Restoration

and I think it's harder than building.
 
I'm on hold because of lost material and this project may get big so I thought I'd share it now instead of waiting until it was to big to mess with and now that I have my photos in the right place.
 
I decided to try and restore my first electric - a '63 Harmony Mercury that my folks bought new for me in '63.
I played it until the mid eighties taking and giving lessons. Don't know when but I had it painted by a friend that had an auto paint shop- I think Toyota pearl white lol..and put some HB's on it and all I had was ambition.
 
I've had it in pieces for years so thought I'd try to get it playing again. If I blow it, just part of its story.
 
Originally had one single neck pup...I butchered it and added two mini-toggles.
 

I pulled the frets but not going to mess with the neck binding. It's a 9.5 radius and a 24.25 scale length.
The Brazilian Rosewood is really dry and the fret markers are warped...if the truss rod is wasted, game over.
That's why I started with the neck.

A little oil and it turned free.
Not sure what happened to the original tuner or the ones I put on but all these holes will be plugged.
Not going for original...just going and hope it'll play.

Got the fretboard to 12".

Didn't lose but a couple of little chips and the repairs can't be seen now that it's sanded.

Got the paint off and all the holes plugged.

Laminated the head and drilled for the tuners. I'll use Grovers that look like the LP plastic.
Had to join two pieces of Ebony for the laminate...hard to tell now but it didn't look promising at the
get go.

Gibson size nut and this shot shows how the truss-rod cover and laminate butt up against it.
Also shows how worn that binding is. It's bad around the body too and I'm going to attempt replaceing
it. My first try at that. Heard it was very hard to do without screwing up...guess I'll find out.

Got it refretted. I'll crown and polish them up and start oiling the Rosewood. The plastic inlays have
tinted yellow from age but I decided to leave them. At least they were thick enough to take the sanding
and the fret slots were deep enough after the radius change.
 
 

 
Now I'll plug those pup holes and wait for the new binding then I'll get the body ready.
Haven't decided what color to paint it.
If I wouldn't have had to plug the holes in the head I would have stained the neck/body and tried
to do a goldtop. That would have been fun. Maybe black with a gold top?
Suggestions welcome :)
 
This is what it looked like in '63 - Harmony Stratatone "Mercury".
I still have the bridge and tailpiece.
This is a closeup of the symbol on head. Pretty cool. I don't think it's ever going to look that good again LOL.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Bonamassa style gold top, black back and black plastic might be interesting.

This is going to be another interesting adventure, Spacey. When you oil the rosewood fret board, do those fine little cracks in the rosewood go away? I assume that the wood soaks up the oil? What type of oil do you use. Should a person add a little oil or conditioner of some sort to a rosewood fret board every so often? Something that I have never thought much about, I guess?

Very cool. :) 

Another fascinating journey looking forward to the process.

MakeShift
Bonamassa style gold top, black back and black plastic might be interesting.

This is going to be another interesting adventure, Spacey. When you oil the rosewood fret board, do those fine little cracks in the rosewood go away? I assume that the wood soaks up the oil? What type of oil do you use. Should a person add a little oil or conditioner of some sort to a rosewood fret board every so often? Something that I have never thought much about, I guess?

Well I've ordered white binding so blacks out.
 
I have two different oils that I use. Both are labeled as fretboard oil.
I don't want to get into what's good or not and I know you understand why.
Most unfinished fretboards are made with woods that are naturally oily so I think the deal is for one
to use it sparingly.
For this old one Mike I won't oil with the intention of closing any gaps. I'll very lightly oil it as I would
any fretboard. What was important to me were the fret slots. The wood hadn't pulled away from the old ones and the new frets fit good. ( I glued them- in the old frets weren't and I checked for that on the first one pulled)
I think it's a good idea to very lightly oil an unfinished fretboard-it sure doesn't take much oil.
There are many reasons and opinions about it but it does look better when it's not dried out looking and it's nice to have a clean fretboard. I guess "when" is based on numerous factors that one should consider for the fretboard needs. Climate, players hygiene (may just need to get the bacon grease off) the condition of the wood..
The wood type used for unfinished fretboards are woods that should last for many years requiring very little attention or concern under "normal" conditions. ( finding a "normal" guitarist may be the tricky part :)
Just go easy I think is the deal.
 
 
 
Thanks for the well wishes guys!

 
For the geeks like me:
 
http://harmony.demont.net/model.php?id=134

My first thought is that a 24.25 scale can have some nice soft feeling strings. I'd also imagine that it may have a little less of the hi frequency, percussive sort of attack you can get with the same set of strings running at a higher tension on a longer scale.
 
24.25; Howl and Growl?
 
:-)
 
 

Hey Spacey, This was what I was thinking in a gold top, Bonamassa style.  It still has white binding, but the rest of the plastic is black.  You mentioned gold top, so this was just an idea.  You pick what you like bro.  Classic gold tops a really nice as well.    

Looks nice! I like mini HB's too.
 
24.25"? That might be too short for me, but I'm liking the idea of slightly shorter scale lengths lately - a little while ago I had my Epi Joe Pass Emperor II out for the first time in a while and really enjoyed playing it. Then I realized why - it's set up for high action and is strung with 11's. Usually I play LTHB's (10-52) or 10's, but I really loved the 11's. So I went and bought a few sets with unwound 3rd strings to try on some of my other guitars. 
 
If I had 24.25", I might try 12's. 

I think THIS would look awesome on that guitar: (not the best pic but Pelham Blue)
 
This one looks a little better...

 
I think it is a good fit but it is just my opinion...
 
J
 

Have you tried classic auto repair places Michael?  I seem to recall getting things chromed at one of those places in the distant past.

spacey
Drew, I buy strings in bulk and all sets are 10-46. That's what I'll put on it if I get that far.
 
 
J , man I'd be glad to do it if I knew how and new I could. This is my first shot at binding and I decided
to try on the body only.
I couldn't figure out how to do the neck- to be honest about it.
With a curved fretboard and the neck contoured I didn't feel I could safely remove the old binding and
re-rout for the new.
I was concerned about fretting over the binding- never done that either but had the fret nippers and files
to do the job so gave it go.
The trip of binding the body was a major factor in doing this project. If I get a handle on it then I'll get prepared for binding a neck and head.
 
From the little I know... If one can remove the old binding then the new binding can be sized to replace. There are tools to help re-size the binding as needed. (none of which I have yet ...and not cheap)
 
 Would enjoy seeing the pics and thanks for the kudos.
 
I like that J!
I thought about rigging up to spray metal-flake but decided I'd do that down the road. I hear the gold is tricky enough for a beginner like me.
 

Well, it might be your chance to try because half the neck binding is broken off, so you'd have a chance at removing some and you certainly couldn't make it any worse... I'll get some pictures to you.
Then if you feel like you want to give it a shot we'll talk. I am not worried about the possibility of something going wrong, if works out good if not well, we tried... if you decide you'd want to. No pressure, if I wan to pressure you I will try and get Bapu on it.
 
J

Ahhh, OK. I understand. I will still take some pics and maybe you can give me some advice, or perhaps someone will know what the guitar is.
 
Thanks!
Julien

Looking good Spacey!

Looks nice.
 
And don't feel obligated to show us all the minor anomalies.