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NGD - 1930's Harmony H1255 (Thanks WezV)

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hobbiohobbio Frets: 3440
edited January 2015 in Acoustics
Hi, I've today acquired my wife's late grandfather's guitar on indefinite loan. I believe it was purchased in the 30's, and I know that it survived his stint in the navy in WWII. He took it round the world during active service and it was used right up until his death about 12 years ago, but since then it's been unused and unloved. I first saw it about 18 months ago and was horrified to see that is was just basically thrown in a corner without any sort of case or protection. I gave them a gig bag for it, and have played it on the odd occasion since then. I want to identify it but the label is illegible. It's a catalogue special from some time between 1935 and 1939 I think, my mother in law did have the catalogue it came from but she sold it on eBay(!) before I knew it was even there. She did photocopy the page, but from memory it was the wrong page and the photocopy is no longer with the guitar. I've got the original (perhaps) capo that came with it, check out that metal spike that screws directly into the back of the neck! You can feel the divots where it's been used! It'll never be used again, anyway, because the cork face is beginning to crack and crumble, but I like the fact that it's still with the guitar after all this time, if it's original that is. It all adds to the story, and I wish I still had the catalogue too. It's worth next to nothing I would imagine, but the family history in it is priceless.

I asked if I could borrow it today, and I'm glad I did because I found out it had been moved from the safe place I'd tucked it away and was wedged in behind a filing cabinet and computer desk with a foot spa dumped on top!

Condition wise, it's very, very well used with much patina. The tuning pegs are what you'd expect, but it holds tune reasonably well. The (rosewood?) fretboard seems to have shrunk a bit, leaving some sharp fret ends and the top and back have separated from the sides in a couple of places. There's also some quite long but fine cracks in the fretboard. The strings actually seem to be in good nick, leading me to believe that someone, somewhere has restrung it in the last decade. It's a fucking untidy job though. I'll give the fretboard a gentle clean and use a little lemon oil, and then see if the top and back can be easily reglued. The bridge, which doesn't seem to match the guitar, has been raised at some point and the saddle is pretty much non-existent. I realise now that I didn't get any pics of that but I can get some up later if anyone's interested.

Oh, and the screw holes on the top and side mean that it had a guard fitted at some point but that's obviously long-gone.

But...

The reason I really wanted it is for how it sounds! It's so mellow and warm, every time I pick it up I don't want to put it down. New strings will brighten it up again, but even with the old ones there's something about it that I love. It just sounds old. It intonates very well up to the 7th fret on these old strings and even up to the 12th it's totally usable. 

The action is not exactly low, but it's by no means a harp and again is usable up to the body (14th). Down where the cowboy chords are played it's spot on, which isn't surprising really seeing as that's how it was used for 70-odd years. The small, narrow frets are used but still perfectly playable and look to be the originals so the wife's Grandad obviously had a light touch. The fret board itself has an unusual profile, it's actually slightly concave and feels more like a classical although this is definitely a steel strung guitar. There's a bit of a v in the neck but it's quite mild.

I absolutely love the repair to the tuning peg too! Mrs Hobbio's Grandad was an engineer and immensely practical man, so I have no doubts at all that he did that himself, as well as the bridge work. This is the man who once took a loaf of bread with him to Dixon's and insisted they allowed him to try out a toaster he wanted to buy!

I'm really, really happy I've got it and I want to make sure it survives for another 70-odd years.

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