Non-Gibson guitar question….

[dhanners623]

I have a general question regarding acoustics with floating bridges vs. acoustics with pin bridges….

I scored a 1954 Stella H929 off eBay. Hasn’t arrived yet, but the seller says it’s in very good condition, recently had a neck reset, has had all the other issues addressed, plays great, yadda yadda yadda. I taught myself to play (years ago) on my late brother’s Stella and I’ve been wanting to get one for awhile. The H929 is a ladder-braced 12-fret with the top and body built of solid birch. They were built in Chicago. Elvis actually played a couple of different H929s in “Jailhouse Rock,” according to Scotty Moore.

The guitar has a floating bridge and tailpiece. I’ve long been fascinated by Scott Baxendale’s conversions of vintage Harmony guitars, including some where he replaces the floating bridge with a pinned bridge. (He glues in a bridge plate, and often makes some other changes/additions to the bracing.) I have an experienced luthier/repair guy in Stockport, Jim Fleeting, who is willing to tackle the job if I go the conversion route.

Every guitar I’ve owned since my brother’s Stella has had a pinned bridge. In all my years of playing, I’ve never stopped to consider if there are sonic or other differences between floating vs. pinned bridges. Is one more advantageous than the other?

Thoughts? Warnings? Considerations?

[Dave F]

I've owned and still own a few floating bridges. I've never thought about the sonic differences. Some are cheapies, some are high end.

I do have a Kay with the birch top. It's worth maybe a $100 but I soaked a few hundred in it to get it in very fine playing condition. It still sounds like a $100 birch top ladder braced guitar. Just did it because it was my first guitar my mom bought for me. I don't think I would invest in one that didn't have a strong sentimental value, I would use the money for my next major purchase.

[dhanners623]

11 hours ago, Dave F said:

I've owned and still own a few floating bridges. I've never thought about the sonic differences. Some are cheapies, some are high end.

I do have a Kay with the birch top. It's worth maybe a $100 but I soaked a few hundred in it to get it in very fine playing condition. It still sounds like a $100 birch top ladder braced guitar. Just did it because it was my first guitar my mom bought for me. I don't think I would invest in one that didn't have a strong sentimental value, I would use the money for my next major purchase.

Thanks. I’m kind of inclined to keep it as it is, but at least get a new nut and get the floating bridge and saddle up to modern standards. I ran my questions past a friend of mine, Minneapolis master luthier Marty Reynolds, who has a sideline of rebuilding vintage Stellas and Harmonys into really good players. He said that if the top was secure and there was a good break angle between the tailpiece and the floating bridge, a conversion would be possible and it probably wouldn’t add a lot of strain to the top, provided an appropriate bridge plate was installed. But he also said that sometimes, there’s a big lateral brace right where a bridge plate would go.

A conversion may be more expense than it is worth. At this point, I’d probably prefer to spend the money on a decent pickup.

The guitar should be arriving Friday or Saturday. The seller had hoped to send it out yesterday but said he ran into a “bubble wrap issue,” so it’ll go out today or tomorrow. Hopefully today.

Edited October 25, 2023 by dhanners623

[Larsongs]

I own a Made in Korea Gretsch G-5120 Electric Guitar with floating Bridge that sounds really good. Even though it’s not high end Terada or a vintage USA..

I also own a Gretsch G-6136T-59 Vintage Select White Falcon which has a pinned Bridge that wounds fantastic!

I’m not sure whether pinned or unpinned it will make your Guitar sound worse.. Or better.. If it’s a good sounding Guitar if it’s done by an expert it should still sound good.. Can Hide Glue be used? If so, it’s reversible…

[dhanners623]

12 minutes ago, Larsongs said:

I own a Made in Korea Gretsch G-5120 Electric Guitar with floating Bridge that sounds really good. Even though it’s not high end Terada or a vintage USA..

I also own a Gretsch G-6136T-59 Vintage Select White Falcon which has a pinned Bridge that wounds fantastic!

I’m not sure whether pinned or unpinned it will make your Guitar sound worse.. Or better.. If it’s a good sounding Guitar if it’s done by an expert it should still sound good.. Can Hide Glue be used? If so, it’s reversible…

If you’re talking about gluing on a saddle, yeah, I’m sure Jim could use hide glue. I don’t know about it being reversible, though, as he’d need to remove the lacquer and finish where the bridge would go in order to allow for wood-to-wood contact.

I may just leave well-enough alone….

[zombywoof]

These were often our first guitars.  Back in the day the H929 would run you less than $30 brand spanking new and were marketed by Harmony as an excellent choice for a beginner or for playing at home.

I currently own two Stellas with floating bridges.  One is a 1930s Supertone (the Sears house brand before Silvertone) which has an art deco panel thing going on. The other is a leftover Oscar Schmit-made instrument acquired by Harmony when they purchased the guitar building end of the Schmidt company in 1939 giving them the rights to the Stella and Sovereign names.   

While I have never bothered putzing with these I have added pinless bridges and cut down the combination maple bridge plate/brace on two of my Sovereign H1260s.  As these, of course, never sported a floating bridge and tailpiece before and after comparisons may not be all that applicable, what I found is that while the pin bridge conversion did not change the sound of the guitar it did make them more responsive.

[Larsongs]

It really wouldn’t have bothered me if my White Falcon didn’t have a Pinned Bridge.. It isn’t a big deal to Set up a Floating  Bridge..

Here’s a pretty good short Video.. 

 

[Murph]

When I was a kid we had a Harmony acoustic with f-holes and a floating bridge and a pickup.

It was a favorite at jams because of good action and loud volume, plugged or unplugged. It was demolished in a violent flurry of blood.

I have no idea what it was.

[dhanners623]

9 hours ago, Murph said:

When I was a kid we had a Harmony acoustic with f-holes and a floating bridge and a pickup.

It was a favorite at jams because of good action and loud volume, plugged or unplugged. It was demolished in a violent flurry of blood.

I have no idea what it was.

Sounds like a song in there, as long as the guitar was strung with Black Diamond strings….

(Speaking of which, when I taught myself to play my late brother’s Stella in the very early ‘70s, I strung it with Black Diamonds. The only place to buy strings in my East Central Illinois hometown of 2,500 was Millikan’s Pharmacy (!?!) and all they carried were Black Diamonds. I was thinking of getting a set to throw on the Stella when it arrives, but they seem hard to come by in the U.K. I seem to recall trying a set a decade or so ago just for nostalgia’s sake, and took them off after a couple of days.)

Edited October 26, 2023 by dhanners623

[Larsongs]

2 hours ago, dhanners623 said:

Sounds like a song in there, as long as it was strung with Black Diamond strings….

(Speaking of which, when I taught myself to play my late brother’s Stella in the very early ‘70s, I strung it with Black Diamonds. The only place to buy strings in my East Central Illinois hometown of 2,500 was Millikan’s Pharmacy (!?!) and all they carried were Black Diamonds. I was thinking of getting a set to throw on the Stella when it arrives, but they seem hard to come by in the U.K. I seem to recall trying a set a decade or so ago just for nostalgia’s sake, and took them off after a couple of days.)

Try here…

https://blackdiamondstrings.com

[dhanners623]

51 minutes ago, Larsongs said:

Try here…

https://blackdiamondstrings.com

The issue is finding them here in the U.K. Amazon has them but they are ridiculously expensive. For example, a set of medium 80/20s goes for £17.42, which works out to over $21 at today’s exchange rate. StringsDirect, which is kind of the U.K. equivalent to JustStrings, doesn’t carry them. Some individual brick-and-mortar shops my carry them. I’ll have to check.

 

[Dave F]

8 minutes ago, dhanners623 said:

The issue is finding them here in the U.K. Amazon has them but they are ridiculously expensive. For example, a set of medium 80/20s goes for £17.42, which works out to over $21 at today’s exchange rate. StringsDirect, which is kind of the U.K. equivalent to JustStrings, doesn’t carry them. Some individual brick-and-mortar shops my carry them. I’ll have to check.

 

Next time, move to a guitar friendly country 😉

 

[Larsongs]

1 hour ago, dhanners623 said:

The issue is finding them here in the U.K. Amazon has them but they are ridiculously expensive. For example, a set of medium 80/20s goes for £17.42, which works out to over $21 at today’s exchange rate. StringsDirect, which is kind of the U.K. equivalent to JustStrings, doesn’t carry them. Some individual brick-and-mortar shops my carry them. I’ll have to check.

 

So much for that idea!