1960s Winston (Japan-made) Nashville-Tuned Electrified Parlor Guitar

This unsuspecting little box is an all-ply Japanese take on something like a '60s Harmony H929 Stella student-style parlor guitar. It came-in with a Winston brand in the soundhole, though the label detached before I even started work on it.

While the "actual" Harmony instrument is nothing fancy, this particular box is definitely nothing fancy. While it's about the same size as the "real" thing, the scale is even shorter at 23 1/8" -- making this basically a terz or 3/4-sized guitar. Usually a scale that short is meant to be tuned up a few steps from standard.

Anyhow, I've had a lot of fun repurposing extra-short-scale guitars as "Nashville-tuning" instruments and that's just how I set this one up. The quick lesson is that it's strung specifically for "Nashville" tuning -- where the EADG strings are an octave higher than normal while the BE are at standard pitch. I also went one step further and electrified it with a Burns-style pickup in the soundhole, a jack in the side, and a volume knob near the pickguard. The strings are, of course, grounded at the tailpiece.

While it's a quirky instrument, in its new role it sounds real and useful. If you listen to the clips, you can easily see how those sounds would sit in a band mix or recording environment very nicely. Nashville tuning is lovely for chimey chordal playing to either eliminate a normal acoustic (and squeeze the chords into a tight range) from the mix or brighten-up a record alongside one.

Repairs included: seam repairs, a fret level/dress, new bone nut, new cobbled-from-parts compensated saddle and bridge, electrification and wiring, and setup.

Setup notes: it plays perfectly with 1/16" action at the 12th fret. The neck has a little relief (read: warp) in it but I've given it a heavy-handed level/dress of the frets and so the neck is effectively strraight within 1/64" via the top of the frets. String gauges are: 26w, 16, 12, 8, 15, 11 low to high. That's eadgBE tuning where the EADG strings are an octave higher than normal and the BE are the same as normal. The saddle is compensated for this stringing.

Scale length: 23 1/8"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

String spacing at nut: 1 1/2"

String spacing at bridge: 2 1/16"

Body length: 17 1/2"

Lower bout width: 13"

Waist width: 8 1/8"

Upper bout width: 9 1/2"

Top wood: ply birch

Back/sides wood: ply birch

Bracing type: ladder

Fretboard: mysterywood

Bridge: vintage parts-bin metal/plastic

Neck feel: medium C, flat board

Condition notes: replacement bridge, new pickup and wiring with vintage volume knob. There's one back brace missing but it matters little. The top sags under the bridge but that's normal for these lightly-build, ladder-braced ply boxes. There's general usewear throughout but it actually looks in pretty decent shape despite it. There's a bit of wear on the fretboard, too. I added a strap button at the heel for ease-of-use.