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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Chordie's Chat Corner → Any idea on the make or model?
A friend found this in his deceased brother's belongings. He asked me to clean it up and restring it for his grand daughter. No info on it except the sticker on the back of the headstock says made in Korea. The tag on front of headstock says "Steel Re enforced Neck".The pick guard is held on with screws. A toy I suspect but thought maybe someone would know. Thanks.
sorry deadstring,I do not reconize it as any brand I know of.
Well while I don't know what make it is I don't think it's supposed to be a toy. "Steel reinforced neck" would suggest a truss rod, (as would what appears to be a truss rod cover), so I'm guessing it's a "proper" guitar.
There is writing on the truss rod cover. Does that give any clues?
Roger
Looks like the Harmony I used to have. Same "steel reinforced neck" sticker and same screwed on pick guard. Mine had a diff bridge setup. It was adjustable. It was a smaller scale guitar, like 7/8. Not quite small enough to be 3/4 size. Mine was a piece of junk. Never stayed in tune, didn't sound very good, and the flat fretboard was too hard to play.
Maybe give this a try:
Thanks to zguitar and his link, it could very well be a Harmony from the Forties or Fifties. I did not find the exact model but I did find some with the same tail piece and some with the same type Headstock. Some even had the sticker that said "Steel Reinforced Neck" but none of the stickers were shaped like this one.By the way, Steel reinforced evidently doesn't necessarily mean adjustable. I find no way to adjust this. That is not a truss rod cover, only a sticker. Anyway, this thing would be good deco for a Cafe or other. The top is sunk in almost as deep as the saddle. Something heavy must have been sitting on it for a while. I am still going to string it and see if it will play.
I`m thinking it`s a Kay or Harmony. The bridge and tailpiece say harmony,while the steel reinforced neck sticker makes me think of a kay.Harmony had a distinctive way of writing it on all their guitars. But the top caved in says harmony. The tuners can be either although they look like something on a harmony. The made in korea throws it off completely.Although I did have a korean made kay along with an american one. Probably doesnt help much.The word harmony seems to come up a lot.
Harmony guitars are Kay guitars, just a different distributor, Sears, I think. Kay made guitars under a number of names.
Two different animals. They both made guitars for sears. Harmony ceased production in the 70s. Kay was bought by Seeburg in the 60s. They do look alike..They were both built in chicago. They are both import brands now. P.S. I am not looking to start an online argument
No,no arguing for sure. What ever it was, it's junk now. I have it restrung and it's all but un playable. I am ready to return it to it's owner along with a First Act that I have so his grand daughter will have something to beat on.
Those old Harmony guitars can make a great slide guitar, once the "steel reinforced neck" starts to curl up. I saw a 1940;s model wired with a single coil humbucker that had a wonderfully dirty sound when amplified. The guy painted it flat black, which somehow complemented that dirty sound.
jjj, no argument from me, dude. I am just repeating the little that I learned online when trying to acquire parts for an old Kay I acquired recently, plus some info from a guitar restorer with a soft spot for old Kay and Harmony guitars.
Randy
It seems my confusion was the result of the Sears "Silvertone" line, which was made by both Kay and Harmony, seperately, but sold as the Sears house brand. My bad.
I love the old silvertones along with old kays and harmony`s. I`ve had 2 kays,2 silvertones, and 2 harmony`s and Istill have a danelectro silvertone amp in case from the 60s. It may sound stupid but the old harmony`s are how I learned what NOT to buy a guitar for. (caved in tops,bowed necks, siezed tuning pegs). All things I check for when I look at any acoustics. Kay`s had the problem of pin bridges pulling up and siezed tuning pegs. I turned down an old airline because of the lessons learned from the Kay`s and harmony`s. I have gone through a lot of different guitars through the years and I still get taken every now and then. Always on harmonys and kays. When they are nice they are really nice, when they are junk,they are junk
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Chordie's Chat Corner → Any idea on the make or model?
