NGD! Harmony F01 E2

[Maude]

Hello all, 

I may have just bought a piece of cool junk!

I fancied a little acoustic to play in the garden and this just popped up on facebook six miles away. 

It's a Harmony arch top which I've narrowed down to being a F01 /E2. The seller says its 1960s but I've no idea about that, all I do know is that it was a very cheap, far east guitar when sold new. As I like quirky cheap instruments this should be right up my ally. I love the look of it, even the headstock! I'm picking it up tomorrow morning so we'll see then how bad it is, but in fairness it's just had new strings fitted and had a set up by a local tech and the action in the pictures looks quite good. 

In the meantime, if anyone has any info on these it would appreciated. 

[Dad3353]

Nice, clean-looking guitar. If it's '60s, it's late '60s, as the Ovations were only just coming out then. Let us know how it plays, once it's been set up to your satisfaction..? Looks like a Good Find. 

[Maude]

I'll report back when I've had a little play . 

It's less money than a framed, full size picture of the guitar would be, so if it's terrible then a wall hanging it is. 

I read a post on Mandolin Café where a chap had converted one to a mando-cello and said that before the conversion it played and sounded far better than it had any right to, given it's credentials, so fingers crossed. 

 

[ezbass]

Looks very cool. Archtop jazz, meets bowlback - very interesting.

[Maude]

Well it's home . 

It plays really well with a nice low action and no buzzes anywhere. It's not massively loud but that's to be expected with its small body and f holes (and three little soundhole under the strings) but I don't want a lot of volume anyway. Electrics work and sound quite nice, it has a piezo saddle with passive tone and volume controls. 

I'm not convinced at the moment that it's 60s as it's just in too good a condition. From a bit of digging Melody were bought by Eko in the mid 60s and badged as Eko's from then on, bar a few oddballs, until Eko folded in the 80s when Melody carried on under their own name again. Maybe this is why the previous owner was told 60s as they were Eko's after that, but it could be the 80s resurgence. Melody and Eko were Italian so it could possibly be Italian, or one of the Far East factories if Melody subbed out the work. 

I'll get some photos when I strip it for a good clean and polish. 

But for now it's great. 

[Dad3353]

Just my kind of guitar, with piezos as a bonus.

[EdwardMarlowe]

My second guitar (which currently lives ta my parents' house, but will have ot be sold soon) is a similar construction, though mine is by Tangelwood, no cutaway, regular soundhole. There were quite a few companies doing these in the late eighties to early mid-90s when Ovations were considered to be all the rage, especially before solid-body "regular" acoustics started to pop up at affordable prices. This one very much looks late eighties/early 90s to me, both by design and there's a certain.... sheen to the look that doesn't 'ring true' to me were it 60s. To be frank, it also looks - and from your description plays and sounds - too good to be a 60s budget model.  I tend to find these guitars are great for a nice, bright acoustic sound, edging closer to but still more "organic" than, the sound of a clean electric Strat or Tele neck sound, say. Some of the purists would sneer at the fibreglass body, but with an open mind they can be very nice indeed.

[Maude]

Completely agree on all points there @EdwardMarlowe. Since the original post I've stripped it down and given it a good clean and polish, it was clean enough but I always do this with any new (to me) guitar or bass, and it really is just too clean to be anything like 50 years old. From this (https://www.fetishguitars.com/castelfidardo-recanati/melody/) we can deduce it's likely built between 72 (when Eko withdrew from Melody) and 88 (when Melody folded), as you say probably 80s. Even so it's still in very good condition, very few knocks and the white plastics haven't really yellowed at all so I reckon it's been tucked away in a case or cupboard most of its life.

I've dressed the fret ends and polished the frets, cleaned and lemon oiled the fretboard, machine polished the sound board and scrubbed the back with an alcohol based degreaser to lift any dirt out, new strings and a set up and it's lovely. I've fitted a set of nickel 10s (don't like bronze) and as you said, it's quite bright so I'm thinking I might try a set of flatwound strings. Being predominantly a bass player I'd prefer the higher tension and they should help mellow the tone a touch, maybe less volume but I'm not worried about that as its just for garden strumming. If it implodes under the tension then I've lost the £69 it cost, but should be fine. 

[EdwardMarlowe]

I vaguely remember fitting some Dean Markley Earrthwound(?) bronzes that worked well on mine. I have flatwounds on my Brandoni P bass, and I love them - if only they weren't so lethally expensive for guitar!

Leanig the strings on for years so they go a bit "duller" sounding somehow also seems to take the sharpness off the high end.

[Maude]

1 hour ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

 I have flatwounds on my Brandoni P bass, and I love them - if only they weren't so lethally expensive for guitar!

I play doublebass as well, so guitar flats are a drop in the ocean.

[EdwardMarlowe]

On 04/09/2020 at 11:00, Maude said:

I play doublebass as well, so guitar flats are a drop in the ocean.

Oh, I hear ya on that! I remember once talking about the madness of a guitar costing two grand in front of some classical musicians.... that was an education!