Always look at the pictures

[MikeEdgerton]

This Harmony mandolin is on eBay right now and the price isn't bad, it looks pretty good. Then I enlarged the photos and for the life of me can only think of one reason why someone would do this. Examine the thumbwheels. Both of these pictures are on the same auction.

[Steve VandeWater]

I don't see it Mike. What about the thumb wheels?

[EdHanrahan]

The top view looks like someone stuck maybe coins (nickels?) in there to act as shims, while the (also fuzzy) side view looks more like pop-rivets slid sideways under the saddle. At minimum, the top-view thumbwheel-or-whatever seems not on center with where the threaded post should probably be. Just my confused view!

[Jeff Mando]

I don't see it either............ok, I give up....

[JeffD]

The position of the of thumb wheels in the side view would not raise or lower anything. The adjust ment is parallel to the top of the instrument. If really like that they are totally pointless.

The top view shows thumbwheels that would be what I expect. They would raise the bridge. The adjustment is perpendicular to the face.

The same mandolin cannot have thumbwheels in both orientations. There is something fishy going on.

[Tom C]

From side view, it looks like bridge is lowered all the way. I would expect to maybe see a little post sticking up from top so bridge can be raised a little.

[pops1]

The thumb wheel under the E strings is simply stuck in there, the post is way off from the center of the wheel, doubt there is a post. They should stick out the side if they are in correct. My guess is they don't raise anything.

[fatt-dad]

looks similar to my '50s Kay, i.e., the thumbwheels and thickness, or lack thereof.

f-d

[HonketyHank]

"The top view looks like someone stuck maybe coins (nickels?) in there to act as shims..." I agree except it looks like dimes to me
"The position of the of thumb wheels in the side view would not raise or lower anything. The adjust ment is parallel to the top of the instrument." I can't picture what you are saying.
"The thumb wheel under the E strings is simply stuck in there, the post is way off from the center of the wheel, doubt there is a post. They should stick out the side if they are in correct. My guess is they don't raise anything." Looks like that to me, too.

Bottom line for me is that the bridge is worth about $0.20, maybe more if they are vintage dimes.

[Jeff Mando]

I'll wait for Mike to chime in....I'm not seeing what everyone must be seeing. It looks like a bridge to me and the action looks fantastic -- I don't see the problem. If the bridge looks funky, buy a new $5 Chinese bridge on eBay, right? It's a Harmony, not a Lloyd Loar for Pete's sake.....

maybe it is a Where's Waldo and the top is cracked or something..........

[Mark Gunter]

Somebody's about to own that one in just a few minutes. Maybe Mike?

Jeff, I can't tell a thing from the side view except, as you saw, action's pretty good. But, you can see where the post hole is in the top view on right side of bridge, and the dime under there doesn't appear to line up. Not a problem for somebody who wants this Harmony, you can get a bridge for cheap IMO

[Dave Hanson]

Looks like different bridges to me.

Dave H

[MikeEdgerton]

The bridges appear to be the same. On the only shot that shows the action the thumb wheels are laying sideways as opposed to being in the right orientation. I'm assuming that the action is probably high in normal orientation suggesting problems with the neck or top. Simply buying another bridge might not fix the problem and the problem, if there is one isn't being disclosed.

[Frankdolin]

I agree Mike but seeing the big gap at the foot of the bridge maybe it's just leaning.

[MikeEdgerton]

I think the gap on the bridge feet is there because the top has collapsed a bit. I think whoever had it probably did what they had to do to play it and using the thumb wheels wasn't part of that equation. I don't think those are coins in the other shot by the way, I think they are the Harmony thumb wheels.

[Jeff Mando]

I still don't see it, but I will defer to your expertise, Mike. I don't think the digital image is clear enough to enlarge and tell much -- like looking at the Zapruder film and saying is that blur a gun?, etc. I agree with Mike, those are Harmony thumb wheels, not coins. The top looks like it has a nice arch to it, so.....

OTOH, on a $100 instrument, you do what you have to do to get it to play. I've had many "yard sale" archtop guitars with action so high that I just threw away the bridge base and rested the saddle on the guitar top to lower the action and make playable..

[MikeEdgerton]

You can see it better on a PC than a phone. Look at the picture in 13 along with the notation. You don't see those thumb wheels shoved in sideways? Heck, maybe I'm seeing them wrong.

[JRG]

Well folks, I just bought it last night so when I get it I will post pics of what's going on with the bridge. The listing states there is no top sinkage so if that's the deal it will go right back to the seller. Stay tuned

[MikeEdgerton]

Cool. Look for the date stamp inside. Also, try reversing just the bridge base and see if it's actually been fitted to the top.

[Mark Gunter]

The bridges appear to be the same. On the only shot that shows the action the thumb wheels are laying sideways as opposed to being in the right orientation. I'm assuming that the action is probably high in normal orientation suggesting problems with the neck or top. Simply buying another bridge might not fix the problem and the problem, if there is one isn't being disclosed.

The image quality was so bad that I could not distinguish the posts in that picture, I thought that was the thumbwheels under the saddle - kudos to you and JeffD for seeing that - even after Jeff's post, with repeated viewings, most of us couldn't see what y'all were referencing.

[JRG]

I know the entire mandolin world has been on the edge of it's collective seat waiting for the skinny on this instrument so here goes. I picked it up yesterday at the P.O. raced home and unpacked it. What ever was going on with the bridge in that side view was not present on the actual piece, no pop-rivets, no loose change and absolutely no top sinkage. The thumbwheels were in place, there were actual posts in place and everything looked ok. The bridge was up more towards the bass F-hole but I didn't think that was a big deal. I tuned it to see how it sounded and was pleasantly surprised. The bridge fit could have been better, so following Mike's advice, thanks Mike, I reversed the base and made it worse so I will work on that later. There were two sets of numbers inside the bass F-hole, a small set inside a rectangle and a bigger set stamped over that. The larger numbers are 0052H417. The smaller numbers are much harder to read but looks like 5-52-3 and made in usa and HB. I guess it's a '52 model? So I am happy with this mandolin but in the future I will follow Mike's advice and look at the pictures more closely. Thanks again, Mike

[JeffD]

Good on you.

I wonder what was going on in the profile picture. I cannot imagine it was accurate. The adjustments would have done nothing but squeeze the bridge tighter. An ultimately irrelevant mystery wrapped in a pointless enigma.

[Paul Kotapish]

I guess we'll find out soon enough, but I can't go with Mike's interpretation of that vertical shot. What he is identifying as the posts appear to my eyes to be a slightly out-of-focus edge-on shot of the wheels themselves--in their proper orientation.