1946 Harmony Monterey (H1456)

This thing turned out so nice! It had no tail piece, no bridge, no tuners, the neck was literally cut through, and I honestly wasn’t sure how good it would turn out. This came to me as a “lost cause” restoration by someone with a sentimental attachment to it. Not able to sink a ton of money into it, but really had a special meaning. Watch the transformation below.

This is what I started with. Of note, this is was made in 1946 and would have originally had a wooden tailpiece. The evidences of that is the two holes on top of the tail block. During the war years, metal was rationed and Harmony used a wooden tailpiece. I’ve had a couple before and this is spot on perfect evidence of what would have been.

And this was the “what the hell am I gonna do with that” moment. The neck was cut right trough at the 14th fret.

No tuners. I have some salvage stuff that is pretty close to authentic – we’ll see how they work later.

Model H1456, manufactured Fall of 1946 (F-46).

And that’s how the neck came off.

Neck block was cracked and the top was separating.

Glued and taped.

Jig for rebuilding the fretboard.

Not too shabby. That gap where the 14th fret was is about twice as wide as it should be though, from being sawn through.

Another look at it.

Step one of repairing the fret slot. Fill with rosewood dust.

Filled and tamped. Now to drop cyanoacrylate glue onto the dust.

Rock hard. Now to sand smooth.

Ready for slotting.

And slotting.

Ready for fretting.

Ready to reinstall. What you don’t see is the work involved next with fine-tuning the dovetail and setting the neck. That just doesn’t capture very well in photos.