Whats a standard maintenance for an old guitar?

[KirkHammett1]

I'm an acoustic newb. My first guitar (and only acoustic) was a 1974 Harmony Stella. Its sat in my closet for many, many, many years. After doing some spring cleaning I rediscovered it. Its a parlor sized acoustic and after rediscovering it yesterday, I noticed it kicks butt for some delta blues, slide playing, and bluegrass.

 

Its a cheapie. It frets out like a bitch in higher registers. I dont think it has a trussrod. I'm wanting to just give it an overhaul, and looking for pointers. I guess it is basically firewood, but I cut my teeth on this axe and want to fix it up.

[JasmineTea]

Vacuum cleaner and a damp rag.

Carefuly vacuum the dust balls from inside, go over the outside with a damp rag. I would also oil the bridge and fret board with lemon or orange oil.

[babablowfish]

Check out this link:
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1155164

That is not "firewood" you have there. A lot of us love those old Harmonys.

My advice is to use only extra light guage strings and to tune down at least a half-step. I tune down a full step myself. Once the necks go on those babies there is no easy way to fix them.

Have fun!

[Terry Allan Hall]

Originally posted by KirkHammett1 I'm an acoustic newb. My first guitar (and only acoustic) was a 1974 Harmony Stella. Its sat in my closet for many, many, many years. After doing some spring cleaning I rediscovered it. Its a parlor sized acoustic and after rediscovering it yesterday, I noticed it kicks butt for some delta blues, slide playing, and bluegrass. Its a cheapie. It frets out like a bitch in higher registers. I dont think it has a trussrod. I'm wanting to just give it an overhaul, and looking for pointers. I guess it is basically firewood, but I cut my teeth on this axe and want to fix it up.

Look down the fingerboard from the nut end...is it straight? If so, there are a couple different ways you can lower the action w/o spending much $$$:

(A) First, look at the bridge and saddle...how high are they? Is there enough to where sanding down will do much good? If so, this is the easiest option...if not, there Plan B.

(B) CAREFULLY (after removing the strings, of course), take a thin Pyoki saw and cut through the heel where the neck joins the body, all the way just to the fingerboard (basically, you'll be removing a thin slice). Next, CAREFULLY drill two holes through the heel of the neck, one about 1/2" from the rear of the heel and one about halfway to the fingerboard. Now, thread a bolt through both holes, with the head and a washer on the outside and the nut and a washer on the insideinside...tighten it up just enough to hold the gap you've created firmly closed, then tune to concert pitch. Now, if the action is OK, stop...if it's still a little high, tighten the bolts about 1/4 of a turn on each at a time, until it's where you want it. If you want it to be a little prettier, counter-sink the bolt heads a little bit beneath the surface of the heel and fashion a couple of wood plugs to cover 'em up after you've got the action where you want it.

OTOH, if your neck is warped, because you're without an adjustable truss-rod, you can heat the neck up with a heat-lamp, then clamp the neck on both sides of the worst of the bend to a steel bar, with two flat pieces of hardwood for leverage, until the neck is straight...reheat it for about an hour, just to where it's almost too hot to touch...now, let the neck stay clamped for a few days, then remove the clamps and see if it straightened out...doesn't always work, but a lot of times it will.

Worst case, tune it to an open chord and play some blues!

HTH.

[kwakatak]

It's certainly not firewood at all. Like you said, it's good for playing down near the nut or as a slide guitar. Fix that old box up! It won't cost that much to do and you won't regret it!

I also have my original "teeth cutter" guitar which is a concert-sized Kay model K-401 (similar in size to a Martin 00). I can't tell what kind of wood it's supposed to be, but it's either plywood, laminated pine or at the very best laminated and stained maple. I pulled it out of my mother's attic, put new 3 on a plate tuners ($15 from Elderly) and a fresh set of Martin SP fingerstyle or John Pearse strings ($6.50 from juststrings.com) on it and I had myself a nice little blues guitar.