Help dating a Stella Guitar (NMC)

[Pappyrich]

Can anyone tell me when Stella/Harmony was using this pattern on the fret markers. This is a Model H-927 as marked on the underside of the top, but there is no date stamp and I can't find a picture of this neck style that has a date on it.

Thanks for the help.

Richard

[NickR]

Showing the tuners may help if they are original- show the whole guitar as that may give more to go on. Here is one- and it has been given 1968 as an educated guess although I would expect US made Waverly tuners from that year. Harmony began to use the Japanese tuners on it in the 70s when things were going off the rails and Waverly had folded. I would say early 70s.
https://jakewildwood.blogspot.com/20...or-guitar.html

[Pappyrich]

Here is a picture of the tuners.

[NickR]

Well, those are Waverly tuners and if the rest of your guitar is like the one Jake Wildwood worked on then it would most likely be late 60s or very early 70s - before Harmony had to buy those Japanese tuners when Waverly stocks had gone.

[twilson]

I dated Stella for a while. I can’t offer you any help. She dumped me.

[Pappyrich]

Here is a picture of the three Harmony guitars that I have worked on in the last couple of months. I had lots of fun and learned a lot. Mostly how not to do things, but they all turned out OK in the end. I started on the smallest of the three, then did the tenor, which took the most work, and finally just finished the Stella. All three got neck resets in order to make them playable. Now they all play nicely and sound pretty good, considering what they are.

[rcc56]

The full picture helps.

Those birch bodied Stellas with the "steel reinforced neck" logos were still sold new in stores when I was a kid in the 1960's, but were disappearing and pretty much gone by 1970, probably a few years earlier. The Harmony's I remember from the early '70's had different specs and a very different look to them. I'd say that yours was most likely born sometime between the late '50's and mid '60's.

[NickR]

Your guitar has the later pickguard while the earlier models had three line motifs on the board as does this one- again from Jake Wildwood's archive:
https://jakewildwood.blogspot.com/20...tailpiece.html

Here is one like yours dated to the 70s- as Harmony revamped its instruments for the last time abandoning many for the last few years bringing in new designs as well in an attempt to stay afloat. The company also started to use a label which often falls out with Made In USA etc and the date stamp ended in 1973:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1571...4aAp9zEALw_wcB

[NickR]

Here is the 1973 catalogue page which shows your guitar. You can see the whole catalogue here- the fourth photo has your guitar on it. You can see that the top of yours has gone darker with age and the one in the catalogue has a few new frills and a new H number- 6128 and along with those Waverly tuners makes me feel your guitar is a little older- just before the last ditch revamp:
https://reverb.com/item/27984025-vin...nal-case-candy

[NickR]

Here's a guy celebrating these guitars- he goes into some detail showing differences over the years and was trying to find the same version his mother bought in the early 70s which he learned on and then lost. In fact he got the H-6128 whereas his mother's was the same model as your guitar the H-927 but he explains the little differences you find. You can see that Harmony deleted part of the fretboard markers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urZt7mHbOc4

[Jeff Mando]

As an aside, I read on another forum that Harmony's (non-adjustable) "Steel Reinforced Neck" was not an actual truss rod, but used hacksaw blades were placed under the fingerboard. I've never had the "pleasure" of taking one apart, so I can't say if there is any truth to this, but I would guess a hacksaw blade would flex too much to offer any kind of reinforcement. Then again, I've heard of crazier things...

[Pappyrich]

Here is a picture of the steel reinforcement rod in this Stella. It is basically a square, hollow, steel tube which is actually pretty stiff. The neck on this guitar was only slightly bowed, and it flattened with a mild sanding. The final result was a neck relief of less than .010" under tension. Of course the neck profile resembles a baseball bat, so it is very stiff.

[Jeff Mando]

Good to know you can't believe everything on the internet.

I remember reading online Rosacea was caused by infected mite poop under the skin left by mites that had burrowed under the skin and moved on. I mentioned that to my doctor and he looked at me like I was insane. So much for two "colleagues" talking medicine...

[Richard500]

As an aside, I read on another forum that Harmony's (non-adjustable) "Steel Reinforced Neck" was not an actual truss rod, but used hacksaw blades were placed under the fingerboard. I've never had the "pleasure" of taking one apart, so I can't say if there is any truth to this, but I would guess a hacksaw blade would flex too much to offer any kind of reinforcement. Then again, I've heard of crazier things...

Checked prior posts this subject: Early ones used a 1/16”x1/2” metal strip; approximately hacksaw blade dimensions. And would be plenty stiff - but of course, placed vertically! Just one would do. Remember, beam strength goes by square of the dimension where the load is. The issue, if any, would be how strong the glue in the slot was, which is the same issue with any type of reinforcement. And a reinforcement is not a truss rod - two very different purposes.