Mattt0192 Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 Hey guys, I'm working on restoring a harmony stella. It has a tailpiece and I was wondering if anyone knew what type of bridge goes on it. I got it from an old man down the road who had it sitting in garage since the late 90's when his wife made him put all of his gear out there to make room for her precious porcelain crap. Anyways when i got it it was pretty busted up, basically the only hardware left on it was the tailpiece. The bridge was gone and the tuners were 3x3 on a plate and it was so bad it had the plates but was only a 1x2 lol. please help. -Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 The Harmony stellas came with a floating, adjustable bridge: I have one I bought on a garage sale for $5.00. My kids played on it and I did for a while. The pick guard curled up, so I removed it with the intent of re-installing it. I've since mis-placed it or just flat lost it. The above is NOT mine. The dark part is of wood with a cove milled on each end and a slot down the middle. The plastic saddle was suspended in the slot with two screws which threaded directly into the plastic. The whole affair was held in place by the down pressure of the strings. My guess is when the last string rusted in two, it fell to the garage floor. Check with the former owner to see if he has seen anything like it. I doubt you will find a replacement. The Harmony company that made these went out of business years ago. I doubt the current Harmony company would even carry a part such as this. These guit tars were and are in expensive so not many people are interested in restoring. However, there has been renewed interest in these cheap guit tars as the 40, 50 , and 60 somethings seem to all have a Harmony in their past. Many are interested in recapturing the one that got away. Still not a lot of money but they are kind of cool to play. You could fabricate a simple one piece saddle-bridge from just about any material you may have on hand, like wood or plastic. There is a chance Stewart-MacDonald (they have a website) may carrying a universal floating bridge as tail piece flat-tops are still being made in Europe. A bit of caution: These had neither a reinforced neck nor a truss rod. If you feel you must restring with steel, go with ultra lights. My recommendation is nylon, as that is what my Stella is strung with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 You might be interested in this page: http://www.broadwaymusicco.com/harmony6.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattt0192 Posted November 4, 2009 Author Share Posted November 4, 2009 thanks man, i've basically crawled over stewmac.com for the past few weeks and the closest thing i've found is only made for arch top acoustics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ship of fools Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 It really is the same as a lot of older jazz box bridges, but sometimes you can buy one off of e-bay for the same amount of money as a new bridge so look around.Ship Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 I, personally, would hesitate to get an arch top bridge. They seem to have a lot of mass and that might overwhelm a simple flat top box. But, I've never tried it. Also, the arch top bridge's feet / bass has a radius so as to better match the arch-top, these would have to be milled / filed / sanded flat. The other thing is, if you click on the 'Specs' tab on the product page, you will get a drawing. If my mental adding machine is right the base to top of saddle height is nearly an inch at the lowest setting. Your Stella won't be able to use that much height. My saddle is barely a pencil and a half diameter high. If you have sufficient wood working skills, Stew-Mac has bridge blanks. A slab of ebony or rosewood runs $6 - $8. Or... if you do any kind of wood work, you likely have some hardwood scraps lying around, ash, maple, poplar... Order up a saddle from Stew-Mac, or purchase one at your local guit tar shop. Then make a 9/16" wide x 4" long x 1/2" high, the cut an appropriate sized slot down the middle so your saddle fits snug. Don't make it a through slot. It will have to rest on the bridge so the strings hold the whole affair down. Might not be the most perfectest set up, but this is, after all, a parlor guit tar and it doesn't need to be very loud. These un-trussed guit tars should only be strung with nylon.... which don't normally have ball ends. Either salvage from used strings, or do like I did on my Stella. I bought an assortment of pearl colored beads at the craft shop. Then strung one on the end of each string, making a knot that wouldn't pull through. Works like a champ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 Buy a suitable archtop bridge and trim it down to size. It will save you a lot of work, you'll have that thing strung up within the hour. You did peer around inside that thing with a lighted mirror looking for defects before you were planning on tension-ing up the garage guitar right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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