From the Harmony Service Station

By Jim Calhoun

Setting the action is a subtle task, you must take your time, have patience and use common sense. The specifications below are to give you a good guideline to adjusting your guitar for maximum playability and enjoyment.

Your personal taste and individual instrument may differ from the measurements below, they are meant only as a guideline to my opinion of a good set up, not as the last word.

Getting Started

1. Make sure your guitar is clean and nothing is broken. A broken truss rod, nut or bridge, or defective neck will render this guide useless.

2. Make sure the guitar is tuned up to pitch and the frets are level. Use a fret file to true them up if you have a "dead fret" or other fret problems.

3. Sight the neck, looking down the fretboard. Back Bow ( fretboard warping away from the pull of the strings) is undesirable. Unwanted Up Bow, sometimes referred to as "warp" is also to be avoided, but some up bow isn't bad since it accommodates the long elliptical patterns of vibrating strings. Adjust your truss rod with these points in mind.

A. Always loosen the nut on the truss rod before you attempt to tighten it. If the threads on the truss rod are already "maxed out", this will keep you from snapping your truss rod, causing some real problems!

B. If the nut seems sticky or otherwise hard to move, apply some penetrating oil and completely remove the nut. Clean the nut and threads on the rod as good as you can, re-lubricate and screw the nut back on.

C. Some neck relief is called for, but I prefer none to minimal relief, which means perfectly straight. Experiment with the neck by getting it straight. If it feels good and you have no fret buzz, great. If you have some buzz or it feels wrong to you, slowly add relief until you are satisfied.

Changing Strings

There are several proper ways to wind new strings on the pegs of your guitar. Ther are also a couple of "tricks" you can do to improve the performance of your guitar. I prefer the following procedure.

1. Remove 3 Strings, in this way the bridge still has 3 strings to keep it in place.

2.Clean the fingerboard with a damp rag with a mild detergent and clean the body under where the 3 missing strings would normally be.

3. Take a regular #2 graghite filled pencil and rub the "lead" of the pencil on the string notches of your bridge and nut. This will lubricate the bridge and nut and allow the strings to tune easier and it may reduce string breakage.

4. Attach new string through the tail piece on most electrics and the bridge on most acoustic models (other than archtops, which use a tailpiece). Put the end of the string through the hole on the correct post, leaving enough slack for 3-4 complete revolutions.

5. This is very important. Always string your guitar so the strings tighten by the post moving clock wise on the first 3 strings (treble strings) and counter clock wise on the 4th 5th and 6th strings (bass strings) Unless youe guitar has all 6 tuning machines on the same side, then most likely the tuning machines are "on the top" which would mean the posts should go counter clockwise. If the machines are on the "bottom side, then turn clockwise.

6. On the first revolution, make sure the string loops on the top side of the string hole on the peg. All other revolutions should place the string on the bottom side of the string hole. This will assure that the loose end of the string is somewhat pinched with one of the coils on top of the hole pushing down and the rest of the coils on the bottom of the hole pushing up.

7. Now do the other 3 strings in the same manner.

Some other problems that you might run into are:

1. Open strings that buzz because the nut is too low and needs to be shimmed or replaced.

2. Inoperable bridge saddles (Silhouette Models) that need to be replaced, reshaped or re notched (Hollowbody)

3. Cutting down the wooden Hollowbody bridge to achieve good action.

Adjusting String Height

On Harmony guitars, you raise and lower the bridge by turning the adjustment wheels on the bridge. The easiest way to get it right is to simply lower the bridge until you experience string buzz, then gradually raise the bridge until the buzzing stops or is no longer bothersome.

Harmony guitars have a moderate curve on the fingerboard, do your best not to "flatten out" the strings too much at the bridge. The top of the bridge should "mimic" the curve of the fretboard.

Tips On Cutting Down Your Archtop Bridge

When trying to lower the action on your archtop guitar, follow these general rules:

1. Don't file the bottom of the bridge where it rests on the guitar, over the years it has pretty much "molded" to the shape of the top of your guitar.

2. Don't file the top of the bridge, you may lose your string spacing or curve and will most likely lose your "bearing" edge.

3. Your bridge is in two pieces, file the bottom of the top piece. No Worries!

Check the general guidelines below, use them as a starting point to setting up your guitar.

Harmony Electric Guitar Models

Harmony Acoustic Guitar Models

Model.......................Pickup Pole Height*...String Height @17th Fret ...Bridge Height**.......Relief @ 7th Fret***....Nut Action****

Setting The Pole Pieces On Your Golden Tone And Max Tone De Armond Pickups

Start by using the chart above and set them to the measurement indicated. Now you have a good starting place and can fine tune your pickups to be as efficient as possible!

How to set the adjustment on the pole pieces (set screws) in the pickups. Lengthen each one, one at a time and test while you go. Turn your amp up to a reasonable volume and twang the string as hard as you can without breaking the string. Adjust out...twang.....adjust out .....twang. Keep this up until the pickup overloads and "craps out". When you accomplish this screw in a little bit......twang.....screw in.....twang.....until it sounds good and loud without "crapping out". In this way you find the most efficient signal strength adjustment. Do this on the same string on a different pickup. Get each pickup to have roughly the same volume. Go onto next string and.........Twang!

After getting your height and neck adjusted, now it is time to set your intonation.

Use a reliable tuner and re-check your guitar to make sure it is up to pitch. Now finger the 12th fret on the first string and take a reading. Hit the string open and compare the reading. If they match, then you have your intonation set for the 1st string, move to the 2nd and repeat process, etc.......

If the readings do not match, move the saddle forward or move the saddle backward. Silhouette models are adjusted by loosening the front saddle screw and tightening the back screw or by loosening the back screw and tightening the front as the situation warrants. If the 12th fret note is sharp, move the saddle BACKWARD toward the tailpiece. If the 12th fret note is flat, move the saddle FORWARD toward the neck. The saddles used on silhouettes have the crown off center to allow for extended adjustment by removing it and turning it around 180 degrees. This is seldom necessary, but has come in handy several times as it allows for a greater range of adjustment.

On Hollowbody Electrics, Archtops and some Stella Flat top models, a simple non-attached "floating" bridge is used. It is much harder to fine tune these models so you have to generalize. Set the intonation by using the general information above, using the 1st string. When you are satisfied, set the 6th string. If the 12th fret note is sharp, move the bridge BACKWARD toward the tailpiece. If the 12th fret note is flat, move the bridge FORWARD toward the neck. Now, repeat 1st string to assure that it is still where you want it. When satisfied, make a small mark on both sides of the bridge on the body of the guitar. This will give you a good reference point if the bridge is accidentally bumped out of position.

DO NOT GLUE THE FLOATING BRIDGE DOWN

This will defeat your purpose as you will have to chisel it up when you need to make further adjustments at a later date.

Tune and re-check intonation. It is time to sit down and play your instrument noting any trouble spots such as string buzz or higher/lower than normal action. Repeat any process you feel is necessary.

Intonation On Fixed Bridge Acoustic Models

These models are set at the factory and are pretty much set for the life of the instrument. If your intonation is bad, (I feel that you should always check intonation, even on these models), you have three choices.

1. Live with it

2. Replace your factory straight bridge saddle with a compensated bridge saddle. You may have to modify the groove on the bridge to accommodate the new saddle. Keep in mind, that a compensated saddle will only help fine tune your intonation. If it is way off, it will not help you at all.

3. If it is way off, take your guitar to a good luthier to have the bridge moved to a new (proper) position.

Now Lubricate your old dry tuners with a good machine oil!

ENJOY!

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