Harmony H46 stratotone prototype

[mexicanyella]

I would love to hear sound samples! What a cool project. I used to have the Airline-branded version of the guitar @Wally posted; the black and white 2-pickup H46. Seeing his “like new” one and your modern recreation(ish) of one is really cool.

That guitar I had was in pretty rough shape but with a compressor, reverb and tremolo it could make some fantastic twangy “spaghetti western soundtrack” sounds.

 

[Greenmachine]

Cool build!!

 

[James Knox]

Looking good on a very cool build. I love short scale guitars….

 

[Wally]

Sorry - I'm I'm a bit late joining in with this great thread - I have a 1960 Stratotone H47 Jupiter.
I was interested to check the scale length - interestingly it is exactly the same as Wally's measurements:
12 + 1/16" to 12th fret and 24 + 1/8th" to bridge saddle
View attachment 1076679

Anyway - I can see you have finished the build! Great job what a super project!

ime, measuring the distance from the nut to a movable bridge can lead one to erroneous conclusions as to scale length. @tingag27 has the bridge placement somewhere very near correct. The earlier post that concluded that the scale length to the bridge was 25 1/2” undoubtedly has very flat intonation.
Fwiw, I compensate a bridge such as this. Within the confines of that bridge, correct intonation can be had.
@Josip55, good job!!!

 

[tintag27]

ime, measuring the [email protected] from the nut to a movable bridge can lead one to erroneous conclusions as to scale length. @tingag27 has the bridge placement somewhere very near correct. The earlier post that concluded that the scale length to the bridge was 25 1/2” undoubtedly has very flat intonation.
Fwiw, I compensate a bridge such as this. Within the confines of that bridge, correct intonation can be had.
@Josip55, good job!!!

Good points, Wally...In this instance I had to buy a stock wooden bridge and hand-craft it to replace the non-original aluminum vibrato bridge/ tailpiece (!) that had been fitted... After a couple of years scanning eBay I finally came across a period-correct replacement tailpiece (the 60's Gretsch Corvette had a very similar TP). So I made sure I got the bridge as close to 2x12th fret measurement as I could...
What I did notice was that the short scale seemed to be more tolerant of intonation anyway!

 

[Wally]

Good points, Wally...In this instance I had to buy a stock wooden bridge and hand-craft it to replace the non-original aluminum vibrato bridge/ tailpiece (!) that had been fitted... After a couple of years scanning eBay I finally came across a period-correct replacement tailpiece (the 60's Gretsch Corvette had a very similar TP). So I made sure I got the bridge as close to 2x12th fret measurement as I could...
What I did notice was that the short scale seemed to be more tolerant of intonation anyway!

actually, a shorter scale length increases the amount of error in intonation for any distance that is incorrect. A shorter scale also increases the pitch movement of the note when tuning or bending compared to a longer scale.

 

[tintag27]

The two Harmony necks I mentioned above have 12 1/16” from the nut end of the fretboard to the middle of the 12th fret….so, the scale is 24 1/8”…24.125”.
As I noted, the Meteor I had was a bit longer scale, iirc.…maybe 25”. I wish my memory was better.

I just had look around for that - my brother had a Meteor - we got through a bunch of old Harmony's between us as teens...
A couple of sources quote the H70 Meteor as the same scale as the Stratotones (24") - which was a surprise to me - thought it was longer!

Harmony Meteor H-70 Arch Top Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1966) | RetroFret

RetroFret Vintage Guitars

retrofret.com

 

[Wally]

Well, I did a search for “Harmony Meteor scale length” and found a number of different ‘opinions’. 24, 24 1/4”, 24.125”, 24 3/4”. Take your pick. I sold mine, so I cannot make a measurement on an actual specimen.

 

[Josip55]

Wow tnq guys for nice comments,demo will be soon on some bluesy licks where it shines so we can comment on this,ill try to record it as best as i can with gear that will be on hand! As scale goes i used 24” as we speaked in posts above really it depends from instrument to instrument(looks like that anyways) so i scouted few on reverb,ebay and other where most were specificated as 24” so i went from there. I compensated saddle but also leaved it very thick so i can do intonation afterward, plays nice b still needs to go back as its little sharp but ill leave it to setle few weeks

 

[tintag27]

Nice work, Josip!

 

[mr natural]

That is way cool. Excellent job!

 

[Dirtsquirrel]

Very cool build- my first guitar was a 60’s Stratotone. Something looks off about the fret dot spacing above the twelfth though.

 

[Josip55]

Very cool build- my first guitar was a 60’s Stratotone. Something looks off about the fret dot spacing above the twelfth though.

And it is off,since its for me i put dots on even numbers so its 12/14/16/18/20, i am a bit weird when it comes to guitar playing and thinking of it lol

 

[bottlenecker]

And it is off,since its for me i put dots on even numbers so its 12/14/16/18/20, i am a bit weird when it comes to guitar playing and thinking of it lol

But also 3, 5, 7, 9?

 

[Josip55]

But also 3, 5, 7, 9?

Which is correct

 

[Wally]

And it is off,since its for me i put dots on even numbers so its 12/14/16/18/20, i am a bit weird when it comes to guitar playing and thinking of it lol

That is odd…but since it is yours, do what you like, eh?

The reason why there is a dot at 15,17, 19, 21–if there is one, and 24—if there is one— is because 15,17,19, 21 and 24 are octaves of the markers in the first octave of the board. 3+12=15, etc.

 

[Josip55]

That is odd…but since it is yours, do what you like, eh?

The reason why there is a dot at 15,17, 19, 21–if there is one, and 24—if there is one— is because 15,17,19, 21 and 24 are octaves of the markers in the first octave of the board. 3+12=15, etc.

Yep yep, well i am selftaught player who doesnt read notes and my learning and understanding of guitar is somewhat abstract(but i am not that goodod a player tbh haha). For me 15 th 17 th exct. markers never made sence for some reason,looking wise, I rely on dot markers and playing to 12 fret is natural with marked 3/5/7/9 but when i go up always makes me feel searching for things, so yeah i know its weird but hey this is all experiment so we will se how it works. Also made this neck very very D shape,almost classical guitar like,because it feels good in my hand,decision decisions…. Its nice to experiment with things to se what you like.