# Harmony H-802 Fix-Up



## 1PUTTS

I was over at a friend's place a few months ago and he had this old Harmony H-802 sitting around - no strings and looking pretty sad. He asked me if I wanted it so I said "Sure" thinking I could fix it up and give it to somebody - probably one of my Nephews.

It's kinda cool looking - sort of a mini-SG vibe. The body is really thin and light - probably made from plywood or something cheap. But it's in pretty good shape and has a nice burst finish so I'll leave it as is. The machine heads looked like they could use replacing and I wasn't too keen on the bridge (kind of a cheapo version of a tune-o-matic, I think) although the stop tailpiece looks pretty cool. I figured I'd probably have to do some wiring - at the very least, change out the pots and the input jack.

It has two P90ish looking pickups (I have no idea how they sound yet) controlled by two switches plus one volume and one tone control.










The the neck looks to be in really good shape (looks straight and the truss rod works) and the frets could probably use a dress but I'm going to assess that later once I get her back together. My first task at hand was to clean up the fingerboard as it was pretty grungy. Here's a few shots of the fingerboard - I didn't even think to take any photos until I was part way through cleaning it up so you can see what they looked like before and while I was in the middle of the job:


















As you can see, there was some kind of dark stain or paint on the fingerboard. Why, I have no idea - maybe to give it a deeper look or maybe to make it look ebony. But it was wearing off in a number of places so I decided to just remove it. To my delight, there was a some nice rosewood underneath and, once I got all the grunge and most of the stain off, the fingerboard was nice and smooth. I used a combination of fine steel wool and some 320 and then 600 grit sandpaper to remove it. It took quite a bit of elbow grease.










Continued...


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## 1PUTTS

I wasn't too concerned with getting the stain entirely off. If I wanted to be picky, I could have spent a lot more time. But my goal is to get this into a nice, playable condition so this was close enough. I actually like the way it looks with remnants of the dark stain along the frets. Kinda cool.

So then I cleaned it up and applied some Tru-Oil to the fingerboard. Tru-Oil (made by Birchwood Casey) is available at most gun stores and is what hunters use to finish and/or protect the gun stock. Or so I gather since I don't own any firearms. But it's great stuff and is very non-toxic. You can actually apply it with your finger, it doesn't smell too bad and is very easy to clean up. It dries in an hour or so - then you can buff it up and apply a few more coats if you want a little more protection.

Here's a few shots of it drying. I'll apply a few more coats and then some wood conditioner and finally some bees wax (also from Birchwood Casey). In the end, it'll be nice and slick.


























That's enough for tonight. Next, I'll go through the wiring, replace what I need to and make sure it's all good. Then install the new bridge (I'm going to use the original stop tailpiece) and install the new machine heads. The holes are too small for the machine heads I got so I'll have to drill them out some (but I knew that). Then I should be ready to re-assemble and set it up for playing.


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## 1PUTTS

Oh yeah, here's the headstock just in case you wanted to see it now:










It won't look a whole lot different when I'm done. Just the new machine heads, probably new string trees and hopefully shinier and cleaner looking...


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## Edutainment

Ooh! I want! Can't wait to see it finished. I like the look of the half cleaned fretboard.


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## suttree

looking good. the "ebonized" finish is what you're cleaning off. when that guitar was released, lighter coloured rosewood was considered inferior, so cheaper guitar companies would basically paint the fingerboard black to make it look like top quality ebony or rosewood.


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## 1PUTTS

Yeah, I figured that's what all the dark stain was for. Funny thing is the lighter coloured rosewood looks great and feels really nice. I guess styles change over time.

But I've run into a bit of a snag. I was getting set to install the new machine heads when I noticed a slight crack in the headstock. So I've got to take care of that first. So it'll be a few days before I get this thing done. But the finished fingerboard looks and feels fantastic.


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## garretrevels

Neat easy project! I got a blue H802, cool enough guitar

I also had another and gave it to my brother in law, he really likes it


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## 1PUTTS

garretrevels said:


> Neat easy project! I got a blue H802, cool enough guitar
> 
> I also had another and gave it to my brother in law, he really likes it


Funny, when I got the guitar home and was doing a bit of research on this model Harmony, virtually everyone who had one A) picked it out of a garbage can, and B) loved the way it sounded. That's why I'm optimistic that it'll be a good 'lil player. How would you describe the sound from these pickups? The general word is they have a "blusey" sound. I guess I'll find out soon enough - just gotta wait until tomorrow for my glue job to set.


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## garretrevels

Yeah I got mine for $10 at a thrift shop, it was and still is pretty rough around the edges and the other I gave away I paid $100 for it was a mint all black one, a better guitar I just had no need for two and I had the blue one longer so I was a bit more attached to it. My bro in law is happy, so I'm happy. I also just gave my sister a Squier Tele for her birthday....its kinda cool to give someone something as cool as a guitar.....I'm sure your nephew will be greatly appreciative.

They are pretty cool for what they are, I don't play mine much to be honest....they do sound good though, just not the best feeling guitar to me. They sound loud and raw, kinda like a muddy sounding P90 is the best I can describe it.


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## 1PUTTS

Cool, thanks. Yeah, I'm sure he'll like like it no matter what it sounds like. But I'd like see him start out on something that is somewhat playable so as not to get too discouraged. His parents might not be as enthusiastic. :smile: But I've encouraged all my nieces and nephews to pick up some kind of instrument and told them all if they needed help getting started, that I'd help them out. Come to think of it, I have three nieces who play guitar and a niece and a nephew who play drums.

Anyhow, I'll make sure I post an update on how thing thing turns out.


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## fraser

cool project- i like the way the rosewood looks after you worked on it.
ive had a few of these over the years too- wouldve liked to hang onto one, but ended up giving them to folks who needed them. gonna have to break myself of that habit.

my little neice is like 5, and been learning the uke at some free kids program. last xmas she brought her uke to family dinner- she showed me how she plays and sings 'im a little teapot', then i scared her and the rest of the family with a uke version of 'devil got my woman'. a hallmark xmas......


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## 1PUTTS

Allright, I got the headstock crack all fixed up and finished with the Tru-Oil, wood conditioner and wax finish. I think it looks pretty nice. It sure feels nice. Drilled out the machine head holes to fit the new machine heads and installed them. Unfortunately I ran out of time tonight to do any wiring so I'll have to do the pots and input jack replacement tomorrow.


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