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Bridge for a Harmony guitar?


jds2005

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I have an old Harmony electric that a friend has asked me to fix up for him. It's a Harmony "Est. in 1892," so it's an imported one, and has two chrome soapbar-ish single coil pickups and a vibrato. That's pretty much all I know about it. It hasn't been touched in at least 15 years, but the neck is straight and the electronics all work fine aside from needing to clean the pots.

 

Anyway, all other identifying marks have worn off or have been removed over the years, so I'm looking for any details on this guitar anyone might have. The closest thing I've found Googling is the H-802, but this one has the vibrato tailpiece and no pickup switches...but I'm definitely far from a Harmony expert. The serial number in the bridge pickup cavity (see pics) is "75 822."

 

The main thing I'm looking for is a bridge - the original is missing and hasn't been seen in years. I'd rather keep it original than install a different bridge.

 

I'm not aiming for a restoration or anything all that invasive - just looking to get it functioning again, so I'm hoping some of you guys might know something about these and where I can find parts. Thanks!

 

On to the pics:

 

Whole guitar (I don't think that's the right trem arm for this, but it was there and it'll work):

harmony1.jpg

 

Headstock. Missing a tuner bushing for the 5th string, but the bridge is more important right now:

harmonyheadstock.jpg

 

Bridge studs and tailpiece:

harmonybridge.jpg

 

Serial number (under the pickguard in the bridge pickup cavity):

harmonyserial.jpg

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Highly doubtful that you'll be able to get a direct replacement, but all you have to do is measure the radius and post spacing and search through the offerings at lmi, stewmac, gfs, wd, etc to find a similarly spaced product. If you do, it'll just pop right over it and you'll be up and running. If you can't find one, give Fatdawg a call. He's notorious for being flaky, and you'll probably have to call a couple times, but in terms of junker, oddball guitars, he ALWAYS has what you need. Make sure you take good measurements.

 

Good luck!

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The bridge for these is one of the simplest, and it was used previously on Teisco, Kawai, and other MIJ guitars of the 60s and 70s. All it is is an arched metal bar, with indentations for the strings in it. Like most simple bridges, it doesn't have any intonation marks, the strings all cross at the same spot. I've seen a few on ebay, usually with the bottom part that you still have. Also, I've noticed a lot of the complete guitars selling for less than $100, nostalgia factor I guess. But if you can't find one, it'd play in tune a lot better with a tune o matic type bridge. -Adam

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Thanks for the replies! That piece on Allparts looks like it'll do the trick...it's exactly 2 9/16" center to center.

 

Upgrading to a tune-o-matic did cross my mind...but $7 + shipping + some elbow grease to clean the rest up works for me. :cool:

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