#1
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Any opinions on this project ?
For a couple of years I've had the body of a 1949 Harmony Patrician sitting on a shelf. I acquired it from a friend who found it in a county landfill with the neck ruined. The back was seperating from the body so I removed it and trimmed some damaged wood from the sides. As a result, it has a slightly thinner profile.
My intention is to rebuild the guitar and make a neck from a chunk of African Mahagony I have available. However before I set this project into motion with all the time and money to be invested.................would this body be worth the effort ? The back and sides are birdseye maple with a spruce top but I could be building a very nice yet poor-sounding guitar. I think it might be persuasive to do the project just because the body is so old but that doesn't guarantee anything. |
#2
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Age can make a good guitar better. It will not make a poor guitar good.
You are the best judge of your skills and the value of your time. I would say that if you think you can do a good job of this, and your time is worth something, you could likely find a better project.
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"Still a man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest." --Paul Simon |
#3
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You can always make the neck for it, fix up the body, realize the body is junk, make a new body to replace the old one. Depends how valuble your time is.
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#4
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Your best plan would be to do a Klepper-style conversion, and replace the top with an X-braced flat top. That way, you have a chance of getting a decent sounding guitar ... the sides and back are solid after all, aren't they?
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#5
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or .... make a shorter scale 8 string Bouzouki/octave mando.
I had this done on an old Hofner - great sound - scale too long. |
#6
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FWIW, I haven't experienced any Harmony guitars that I would consider "good" (no flames please)and yet there are many people spending lots of money to restore them and ones in good condition can fetch 1000 dollars and more. They were, in general, budget priced alternatives to more expensive better quality guitars (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, since I wasn't born in 1940). Hence, "value" is almost entirely subjective but for less than 500 bucks you can get a Seagull that is likely better quality sound and build, but the Seagull won't be built in 1949.
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---- Ned Milburn NSDCC Master Artisan Dartmouth, Nova Scotia |
#7
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Is the project the project itself or is the project to get a good guitar? I don't think you can lose if you just want to do it regardless of the outcome.
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Divots in my fingers Music in my head I wonder what would be If I chose car racing instead. Jim Schofield |
#8
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Very well stated!!
__________________
---- Ned Milburn NSDCC Master Artisan Dartmouth, Nova Scotia |
#9
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Yes, all solid.
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#10
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i think the answer is here. what's more important? looks, sound, or how you got there?
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