Harmony H15 Bobkat electronics

[andrewnelles]

I'm helping a buddy restore a beat up Harmony H15 Bobkat, it had damaged pots, jack, etc. It had been dead for about a year.

We spent the afternoon putting in the CTS pots, a new switchcraft jack, and some fresh caps. All went well, the tone is better than ever, however this guitar has a ton a hum and noise. It always did, but it seems worse now.

All of the new wiring is fully shielded.

Any suggestions on how to combat this? The tailpiece is not grounded, and I don't see any reasonable method to ground it. The pickguard and cavity lack any shielding tape, maybe adding some could help?

He's prepared to live with it as is since it's a Harmony, just exploring options. Thanks in advance.

[Strat62]

Perhaps you could drill one of the tailpiece mounting screw holes thru into the body and run a grounding wire from there? If the strings aren't grounded that's got to cause a lot of the noise.

[TNO]

Yup, ground wire will fix it.

[oldsoultroy]

Some of the bridges had a lug for it and some didnt... this much I know!

[andrewnelles]

This is the guitar. I don't see a way of drilling a hole to the tailpiece without going through the side of the guitar, the routing under the pickguard is very narrow.

My only thought was to replace with bridge with a similar style that is made of metal, and ground through the pickguard to that.

[banjohabit]

i'm getting ready to do the same on mine. i'm just gonna get a long drill, maybe 1/4 in. aircraft bit, and go from the closest spot in the control rout all the way to the trem spring hole. that hole is (i'm hoping) deep enough to reach with a drill at the crazy angle you've got to use to drill at all. i am going to shield it too.

that is my first choice anyway. my son and i are still stewing about it and i haven't showed it to my luthier friend. i will prolly refinish this guitar (already done, quite poorly, years ago) so that may leave me some other options if i choose to go with a color finish. but the maple veneer on the front & back is so gorgeous i think it is going to be clear again. let us know how you did.

[Mike Eskimo]

My only thought was to replace with bridge with a similar style that is made of metal, and ground through the pickguard to that.

Narrow string spacing so the trick is to use a Rickenbacker clone bridge. Works really well.

Mike Koontz shielded mine w/out involving the bridge. I think he used tape. Mine had unbelievably microphonic and LOUD pickups. When he was done it was quiet as a mouse.

BTW - it was my Keith guitar so that's why the 5 strings...

[Ringo]

Years ago a guy I knew here in Memphis had a vintage / resale store in midtown. One night when the store was closed we played every guitar in the shop and really cranked it up , he had Les Pauls, Teles, Strats, all kinds of cool stuff.
And to our suprise one of the best sounding guitars was one of those Harmony axes with those Dearmond pickups, it was killer.

I have thought about trying one of those pickups for a Tele neck pickup, I know some of the guys here at the TDPRI have done that.
They are HOT pickups for sure!

[banjohabit]

i've got a gibson tune-o-matic on mine, fits perfectly. i've got the trem bar screwed down. the sound of this guitar is the only reason to put this much effort into it, those pickups are the deal indeed!

[rjones652]

Honestly, I'd go get a small roll of awg 42 "pickup wire" with yellow or amber enamel,
then string it from the jackplate to the bridge...there'll be about 1 - 1 1/2 inches of wire, but it should be almost invisible except on really close inspection.

The chances of going off-center with a drill would be too high for me.
I checked the Harmony Guys website's Kamikazee Lutherie subforum, and that's what they've apparently been doing...plus it keeps the old girl fairly original.

[Cam]

and in case you haven't been here yet:
http://harmony.demont.net/

[rjones652]

Originally Posted by Cam

and in case you haven't been here yet:
http://harmony.demont.net/

Two avenues there:

1) the "Lutherie" button on that top page (to the right, under Plus)

or

b) go to harmony.demont.net/board and join that forum... they have an extensive subforum on pro/semi-pro/kitchen-hack lutherie that I refer to all the time...good people there.