Guitar
This is a very interesting old Harmony guitar made sometime in the 1930's.
I am certainly no expert on these guitars - its not often I get guitars in of this age to look at.
She belongs to a well known Kiwi songwriter and performer and I'm pleased to say she gets gigged regularly. So many vintage guitars never get played and I feel its a real shame - they're not ornaments! He's brought me the guitar for me to check the electrics out before it goes on a US tour with him. There's no actual fault with it but its prudent to get it checked in case any wires are just hanging on by a thread. Equipement failiure on stage is rather embarasing.
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Feel free to contact me about repair work (if you are in NZ). I only check emails weekly so the workshop phone is always the best 09 307 6501.
- Battery Compartment For Emg's
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I come accross a lot of electric guitar pickups, Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, EMG... but in early 2006 I had my first experience of Bare Knuckle Pickups (http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.nz/). I was asked to fit a pair of them in a Les Paul Std for Sam from...
- Pickup Winding
I often have people bringing me faulty pickups. Sometimes it turns out there's just a loose wire and simply needs re-soldering. But sometimes the pickup needs re-winding.With humbuckers its only usually one coil in which case I can measure the working...
- Strat Pick-up Height
I come accross Strats and Teles a lot - I'm a Fender player myself. Its very common for the pick-up height to be adjusted incorrectly. Its something that's easy to sort out and can make a big difference to your sound. If the pick-up is too...
Guitar
Harmony 1930's
This is a very interesting old Harmony guitar made sometime in the 1930's.
I am certainly no expert on these guitars - its not often I get guitars in of this age to look at.
There are no markings on it anywhere to indicate a model but I'm sure there's someone out there who can help with that.
She belongs to a well known Kiwi songwriter and performer and I'm pleased to say she gets gigged regularly. So many vintage guitars never get played and I feel its a real shame - they're not ornaments! He's brought me the guitar for me to check the electrics out before it goes on a US tour with him. There's no actual fault with it but its prudent to get it checked in case any wires are just hanging on by a thread. Equipement failiure on stage is rather embarasing.
It has two pickup systems fitted. The bridge is wooden and has a piezo pickup built into it. This is great at picking up the higher frequency more percussive aspects of the tone but as it's only really 'hearing' vibration from the strings doesn't give the full picture.
The under saddle pickup is run through a Barlolini preamp which has a fixed eq setting. Its a great little system and it warms up the otherwise harsh piezo sound nicely. All the wires going to it are sound and have heat shrink over the connections which helps prevent bad connections.
Undersaddle pickups have a sound which tends to be all top and bottom. They have a jangly sparkle at the top end and preamps give thay a boomy rich bass but they can lack mids. So this guitar has a magnetic pickup fitted accross the soundhole. This gives a good midrange sound although can sound too much like an electric guitar at times. The guitar is fitted with a blend control so you can decide how much of each pickup system you want, and a volume control. The volume and tone are the most likely places for bad connections.
I took both the potentiometers out and removed all the connections, cut and stripped back the wire and re-soldered them all. I applied heat shrink to all the connections as well. Its important to tin the wires before connecting them.
This is simply applying solder to the bare wire which insures a thorough and deep solder joint. If the wires aren't tinned first it is more likely that there'll be a 'dry joint'. This is simply a joint that although looking ok is not connected properly. Dry joints are harder to track down than broken joints which is why I'm replacing all the soldering on this guitar to make sure its all sound. Since starting this blog I've heard the U.S. tour went well and they're touring Europe now. I'm still here though.
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Feel free to contact me about repair work (if you are in NZ). I only check emails weekly so the workshop phone is always the best 09 307 6501.
Workshop Hours
Mon……. 8-6
Tues……. 8-6
Wed…….. Closed
Thurs …..8-6
Fri ……….8-6
Sat/Sun ..Closed
Tues……. 8-6
Wed…….. Closed
Thurs …..8-6
Fri ……….8-6
Sat/Sun ..Closed
Mr Glyn’s Guitars
21a Khyber Pass Road
Auckland
New Zealand
http://www.mrglyn.co.nz/
www.facebook.com/MrGlynGuitars
www.mrglyn.blogspot.com
09 307 6501, 021 912678
- Battery Compartment For Emg's
This is most definitely a ROCK guitar- it's a Dean Dime-o-Flage. The owner has decided to swap the stock pickups for EMG's and has gone for the classic 81,85 combination. He's going for the 18 volt option which gives the pickups...
- On Tour - Tales From The Back Line
There are a few different aspects to guitar repairing. All my work happens in my own controlled environment - the workshop. Touring Guitar Techs have to work wherever they find themselves - they need to be quick, have magician like fault finding skills,...
- Bare Knuckle Pickups
I come accross a lot of electric guitar pickups, Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, EMG... but in early 2006 I had my first experience of Bare Knuckle Pickups (http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.nz/). I was asked to fit a pair of them in a Les Paul Std for Sam from...
- Pickup Winding
I often have people bringing me faulty pickups. Sometimes it turns out there's just a loose wire and simply needs re-soldering. But sometimes the pickup needs re-winding.With humbuckers its only usually one coil in which case I can measure the working...
- Strat Pick-up Height
I come accross Strats and Teles a lot - I'm a Fender player myself. Its very common for the pick-up height to be adjusted incorrectly. Its something that's easy to sort out and can make a big difference to your sound. If the pick-up is too...