat was done was to make cuts in the nape of the neck/heel, put some screws and a nail down beneath the fb through a he neck into the heel to hold it while the cuts are filled with builder bog along with h the mortise /tenon joint.

No support under the bridge that was screwed on, I’ll have to add something there, stay tuned


Cheers

Rod.

[J.F. Custom]

Ah the things we do for friends

Geez though, wish I'd thought of that lining technique. To think I spend time carefully bending it to shape when all I had to do was break it every couple of centimeters What have I been thinking?

Good luck Rod.

[simso]

Actually doesn’t look too bad,lots of cosmetic issues and work, clean everything up so you have a good starting point and then assess it from there.

Steve

[rocket]

Pushing ahead with this, had both the plates off replaced some of the laminate around the neck block area, built up the neck and tail blocks, added some c/f and extra bracing beneath the otherwise unsupported bridge position, closed it up again, needs a complete neck/ fretboard made for it so that’s the next task.
A bit of an eye opener this one

Cheers

Rod.

[simso]

Mmm, carbon fibre, I really need to play with that stuff one day.

Rumour mill has told me that perry is possibly making or has made a complete carbon fibre guitar..

Steve

[rocket]

Musician/instrument case builder Tony Vilianti has had that one under his belt for many years.

[blackalex1952]

Mmm, carbon fibre, I really need to play with that stuff one day.

Rumour mill has told me that perry is possibly making or has made a complete carbon fibre guitar..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXMf938xq_c

[rocket]

Just a bit of a catch up, due to the need for radical material replacement on this job we were happy to go with a full solid colour finish but when the client saw the timber In the neck, wanted it to be a clear finish, so,,,,, this will be handed over in an undercoated body as he wants to finish it himself, so will end up black body/ clear cherry neck.
At this stage I’m just about to creat the nut, got some strings on it just to see how everything is lining up, happy with it!!

Cheers
Rod.

[simso]

Nice work

Steve

[lamanoditrento]

Fantastic work. Looks like the answer to the threat title is Yes, totally worth it!

[rocket]

Thanks for the thumbs up, we’ll this is all done as far as I’m concerned the owner is going to apply his own finish coats.
The De Armondes are not designed for this axe but I made some dog ear style fillets to 1 fit to the curvature of the belly and 2 lift the pups to the correct height.

[Crafty Fox]

That looks fantastic! Maybe now call it the DisHarmony?
Is that Tassie blackwood on the headstock, jarrah fretboard?

[rocket]

Blackwood headstock And Bubinga f/b

[rocket]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EnmhNt-RCUQ
Owner giving it a bit of a run

Rod.