Harmony Stella H942 Repair Thread - Page 3

tateharmann · #31 06-08-2021, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArchtopLover

Nice job pulling that bridge. Really clean. I would think that the small amount of top arch I see in your photo looks OK. Not sure if all the effort to flatten the top is necessary, but hey, what do I know, I prefer archtops anyway

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Well, you are the third person to tell me that so maybe I should get a clue lol! Agreed....this will be the last attempt...whatever flatness I gain could be all lost as soon as I string it up anyways haha.

tateharmann · #32 06-14-2021, 07:53 AM

As expected I gained nearly nothing from the last attempt to flatten the top. So, I'm moving on to fitting the bridge to the contour of the top and regluing.

Honestly, the bulge wasn't what concerned me so much as did the downward slope of the front of the bridge. I suppose after all is said and done I could install a bridge doctor to counteract that.

Moving on!

tateharmann · #33 06-15-2021, 09:05 AM

All glued up...I bought one of those bridge clamps from Amazon...worked great!

tateharmann · #34 06-20-2021, 03:33 PM

Duplicate..

tateharmann · #35 06-20-2021, 03:44 PM

Here are some shots of the neck reset thus far. To pull the neck I used a poor man's version of StewMac's heatstick and neck removal jig. If I recall, the copper rods plus the two drill bits were less than $20 on Amazon. The jig is just some clamps and boards lol.

One rod and holding the soldering iron on by hand wasn't enough so I drilled another hole and clamped the iron in place with jumper cables haha. After 20-30 minutes it was loose enough to pull. I did put some water down the holes too.

tateharmann · #36 06-20-2021, 05:34 PM

More of the same process..

The very tip of the neck dovetail broke off. I just extracted it and glued it back in place [emoji106]

tateharmann · #37 06-20-2021, 06:38 PM

More neck reset pics...it's a long process. Currently, I've got enough material removed so that the neck angle is looking good. A straightedge on the frets is projecting to a point just slightly clearing the top of the bridge by a 32nd or so.

The neck was also mostly straight where the steel reinforcement was so I opted to just plane a New angle into the fretboard extension so that it matches the plane of the rest of the fb.

To do next Will be the dovetail and fb extension shims [emoji106]

tateharmann · #38 06-20-2021, 06:46 PM

Forgot these pics. In the process of pulling the neck the top detached a bit from the neck block so I wanted to address that plus a loose brace on the top plus the crack that goes under the pick guard and "rosette". Do you just call that the sound hole decoration in acoustic guitar world? Lol

tateharmann · #39 06-23-2021, 11:48 AM

Dovetail shims made...I think this is where the process becomes very tedious, right?

tateharmann · #40 06-27-2021, 01:57 PM

Clamping cauls made and shims glued up. I've also got an area on the body masked off where I will scrape the finish off. The area under the FB extension is necessary to be clean. Many people don't scrape the neck profile on the sides, though, because they don't glue it. Im thinking I'll scrape and glue mine, however, because it's kind of a mess already and I will want to it hide some gaps [emoji106]

jricc · #41 06-30-2021, 05:22 AM

Fantastic work tateharmann! Ive enjoyed following your progress. Thanks for documenting and sharing.

tateharmann · #42 06-30-2021, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jricc

Fantastic work tateharmann! Ive enjoyed following your progress. Thanks for documenting and sharing.

No problem at all - thanks for following the repairs! It's been a learning experience that's for sure. One way or another I WILL get this cheap guitar to play hahahaha.

tateharmann · #43 06-30-2021, 08:54 AM

Fitting process complete...what a three hour pain lol.

As you'll see, I ended up with a noticeable gap between the heel and body on the bass side. It looks much better on the treble side. I also lost some of the neck angle I acquired by shaving the heel in the fitting process. Now, instead of the straightedge on the frets just clearing the top of the bridge, it bumps into it just barely (maybe a 32nd or 16th). I really don't want to mess with shaving more from the heel and re-shimming though. Considering previously the neck was so pitched up that a straightedge wouldn't even pass the neck to body joint without getting bumped up, though, this is good progress. I think before I started work a theoretical straightedge on the plane of the frets would have ended up in the soundhole or around there haha. I think I can also gain some more angle after gluing in the fret leveling process (it will need it) by putting more pressure on the frets closest to the headstock while leveling them. I can also shave a hair off of the bridge too as it's still at its factory chunky thickness. I will be making a new bone saddle for this one as well.

So, the dry fit is good - next will be the glue up!

tateharmann · #44 07-01-2021, 12:46 PM

Access holes filled with epoxy and rosewood dust, old frets installed again. I wanted to do some of these little things before gluing the neck back in.

tateharmann · #45 07-06-2021, 06:39 AM

Glued the neck back in place. The joint fit tight by hand and even tighter with glue...even so, I decided at the last minute to apply some very slight down pressure at the headstock to let the joint set that way. I don't know if this was a good idea or not but it set that way and I ended up with a near perfect neck angle.

I guess if it breaks loose then I can just set it again lol.

I also decided to not shim under the FB extension because it didn't look too bad to me and didn't have much of a gap.